When I saw the announcement that Something for Kate, You Am I, Spiderbait, Jebediah and The Meanies were playing A Day on the Green, I became extremely excited, giggling with joy. The bands of my youth were all getting together to play a festival, which felt like a festival just for me. I couldn’t believe it. My late teens and early twenties were flooded with music from the aforementioned bands. It’s quite funny, as when I was in my twenties, and A Day on the Green had started, I brushed it off as an ‘old peoples music festival’, and now, I am that very much that old person attending the old persons festival. My wife and I drove to the Mt Duneed Estate on the 12th of November, on the outskirts of Geelong, ensuring we were there early enough to set up shop. The shop being the front row in the seating section. We set ourselves up with drinks and food and took in our front row position. The DJ was spinning tracks at what appeared to be an unbelievable volume, and we started to question whether the front row was a good choice, however the bands would go on to prove that yes, the DJ was bloody loud, louder than the bands themselves! The weather forecast was not great, and within our first hour of being at the festival, we had been rained on, and the wind was so strong that my then full beer was blown away, with an almighty spray on to a number of punters that were near us. The Meanies were the first to grace the state. I have never personally been in to The Meanies, but I have seen them many times in the past at a number of venues around Melbourne. The last time I saw them was for the ‘last ever’ gig at The Tote, which was also headlined by Spiderbait. While I’ve never paid The Meanies too much attention, they were a lot of fun on stage, and it was great to see them on such a big stage. Walking around the festival grounds between sets was a great experience, as it is not very often that everyone else is around the same age as me, it felt really nice, and honestly made me feel like I was in my twenties. It felt like it was the early 2000’s. I guess this is the idea behind A Day on the Green, and I thank them whole-heartedly for the experience. To think I used to brush off this concept in my youth, only to come around full circle in my late thirties. The second band to play was Jebediah. I have only seen Jebediah one other time, at the Meredith Music Festival, quite a few years ago now. Just like back when I saw them at MMF, they played a whole set of hits. I’ve never owned a Jebediah album, but I knew every song they played, which says a lot about the impact they had. Tracks like Feet Touch the Ground, Military Strongmen, Animal, Jerks of Attention and Fall Down were crowd pleasers. I do own two Jebediah releases mind you. I bought the split EP they did with Something for Kate in the late 1990’s and the single to the track ‘Animal’. I absolutely loved watching them, and went out and bought CD’s the very next weekend as a result. Spiderbait were the middle act. Their second album ‘Ivy and the Big Apples came out when I was in Year 12 in school, and was in part, the soundtrack to my final year of schooling, and it was great to relive some of their great songs. It was during the Spiderbait set that the ‘seating’ arrangements began to unravel. However, the security guards were very insistent that the chairs were tidied up after each set and that everyone ‘had their place’ to sit. This was very much appreciated by my wife and I, as we were the owners of front row seats. At the end of the Spiderbait set, we head up the back for the signing Something for Kate were doing. I wanted to be a big music nerd and get a photo with my hero’s. I’ve since discovered that this is a feature of A Day on the Green festivals, which I think is an amazing idea. However, I wish I had brought my copy of the SFK / Jebediah slit EP, to get signed by both bands. You Am I were second last, a band I have seen many times during my younger years, and as always, they were in fine form, busting out a loud and rocking set. The headline act for the night was Something for Kate. Something for Kate were the soundtrack of my twenties. I was a slightly obsessive fan, owning every single release on top of the albums. I even bought a few releases on vinyl. I cannot count up the amount of times I’ve seen this band, as I have essentially gone to see them tour every time they released an album as well as seeing Paul Dempsey solo at least six or more times. It was during their set that I really felt the impact of the front row seats; although by this stage, the seating arrangement had become meaningless. I was quite happy that my wife and I could lean against the barricade and enjoy the music. Overall, it was a thrilling experience, and well catered for with the options for food and drinks. I’d definitely do another Day on the Green.
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June 2018
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