Beat The Drum @ The Domain Review 2015

A festival celebrating the 40th birthday of triple j. A festival held on one day, in one place, showcasing 40 years of Australian music across every genre imaginable. NO BIG DEAL, RIGHT?!

Beat The Drum, held at The Domain in Sydney on Friday 17 January was in fact a massive freakin’ deal. I knew I was in for a treat, but what I experienced on that Friday afternoon exceeded ANY expectations I had. Beat The Drum 2015 was an event I will hold dear to my heart for the rest of my life, as I imagine every other Aussie that attended as we huddled together in The Domain on a balmy summer’s afternoon, surrounded by Sydney's beautiful cityscape.

Click here for more photos from the event.

Feeling a bit swish with my media pass, I arrived at The Domain before the crowds and decided to mosey on down to the front centre of the mosh pit where KLP was playing a groovy set to warm up the crowd. The first, massive act to grace the Beat The Drum stage was Ball Park Music. Oh did I mention the star-studded MCs introducing each act? The familiar voices of Zan Rowe, Lewis McKirdy, Wil Anderson, Myf Warhurst, Matt Okine, Alex Dyson, Nina Las Vegas and oh yeah, Peter Garrett, all had their time to shine on stage; Garrett in particular extending a massive thanks to Double J for all the support they’d given to Midnight Oil since their humble beginnings. It’s safe to say that by the end of the night I was completely and utterly star-struck.

Matt & Alex - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

But I digress. Ball Park Music began the night with hit upon hit, coaxing the 25,000 or so audience members into the mosh from the get-go. But a few songs in was where the fun really began. The ever so suave Sam Cromack paused the set to invite Dave Faulkner on stage! Together they performed the Hoodoo Gurus’ 1985 classic ‘Like Wow – Wipeout’ and the entire crowd was gone the moment they laid eyes on him. Hehe.

Ball Park Music - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

Indie heart-throb Vance Joy was next up. Although the first songs were a little under-whelming, the crowd was really just itching to sing-along to 'Riptide'. But before his Hottest 100 number one hit, he brought Bernard Fanning and #1 Dads/Big Scary’s Tom Iansek onto the stage to join him perhaps to overwhelm the crowd a little more. The three vocal talents performed Australian Crawl’s 'Reckless', the audience swaying along to their smouldering voices.

It got better as special guest Gotye appeared on stage to sing a stripped-back version of 'Heart's A Mess', showcasing his extraordinary raw talent away from the commercial explosion that was 'Somebody That I Used To Know'.

Gotye - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

Next was The Preatures. Being the first time I’d seen them live you can imagine my excitement. The pocket rocket of a lead singer Isabella Manfredi waltzed onto the stage, band in tow dressed all in black, absolutely oozing bad-ass vibes. And did The Preatures deliver!

After an on-stage cartwheel from Izzy (not to worry she remembered shorts under the tiny dress) they covered ‘At First Sight’ by Perth band The Stems – “one of our favourite songs” Izzy told the crowd of the 1987 tune; “the year I was born: good vintage!” They were joined by Cloud Control’s guitar-toting Alister Wright and Heidi Lenffer, adding a welcome oomph to the tune.

Then just as the Cloud Control duo exited, on came Divinyls guitarist Mark McEntee! After paying due respect to the "late, great" Chrissy Amphlett, who undoubtedly would have been impressed, McEntee and Manfredi tackled debut single ‘Boys In Town”. She COMPLETELY blitzed the vocals, perhaps even more so than on some of her own tunes?

Sarah Blasko was the next between-bands-act, hailing Paul Dempsey on to the stage for a duet of Crowded House’s ‘Distant Sun’ – “out for a special occasion”. The original sounded great in the 1993 Hottest 100, but was even better as Blasko and the may I say highly attractive Something For Kate frontman created an angelic, acoustic version together.

Paul Dempsey - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

Then it was that time of night when all the mums in the crowd started to shove their way to the front, half fainting as they combated their menopausal hot flushes. Because oh yes, YOU guessed it, You Am I had taken the stage. With Tim Rogers apparently getting better with age, all the yummy mummies enjoyed a flashback to when Triple J was their station.

Tim Rogers - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

They were joined by Joelistics, Courtney Barnett and Adalita – who surfed the crowd giving everyone a good look at her knickers – for a song each with the legends themselves as the sun began to set and Tim Rogers continued downing his wine by the bottle as if it were water.

Adalita - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

Now I bring you to the part of the evening when I was literally reduced to tears. Daniel Johns, out of absolutely nowhere, made music history when he showed up to perform the Nirvana classic, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Now I know there will be many of you disagreeing with me on this one. You’re entitled to your opinion. But let me tell you, for a girl whose two all-time favourite bands of the '90s are Nirvana and Silverchair, nothing could have been more sublime. In a completely transformed piano and harp arrangement, Johns proceeded to make everyone lose their collective minds with his emotive take on Kurt Cobain’s classic.

Daniel Johns - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

After being placed on an emotional roller-coaster, of course The Cat Empire was next on the line-up. I went from weak-kneed and sobbing to virtually putting a rose in my mouth and dancing the tango with the suave boys from the band as they swiftly picked up the beat, wiped away everyone’s tears and had us all grooving and shaking. As well as The Cat Empire’s stunning Kylie Minogue cover with Owl Eyes, they collaborated with hip hop master-in-the-making Remi, performing ‘Saggin’ and bringing major hip hop swag to the stage.

The dance party began when The Presets arrived. As always they threw one HELL of a party. They crammed their set-list with special one-of-a-kind appearances from Hermitude, bringing their modern, electro beats to ‘Ghosts’ to Megan Washington guest singing on ‘This Boy’s In Love’; perfectly I might add – I literally couldn’t fault that voice.

Then FINALLY after I’d been hanging out ALL night for DZ Deathrays to come on stage.... They brought the house down joining The Presets with ‘Are You The One’. JUST when I thought the song couldn’t get any better. It’s safe to say I can now die happy.

Bringing the night to an explosive close was none other than Aussie superstars Hilltop Hoods. These boys definitely know how to get a crowd to go insane. Their energy as they bounced around the stage from one side to the other, overlapping and simultaneously rapping 100km/hr was purely infectious.

Hilltop Hoods - Image © Gwendolyn Lee

They whipped out all of their most-loved hits, as the crowd sang along in unison to every song; for their last hit, 'Cosby Sweater', they put on a very special finale. With the likes of Seth Sentry, Drapht, Tkay Maidza and the Thundamentals joining them on stage they sang the chorus over and over and yet I was still left wanting perhaps thre or four more rounds.

Click here for more photos from Beat The Drum.

Beat The Drum was a once in a lifetime event... Well I guess until they have a 50th birthday anyway... God I’ll be 30! Triple J managed to spotlight all of the Aussie artists we know and love, sending the crowd on a whirlwind of emotions. Who knew I could feel every feeling under the sun in only one night?! Job well done Triple J; way to celebrate 40 years of incredible, Australian music!

Nina Las Vegas – Image © Gwen Lee

Written by Jessie Attwood