Twenty six awesome bands, thousands of people, rides, greasy food, drinks, and a good excuse to rough it in a tent for the weekend...what could be better? With such a tasty recipe for good times, not even the wet weather could dampen the spirits of punters at the inaugural Groovin The Moo Festival. The festival itself felt a lot like all of the good parts of Southbound squished into one day without such a lengthy hungover car ride home the next morning. With most people pushing through the day bleary eyed and unshowered the day was always going to be one to remember.

My day began in a quiet campsite in the sleepy town of Binningup, several kilometres outside of Bunbury. Despite a bit of a stiff neck I cooked up a quick bacon and egg sandwich, waved goodbye to my tent and then drove off to the festival, aiming to meet up with my new photographer for the time the gates opened. A few minutes to get my bearings and I was in time for Bunbury rockers and previous Triple J unearthed winners The Words to take to the stage. I wasn't too familiar with their music but after snapping the talent for the first few songs I had the chance to chill out on the lawn and have a bit of a listen. The Words showed all the grittiness of our great Australian rock scene. With some choice songs about the struggles of smalltown fame, The Words are well aware of their roots.

With starter sets only last around half an hour, before I knew it the final song was being played and I had to really leg it through the crowds to get to the next act. Harlequin League are always good quality and the Perth four-peice were a stellar addition to the lineup with moody vocalist Sebastian Astone putting out a flawless set. As per usual I recognised a bunch of songs without actually knowing the names of them. Halfway through I braved the lines for drinks to get a Red Bull into me in preparation for a busy day ahead. But no rest for the wicked, as soon as I'd cracked open my can Astone was announcing their final song signalling the entrance of Muph and Plutonic to be just minutes away. So then ensued me trying to scull the entire can in one to get out in time to photograph the next band since you aren't allowed to leave the 18+ area with your drinks, and rightly so. Muph and Plutonic were plenty of fun. Admittedly I was running laps of the photography pit to keep up with the enthusiastic frontman who was bouncing around the stage but the crowd was well into it.

An entertaining half an hour later and I thankfully swapped press passes with my new photographer to take a break and properly appreciate the festival. In other words I bought myself another Red Bull and went for a wander. I didn't particularly want to miss out on Kisschasy but luckily I'd seen the boys just a few months beforehand so I took this time to kick back and chill to the sounds of Illy on the Moolin Rouge stage.  The Moolin Rouge stage was pumping by 2pm so I was looking forward to seeing how the dance tent faired later that night. For the time being though anticipation was high for Lisa Mitchell's set. Lisa Mitchell is one of those artists who I took a while to warm to. Coin Laundrey was a little too cute for my liking but with the release of Raven I totally get it now and am completely in love with the quirky songstress. Mitchell entered the stage clad in a cool blue vintage dress and wowed us all with her folky tunes, ending on a high note with my new favourite song Raven.

So I somehow ended up in the moshpit (with my camera equipment keep in mind) which I soon realised was a huge mistake with British India ready to kick off and a boyfriend who likes to start violent circle pits right next to me. As expected I ended up in the middle of a bunch of boys pushing each other around in the mosh. Disapointed that I couldn't join in I vacated to the back to rock out in my own space to memorable rocky tracks I Said I'm Sorry and Run The Red Light then chilling out to Beneath the Satellite. British India seemed to be able to muster the most energy from the crowd for the entire festival despite their mid-day slot. In fact the only set to rival the energy of the British India set on the day was the Moolin Rouge stage shortly after when the Bloody Beetroots Warp was turned up to 11 and a flash mob of dancers suddenly stormed the barrier.  I was one of them.  

Food and some merch hunting was next on the agenda since I’d spotted hundreds of people filing past with Groovin The Moo bandanas. I finally spotted someone handing them out and in my rush to get one I managed to drop my bag then promptly trip over it. Not that I cared when I landed a free bandana in the end. At this stage it was almost time for me to take over the photographing duties again so I snapped a bunch of social photos to get myself hyped for the job. Tegan and Sara were up next. The two cute but vivacious girls were the perfect addition to the festival. They manage to get away with having some chart toppers but still be alternative in their stage presence. Sharing stories with the audience and taking a photo of the Australian audience “for mum” brought a sense of friendliness to the members of the moshpit who were gearing up for the headliners. It was easy to get swept away in the music and by the second song – On Directing – the crowd had fallen into a general lull.

Not for long though since heavyweight Australian rockers and all-round festival favourites Grinspoon were ready to take to the Myspace stage. These guys have positively rocked every festival in Australia. While their music isn’t quite as relevant in today’s music environment they nevertheless had the whole crowd singing along to top singles from their back catalogue including More Than You Are, Chemical Heart and Thrills, Spills and Sunday Bills.  

Empire of the Sun was another matter entirely. The flamboyant artist had all the flairs and airs to match that of a Lady Gaga or Christina Aguilera sell-out show cross pollinated with possibly cirque du soleil but still managed to pull it off at an all-day festival. Talk about maintaining showmanship despite the odds. My only complaint was the microphone setup front and centre which successfully blocked most of the stage as well as Luke Steele and his elaborate get ups. Steele’s musicianship was flawless and his delivery of  We Are The People gave me chills – which may have had something to do with the fact I was fairly damp from the poor attempt at rain throughout the night. Numerous costume changes, backup dancers and plenty of makeup and pointy things, Empire of the Sun proved its worthiness for third place on the lineup and left Vampire Weekend and Silverchair with a tough act to follow, closing with chart topper Walking on a Dream.

Vampire Weekend rose to the challenge marvellously. I hadn’t seen these boys live yet but between the general energy emanating from the crowd, frontman Ezra Koenig’s fun happy tunes and my boyfriend singing at the top of his lungs behind me, the set was one of the most enjoyable. The groovy air of the set didn’t quite match that of the demon-eyed woman’s face dominating the backdrop but the crowd still loved every second. Vampire Weekend delivered a tight set and clearly was the main draw card for at least half the people attending the festival with every song on the set list belted out from festival punters.

Silverchair was…disappointing for me. I guess I am one of those die-hard fans from their garage band days but I feel the Australian rockers have lost their edge in recent years. I’d caught them a couple of years earlier at Big Day Out 2008 and their set had little impact then and I was positively cringing when I heard them pull out an oldie – and favourite – Freak. This time I had wandered into the photography pit with notably lower expectations but still with a gleam of hope they might enter with all the guts and balls they once had. That hope was dashed before they even entered the stage as strangely the Star Wars theme song began playing. Not only did it not match the band but it also had little continuity to the rest of the set as it jerkily moved into their opener track. What ensued was a trip through the long-running outfit’s 14-year back catalogue with the pretentious Daniel Johns leading the way. The Greatest View and Isreal Son weren’t bad in their delivery but the rest of their effort seemed to be put into proving to old fans that Silverchair are still on the road to douchebag territory. The two new tracks they pulled out during the set were evidence of this with the melodies dripping with electronica and Kesha-like vocoder vocals. So I gave the set my best shot but left as soon as I heard the abomination of Freak again. Hey, at least I got to beat the traffic rush.

Groovin The Moo in my opinion was a perfectly positioned, timed and organised event. The May weather was luckily not wet enough to have much effect on the day, lines for food, toilets and merch were easy to handle and having the festival in Bunbury meant it wasn’t too far for the South-Westians or Perthians to travel and music fans of Bunbury could finally have a major music event to call their own. While there’s been no word yet, my fingers are crossed that this will become yet another permanent stamp on Western Australia’s ever-growing music festival calendar.

By Nikkita Dixon.

Photography by Nikkita Dixon and Andrew Frazer.