Groovin the moo, Maitland

 My excitement for a festival with such a strong line up was relatively low, maybe it was the unlikely location, the anticipated crowd demographic or maybe it was a combination of things observed over the last 3 years attending the Hunter's premier music festival. Whatever the reasons for my low expectations, the people i was there to see obviously didn't feel the same way.

 8th of May, 2010

My day started with a high energy, confident set from British India including an ambitious cover of Nirvana's Lithium and continued to rise with a refreshingly out of place, incredibly well dressed and under appreciated Spoon.

Relatively local stalwarts Grinspoon delivered behind lead man Phil Jameson who seemed to be thriving off the cross section of old and new fans. They didn't quite have the energy of the first time i saw them 11 years ago but Phil has definitely turned back the clock from his fattest and most boring days of recent years.

Vampire Weekend showed nothing else but why they are world class, Ezra charmed and crooned through a set of infectious favorites from they're two LPs. Their musicianship was impeccable and showed exactly why they are one of the biggest acts in the world and the face of a worldbeat revival.

Daniel Johns, (dare i try to infiltrate such a beautiful mind?) seemed motivated by an urge to take the piss out of a set he seemed to be performing under duress. Limiting his selection to only two new songs, one of which (sixteen) i don't even know if it was a serious song but i did enjoy the follow up segue "that song was called sixteen and this song i wrote when i was sixteen" as he blistered in to 'The Door'. Whatever his motivation, he ripped that stage to shreds with all the moves in the Jimi Hendrix guitar wielding repertoire and showed us all why we love a good Silverchair 'best of' set.

On the other side of the coin Empire of the sun were like flashy and colourful beams of projectile vomit, i never have bowed down to worship vomit of any kind and didn't wish to start with Emperor Steele and his homo erotic fanciful friends.

All in all an outstanding day of music, made all the more pleasing by staying sober and saving $7 per mid strength beer. My low expectations were greatly exceeded especially by a display of Aussie Rock royalty turning back the clock and putting in a much bigger effort than in this writers' opinion the crowd deserved.