Live Review: Yours & Owls

Day One

Another October long weekend means another Yours & Owls Festival! Every year these guys work tirelessly to ensure there’s something for everyone to enjoy, and every year they deliver - special shout out to the Das Schmelthaus stage, which was essentially a mini bush-doof going on in the far corner of Stuart Park.

The early main stage slot always does a great job of putting a spotlight on up-and-coming young acts and this year was no different when Eves Karydas got up and shared her infectious electronic-pop tracks. The Cairns artist was a spectacular ray of light in what was otherwise a cloudy and rain-drenched afternoon.

Eves Karydas. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Moving over to the Rad Stage, this year they really went all out in recapturing the look of the now-closed but still beloved Rad Bar (RIP). Friday Park got a warm reception to their indie-pop tracks and surf rockers FiKa followed this up with some amazing guitar licks and hard-hitting beats. The band gels so well, spicing things up with some psychedelic sounds to top off what felt like one nice long jam session.

Friday Park. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Rapper Kwame made the most out of his early slot on the main stage by trying to breathe some life in the sizeable chunk of people in front of him and the much larger crowd sitting on the grass behind them. There’s only so many times you can demand everyone throw their hands in the air to minimal reaction, and his set did suffer from a disconnect in energy levels between a lively artist and an early arvo crowd still easing their way into the weekend’s festivities.

Kwame. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Totally Unicorn, on the other hand, weren’t interested in demanding a reaction. They just lost their shit and the crowd followed suit. They provided some of the most memorable moments of the weekend, including a beer bong that stretched out from the Owl Stage, down through the mosh, and all the way to the mixing tent where someone was game enough to chug whatever was being poured down it.

Totally Unicorn. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Solo singer Ivori won over Rad Stage punters with her palpable charisma and complete openness, confidently talking about her experiences with anxiety and how it’s helped shape some of her music. The music itself was confident and well-produced electronic pop that had plenty of people laid out on the grass just outside the tent, soaking it all in. 

Angie McMahon is a national treasure. The love she got from her fans was loud and ceaseless, beginning from her opening track Soon and lasting all the way through to popular closer Pasta. Her vocals were spectacular, the highpoint being the sustained howls of And I Am A Woman, a track that McMahon explained is rooted in feminism, regarding her own negative experiences with shitty bloke behaviour at gigs and how this behaviour has been wrongfully normalised. She drew a huge crowd that defied her time slot and had people singing and dancing along to her hit tracks Missing Me and Slow Mover.

Angie McMahon. Photos by Peter Dovgan.

With eardrum-bursting rock and a charismatic lead singer that had no problem jumping in with the crowd, Legal Aliens were the embodiment of all the fun and chaos that once went on at Rad Bar.

Legal Aliens. Photos by Peter Dovgan.

Ceres put on a classic punk-rock show at the Owl Stage that was bolstered by a big boost in attendance, as festival-goers came in droves around the 4pm mark. They balanced their slower-paced songs like Choke with festival-friendly tracks like Kiss Me Crying, fielding song requests all the while.

Ceres. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The hidden gems of the day (weekend?) were definitely The Lazy Susans, who put on a killer show at Rad Stage. They’re an alternative-rock group out of the Blue Mountains with cool harmonies and chugging guitar lines playing behind a whole lot of interesting lyrical content.

Vera Blue has an angelic voice, that we knew. What came unexpectedly was the swirl of emotional warmth that hit when hearing her in person. Her older melodic piece Hold hit exceptionally hard, while newer track Mended was an outburst of euphoric delight.

Vera Blue. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Kira Puru was effortlessly cool and confident as hell with a set full of groovy bass lines. Her closing track Molotov garnered a big response from the Owl Stage crowd and was a great transition into the night-time portion of day one.

Kira Puru. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

“This is the moment we’ve been waiting for,” sang Connie Mitchell, echoing the sentiment of the sea of punters who flooded the main stage when Sneaky Sound System began. While their big moments may have come from the performance of their hit singles from yesteryear (UFO, Pictures, and Kansas City), they proved they weren’t just a nostalgia act, slinging dance track after dance track with no pauses or breaks, giving punters all they had and getting back even more in return.

Sneaky Sound System. Photo by Pete Dovgan.

Gold Coast outfit Eliza & The Delusionals certainly earned their spot up towards the top of the Rad Stage line-up. Their last song Just Exist was a breezy alternative-rock delight before it picked up towards the end and ended on a thrashing high. They’re definitely the type of band you’ll want to look up once the weekends over.

Eliza & The Delusionals. Photos by Peter Dovgan.

Promising breakthrough artist Ruel stepped up to the main stage, starting off with some Ocean Alley-type grooves, building things with a smoke machine and charming vocals. We initially wanted to dismiss this dude as just another low-budget Justin Bieber before quickly realising the huge injustice that would do to this clearly ultra-talented singer-songwriter, who presented his own unique personality and a string of catchy pop songs.

Ruel. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Those looking for something a little heavier were over at the Owl Stage with West Thebarton. There were five guitarists up on stage, all of them throwing their axes around like they were recklessly trying to swat away invisible bees. The sweat dripping down "Reverend" Ray Dalfsen’s shirt was a sign of his massive efforts to rock out as much as possible.

West Thebarton. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Amy Shark’s choice of intro music, Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, was an interesting choice. It’s pretty much the opposite of a pump-up song, though maybe that was the point? Any excuse to hear the tearjerker of a track is fine by us. Speaking of tearjerkers, her hit song Adore clearly still resonates with people, if their loud singalong was anything to go by. Shark knows how to make light of heavy topics though, saying, “I wrote this next song about my ex-boyfriend, it’s called The Idiot.” It was a one-liner delivered so perfectly it got a solid cheer and laugh out of all of us.

Amy Shark. Photosby Peter Dovgan.

A Swayze & The Ghosts had plenty of tunes and banter to offer, even if continuous guitar issues caused them to switch up their setlist. Frontman Andrew Swayze made up for the lack of secondary guitar by pulling some sweet air-guitar moves of his own, which more than made up for it in our opinion.

A Swayze & The Ghosts. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Rounding out day one was the silhouette of Golden Features. From the packed mosh to the lone dude way out back free-style dancing in the mud by himself, Golden Features had everyone moving and grooving. His long hair flopped about around his mask while some intensely mesmerising visuals played in the background. No words were said, and none were needed. 

Golden Features. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Day Two

Spacey Jane sounded so crisp and clean walking into day two that, at first, we thought it might’ve been the DJs playing. They amassed a decent crowd that absolutely lost it to their closing track Thrills.

Spacey Jane. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

“I have a small penis and I’m proud,” declared Gooch Palms lead singer Leroy Macqueen. We were presented with all the proof we (didn’t) need - Macqueen flashed us his junk several times over. Some music was played too, but the real effort to entertain lay between the songs, when Macqueen would speak whatever came to mind, usually something about shelving or taking drugs. What was way more shocking than any of this was the fact that the dude can actually sing quite well, at least when it’s Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You.

Gooch Palms. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

With the shock value quota now met for the weekend, it was time to get back to the main stage with WAAX. Lead singer Marie DeVita absolutely killed it and loudly made the stage her own.

WAAX. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The Fangin’ Felines (best band name on the bill) put on a rocking show at the Rad Stage. They used one of their last songs to pay tribute to Kim Shattuck, the frontwoman of The Muffs who sadly passed away recently.

It took a while for them to get the engines revving, but once Fait Accompli got started it was all systems go. Keeping in theme with the Felines before them, it was a heavy and fast-paced rock show from the Sydney-based band.

Love Fame Tragedy is the solo project of The Wombats’ frontman Matthew Murphy and if you didn’t know that going into this festival then there’s a good chance you figured it out quickly enough. Murphy’s oh-so-distinct vocals and unique lyricism were just too easy to identify and now they’ve been given new life with this more modern, electronic sound driving them forward.

Love Fame Tragedy. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

New Zealand outfit Yumi Zouma were an absolute delight to behold on the Owl Stage. Their dreamy disco-pop was such a breath of fresh air and instantly danceable.

Yumi Zouma. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Back to the main stage for Meg Mac and it was another ten out of ten performance for solo artists living large on the main stage. Like Vera Blue and Angie McMahon before her, Mac’s vocals effortlessly demanded everyone’s attention, and her back-up vocalists, who were always on point, created a unified sound that couldn’t have been more pleasant to listen to.

Meg Mac. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The Owl Stage got its moment in the sun later in the afternoon with two killer performances. First up was rapper Genesis Owusu, who brought with him some “goons”, as he called them, to contribute dance moves and vocals. 

Genesis Owusu. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Also with his own group of back-up dancers was the extremely popular Baker Boy. The choreography these guys set up was top-notch and really added some fun elements to both their respective shows.

Baker Boy. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Hip hop mania was running wild, with even more bars going on back at the main stage courtesy of Thundamentals. They opened strongly with Quit Your Job and had no problem getting everyone bouncing up and down from there.

Thundamentals. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The Rad Stage wasn’t big enough for the massive crowd Crocodylus drew, which spilt out of the tent. The band rocked out, the people rocked out, and we loved it.

Crocodylus. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Courtney Barnett is a full-blown rockstar now and there’s no going back for the once soft-spoken artist. There was something so raw and gritty about her main stage performance that was especially evident in her heavier material like Nameless, Faceless and Pedestrian At Best. The bright, heart-warming singalongs that bloom during Depreston haven’t gone anywhere, but now there’s an even bigger emotional range on display that bolsters Barnett’s already impressive live shows. 

Courtney Barnett. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

Poor Fucked Up must have felt very fucked over by their time slot on the Owl Stage. The NRL Grand Final’s very competitive second half, as well as the festival headliner Hot Dub Time Machine, ran at the same time as their show. So if punters weren’t at the main stage, then they were watching the footy on a dedicated projector. But the Canadians had a small crowd of loyalists and either weren’t aware of their misfortune or just didn’t care, because they were hell-bent on performing hell-for-leather, to the point where it felt like watching a movie played at double speed.

Fucked Up. Photo by Peter Dovgan.

The Beths faired a bit better at a fairly packed Rad Stage. Little Death was a neat highlight. With frantic drumming and cool, clean chords, it made for a nice contrast and offered up an alternative to everything else was on offer.

Hot Dub Time Machine’s show was a well-crafted playlist of popular songs from over the last few decades. It was a glorious nostalgia trip and a super-effective way of closing out the weekend - with some nicely timed fireworks to boot. 

Hot Dub Time Machine. Photo by Peter Dovgan.