AS the Golden Plains Festival quickly became the Sodden Plains Festival, I overheard a few comments along the lines of "yeah, but it's not as wet as Meredith '08".
True that, but the weather gods did throw up an endurance challenge for the dedicated thousands at the Supernatural Amphitheatre at Nolan's Farm near Meredith over the weekend.
On the bright side though, we didn't get the 'golf ball-sized hailstones' that pounded Melbourne, and Melbourne didn't have an awesome array of bands to keep its spirits up in the deluge.
Opening duties went to Melbourne punks Royal Headache, who served up a slice of Eddy Current Suppression Ring-style drums and wires under foreboding skies.
Wimpy-sounding The Crayon Fields, with their mix of lesser Smiths and Television moments, didn't hold the attention of many as the rains came, unlike hirsute Israelis Monotonix, who embraced the weather and performed their set amongst the crowd and at times held aloft by the crowd, much to everyone's approval.
UK buzz duo The Big Pink were hit-and-miss until the delivered their set-closing single Dominos, which sounded amazing and sent the crowd "burko", as one colleague put it.
The first day highlight was, hands down, Pavement, who brought their recently reformed indie-guitar-lovin' selves to stage just after dark.
Frontman Stephen Malkmus set up his mic facing across stage and seemed annoyed at the gig's conclustion, but it was a stellar set, populated with crowd favourites including Stereo, Cut Your Hair and Summer Babe. Pavement even managed to sound less lo-fi and angular than many expected, filling the amphitheatre with the great rock 'n' roll sounds of the '90s.
Fellow 'heritage' act Dinosaur Jr. followed, with J Mascis unleashing a barrage of awesome guitar solos as the band wheeled through their back catalogue of solid grunge.
Like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr. were given 80 minutes to do their thing which, unlike Pavement, showed how samey much of Dinosaur Jr.'s material is. But still cool nonetheless.
The hardier souls rocked until dawn as the DJs took over, but many rested their wet heads in preparation for day two.
And on the second day, the clouds did part momentarily and the sun shone long enough to allow people to dry their clothes a bit. Sunday morning was filled with strange noises - the strangest being Jack Ladder, who came on like Jim Morrison and Nick Cave's bastard son on bad drugs and wailing in the face of the apocalypse.
More soothing were the psychedelic rock jams of Wooden Shjips, who went down nicely over a few Pink Flamingo cocktails in the sunshine, although even more impressive were Space Invadas and their groove-laden soulful rock.
But the best was yet to come. By unanimous vote among my colleagues (and the boot-brandishing crowd), American Down-South rockers Nashville Pussy were the highlight of the weekend with their hard-drinkin', hard-livin', hard rock.
Frontman and birthday boy Blaine Cartwright was engaging and had the crowd eating out of his hand, but all eyes were on bassist Karen Cuda and Cartwright's wife, the show-stealing Ruyter Suys, who whipped out blistering solo after blistering solo, living up to her husband's exultations that she was "the best guitarist since Angus (Young) himself".
No one was going to come close to topping the good times rock 'n' roll of Nashville Pussy, who even managed to turn Nutbush City Limits into a cool rock-out moment.
Calexico were excellent with their Tijuana-infused pop, and even better were The Cruel Sea, who pulled out an awesome hit-laden set that included Cocaine, Hard Times, The Honeymoon Is Over, Takin' All Day, and Better Get A Lawyer.
The rains hit hard and dispersed the crowd for Midnight Juggernauts, who were valiant but underwhelming, and only the truly devoted hung around in the wet for Opulent Sound, Gaslamp Killer and Optimo.
The long slow muddy pack-up the next day was a tough and painful one, especially when it started bucketing down again, but we had survived and loved our time at the Amphitheatre again, no matter what Mother Nature threw at us. Only the weak won't be back next year.
Email a friend