2019 — Meredith History

2019. The last one before recess.

The water animal curse broken, year of the platypus, which for some reason seems to be the most appropriate of all the animals.

Weather?

Was mild, if not a little cold. There was no rain. The skies often grey.

There were no bushfires or floods to contend with. Which was nice.

It was the first Meredith that would feature a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country performed by traditional custodians the Wadawurrung (after a first crack at it at GP earlier in the year), who have been calling these parts home for around 5,000 generations.

The now part-of-the-fixtures Barry James Gilson wrote in the Owner’s Manual:

“The start of a new beginning and a new chapter for Meredith. A healing for everyone. Creating friendship between the traditional custodians and the caretakers of the land in the past, present and future.”

Barry and Tammy were at the very first Meredith, and it’s a real honour to have them back in an official capacity each year. Thanks Barry. And Tammy. And everyone else from the Wadawurrung crew who have been along.

The music component kicked off with a kick arse set from Jesswar. As per the descripto in the program, the lines say it best:

“RIP Biggie / I’ll dig a hole for Iggy /
Vanilla Ice and Iggy should get married
and sell bindis in Mullumbimby.”

A couple of hours later Julia Jacklin crushed it and us with the most spellbinding of displays.

A master mood manipulator, there was the pull of the songs followed by the push of the downtime in between, which Julia seemed to string out for just the amount of time it took for the spell to be broken before sucking you right back in with a few strums of the guitar.

Briggs had been here 4 years earlier, and it’s fair to say his star had risen in the intervening time. The wearer of many hats, at this one he had his chef’s hat on, boiling, simmering, tasting and then cooking The Sup’ to perfection. With a little help from Jesswar on vocals.

Close Counters are worth a mention. Also a beguiling set with high fashion, as well as the kind of intricacies that go unnoticed in the middle of a sheep paddock. Looping vocal samples, looping visual samples, and a violin solo thrown in for good measure.

A maximal funk voyage into the heart of party.

Liam Gallagher was still mad for it. There had been plenty of debate in the caravan about this one in the planning stages (and in the public sphere post announce).

Was hard to argue with the performance and how wild the scenes got down near the front.

Second on after the Ballarat Brass Band on the Saturday morning, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding’s Supernatural debut felt like a homecoming, reaching some kind of moment of levitation during an all-in crowd sing-along to Footscray Station (which may have been surpassed when Don’t Bother Me was played interstitially at GP2020).

Feels, crabs and shoes everywhere.

The disappointment was heavy when London’s Steam Down let us know they wouldn’t be making it out to Oz a few days before Meredith.

Fortunately, DJ Koze was able to step up, and step up he did, surrounded by so many plants the stage had the feel of a terrarium. Which it became. It’s not often you see people running to the Amphitheatre to catch an act, but there we were, hands in the air, from front to back to Southbank to the Flamingo to over near the Red Tree.

All cutting loose in full daylight, with two wedged-tailed eagles circling high above (Barry, did you organise that?)

Someone had the foresight to bring a dial up telephone with them for when Operator hit: “it’s for you”, holds it out to the crowd.

Speaking of props, Amyl and the Sniffers went from festival openers a mere two years earlier to full late night blast at this one.

To mark the occasion they had a live chat roulette feed beamed onto the stage screens, with rouletters on the other end seeing a pic of Amy with the words, “YOU ARE ONSTAGE. 12,000 PEOPLE WANT TO SAY HELLO”.

Despite being vetted to make sure there were no dicks on the screens, most seemed to get stage fright pretty quickly once they figured out what was happening.

Bravo Amyl.

Other highlights from the weekend: Hooligan Hefs blazing a new trail as far as offerings in The Sup’ go. Vanessa Worm putting the spook into plenty late on Friday night.

Cate Le Bon being Cate Le Bon, i.e. incredible – seemed pretty happy with the set herself, punching the air as she passed behind the backstage curtain.

Dead Prez being bigger than…

Digital Afrika, featuring Karen Bravo on step and Remi on MC duties, making many dance.

And Helena Hauff doing something similar via other means.

Things that you could do at this one that you couldn’t previously included buying ice in South Pines, going on a tour of Waste World, cloak your car on the Sunday if you blew a gasket on the Saturday and weren’t fit to drive home, place your empty cans in their very own waste stream called ‘Cans’, fill up your drinking water bottle from two new locations (making 15 in total), and bring your thing-on-a-stick into The Sup’ again, which had been somewhat banned for a couple of years (see 2015).

This was also the last Meredith with Store Sales, with a few in-the-fleshers making the trip to Polyester in Fitzroy and Greville St. for a final time.

Thanks to all the in-store shoppers over the years. Was always a thrill to see the dedication on the streets.

Geraldine Hickey had some advice if there was a spill in The Gift:

“If you see a dick on the ground, pick it up.”

Who Played?

Róisín Murphy Briggs Liam Gallagher Helena Hauff Amyl and the Sniffers Julia Jacklin Dead Prez DJ Koze Viagra Boys Cate Le Bon The Egyptian Lover Christine Anu LOGIC1000 Jesswar Stompin’ Riffraffs U-Bahn Eric Powell Vanessa Worm Digital Afrika Gordon Koang Scott & Charlene’s Wedding WVR BVBY Constant Mongrel Rambl Diimpa Sweet Whirl Karate Boogaloo The Faculty Hooligan Hefs Close Counters River Yarra City of Ballarat Municipal Brass Band Master Song Tai Chi Gabriella Bartonova The Huxleys MCs: Fee B2, Sarah Smith & Geraldine Hickey

Poster

Playing Times

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