The return of Spin Off Festival, at the Adelaide Showground (20 July), saw acts from across the country (plus de facto Aussie band The Wombats) come together to produce an incredible day of music and laughter.
The Spin Off line-up, featuring a number of acts from the Splendour In The Grass bill, caught all of South Australia’s interest with tickets not lasting long – selling out in a matter of a few hours.
Each and every act brought something different to the table, enticing people of all sorts. But it was Meg Mac, The Smith Street Band and aforementioned The Wombats who had everyone excited.
Eves Karydas - image © Erika Owens
Cairns born, birthday girl Eves Karydas, who is recently back from London, announced she has a new album coming out in the next six months.
She surprised the crowd with the title track from that album, ‘Hush’. Leading into the first verse she stumbled and had to start again blaming the crowd for distracting her with their screams.
Her young vibes on stage set the mood for the rest of the day and drew people into the warm Showground pavilion. Her set was short and sweet, but I’m definitely looking forward to her album popping up online in the next few months; still very much 'one to watch'.
Click here for more photos from the festival.
You can pretty much ask anyone and they will tell you that the very quirky Alex The Astronaut’s songs are all full of strong messages and emotions which we love her for, but her style would not exactly be described as feel-good music.
But on Friday, Alex said to the crowd: “I usually try to stick to happy songs, but this next one takes it down a bit,” leaving a few intrigued faces throughout the audience. She launched into ‘Not Worth Hiding’, which definitely brought the mood down but it was a performance nothing less than what we have come to expect from her.
Alex The Astronaut - image © Erika Owens
Other crowd favourites such as ‘William And Georgia’ and ‘Already Home’ followed, before she eventually played her latest release; a much more upbeat song called ‘Waste Of Time’. “I wrote this song about my girlfriend,” she shared with a joke in her voice, “she was a bit offended at first until she listened to it and realised it’s actually a nice song.”
The Jungle Giants return to Adelaide came with a massive scream from the crowd; they were here for a good time not a long time, but they made the most of every minute.
Only one song into their set and lead singer Sam managed to spill his beer, before they pulled out massive hits such as ‘Quiet Ferocity’, ‘Used To Be In Love’, ‘Feel The Way I Do’ and ‘You’ve Got Something’. ‘In The Garage’ gave everyone a moment to catch their breath before undoubted fan favourite ‘Bad Dream’, from their 2017 album 'Quiet Ferocity', had everyone jumping.
The Jungle Giants - image © Erika Owens
Every time these guys visit Adelaide they get better and better, and every time they leave they express how much they love Adelaide. But guys, we love you more!
Next up was the mesmerising sounds of Meg Mac. Her strong sound was undeniable and anyone who had run off to the bar between acts quickly returned to the mosh, so as not to miss a second. Since her last tour at the end of 2017, her popularity has only increased with an appearance in the Triple J Hottest 100 with her latest album’s title track ‘Low Blows’ at #30.
Meg Mac - image © Erika Owens
‘Low Blows’ in this environment was amazing to experience, her low voice reverberating around the massive pavilion. Other exciting tracks such as ‘Grace Gold’, ‘Grandma's Hands’, ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’ and the hugely popular song that everyone can sing-along to, ‘Never Be’.
Her strong stage presence even as a single act was going to be hard to follow, but the next two headline bands were going to give it a red hot go.
The Smith Street Band may be one of the best things to come out of Melbourne in the last decade, and the 'Parma v. Parmy' war is still very much in full swing.
Lead singer Wil Wagner firing shots at what some of the best things about Adelaide are: “What do we like about Adelaide? We like the yiros store across the road from our hotel… and we like Spin Off festival! Thanks so much for having us.”
The Smith Street Band - image © Erika Owens
No love lost for these guys though; the crowd went nuts for their huge track ‘Ducks Fly Together’ and newish song ‘Passiona’ from their 2017 album ‘More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me’. My new, surprise favourite after watching their live show, ‘Young Drunk’ was great and filled with some wonderful, powerful memories.
However, ‘Death To The Lads’ could not be denied; just a fabulous festival song – no one can argue with that.
In the gap between the other acts people would disperse, heading the bar or outside for some fresh air. But before the headline act people didn’t go anywhere. Pushing as far forward as possible to see The Wombats, we were squashed in like sardines.
And then out they came and kicked off their Spin Off campaign with ‘Cheetah Tongue’, a fresh track from their 2018 album, 'Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life'. Other tracks from the new album such as ‘Lemon To A Knife Fight’ and ‘Turn’ got people up and about – as much as they could in such a jammed in moshpit.
The Wombats - image © Erika Owens
But it was older songs ‘Kill The Director’ and ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ which had the girls screaming and scaling their boyfriends to take the perfect Instagram pic.
Before they announced they had two songs left, The Wombats threw multi-coloured giant balloons out over the crowd, like beach balls in summer. They got stuck into ‘Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves)’ and then closed their set with ‘Greek Tragedy’.
An amazing day of diverse and beautiful music from across the country and overseas, coming to a conclusion in little ol’ Adelaide. Let’s cross our fingers for a follow-up Spin Off festival in 2019.
