First thing you notice upon entry to the Harvest Rock II site is the giant, inflatable cherry display – like some representation of Adelaide's iconic Malls Balls.
It is only the first of several things to come in pairs this weekend (28-29 October); other examples being the D'Addario brothers in Lemon Twigs, the Mael brothers in Sparks (with their own song 'Balls' incidentally), and performances of Powderfinger's 'These Days', but more of that later.Saturday
At the lesser Vines stage, I arrived just in time for Jade Bird's performance of energetic, melancholic but cheerful songs.The country music quality is most notable during the three-song solo portion of her set, but then she throws a curveball with an unexpected cover of the Wheatus song 'Teenage Dirtbag', inspiring an audience sing-along that was probably not going to happen otherwise.
On the Harvest main stage, locals gaining momentum Bad//Dreems' raucous, jagged rock is somewhat at odds with their political and social messaging. To close their set the band cover GOD's (no, not that one) 'My Pal', singer Ben Marwe pounding his chest aggressively and repeatedly for emphasis.
Back over at the Vines stage, New Zealander Pip Brown casually comments: "I'm Ladyhawke," then begins her set with 'Magic', although it's not because it takes a while before the vocals are actually made distinct in the mix.
Early on, "Aunty Pip" mentions being sun-smart and comments: "I hope you're wearing sunscreen," and in retrospect I should have heeded this advice, but by the time I realised it was an issue for me, it was far too late.
The Rolling Stones Revue was not limited by the focus of last year's similarly cover themed Australian Rock Collective playing Neil Young's 'Harvest'; here there was a greater canvas to choose from.
Rolling Stones Revue - image © Mike Lockheart
When I come across the band, Adalita is capably singing a pleasant 'Tumbling Dice', followed by Tex Perkins' primal growl perfectly suited for his recital of 'Paint It, Black', before the two duet with 'Wild Horses'.
You Am I's Tim Rogers is given an opportunity to once again act out onstage his fanboy rock & roll fantasies and steals the show during 'Midnight Rambler' alone.
He gives the best physical performance of the set with a somewhat sadomasochist display as he writhes around suggestively and whips the stage dramatically with his microphone lead, stripping to reveal his pasty upper torso to the delight of the audience. The thought comes to mind that he might be spent too early.
It's a hard act for Adalita to follow but she does with the appropriate 'Get Off Of My Cloud' before Tex returns for 'Sympathy For The Devil'.
Early in their set, Warpaint have to compete with an inattentive audience given that their slow paced and dreamy, layered vocals aren't exactly attention-catching in their own right. Their exercises in groove gradually become the focus of the assembled audience with Theresa Wayman dispensing with her guitar to take the lead vocal on 'Love Is To Die'.
Latterly, initially Emily Kokal's vocals seem low in the mix for 'New Song', but as the song progresses, her vocals take on an almost Donna Summer-esque quality before a segue into the seemingly jammed creeping mutant funk of 'Disco//Very' brings their set to a satisfactory conclusion.
Warpaint - image © Mike Lockheart
Although the bulk of Bernard Fanning's set is from his debut solo album, 'Tea & Sympathy', along with a cover of Steve Miller Band's 'Fly Like An Eagle', he includes a couple of songs from what he humbly describes as "a band I used to be in".
There's a beautiful version of 'These Days' with Bernard on keys and the rest of the band around a single microphone, followed by 'Sunsets' – just for those still hoping for a reunion.
Chromeo's David Macklovitch informs us that it is their first time back in Australia in 11 years and along with Patrick Gemayel, the duo perform a set of appropriate festival fare, just possibly slightly too early in the late afternoon for their talk box/ vocodered dance stylings in the vein of Daft Punk.
Thelma Plum's set was endearing, but occasionally bordering on pantomime especially when expressing the negative during 'Not Angry Anymore' and 'We Don't Talk About It'. Accompanied by Monica Sottile on bass and Pete Covington on guitar, 'Dollar' sounds less twee in this context and Powderfinger's 'These Days' becomes a lullaby.
Unreleased new songs 'The Wise Man' and 'Golden Touch' are welcomed while the set's finest pop moment 'Back Seat Of My Mind' is followed by an emotive acknowledgement of the recent relative failure of the Yes campaign with 'Homecoming Queen'. Runners up in the best pop category 'Clumsy Love' and 'Better In Blak' round out the set.
Nile Rodgers - image © Mike Lockheart
Nile Rodgers has described Chic as a R&B, dance, disco, funk, soul band and their set is testament to that, a virtual mixtape of material released under the Chic banner as well as Nile's many collaborations.
The opening salvo of Chic hits commencing with 'Le Freak' is followed by examples of work with Diana Ross and Sister Sledge before Madonna's 'Like A Virgin' segues into 'Material Girl'; and then David Bowie's 'Modern Love' is like an unintentional callback to last year's jukebox-like cover medley set piece by Khruangbin.
Nile is not limited to a set list from yesteryear, performing latterday Beyonce collaboration 'Cuff It', prefacing it by informing us he's known her since she was 19 years old, an example of his effortless namedropping.
Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' and 'Lose Yourself To Dance' get an airing during a set of medleys in which possibly none of the songs are played in their entirety.
Somewhere along the way he announces: "We have reached a state of maximum funkosity," and there is something circular about ending the set with Nile performing the rap from the Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight', the basis of the song being Chic's 'Good Times'.
Jamiroquai - image © Mike Lockheart
Jamiroquai's Jay Kay acknowledges that following Chic was not going to be easy, but having been largely absent and not toured Australia in a long while was always going to be a pull given the band's reputation.
The breadth of their back catalogue and '90s success certainly should be acknowledged and Jay has possibly lost none of his vocal ability and physical prowess despite an undeniable paunch, a not quite parkour style of dancing being his go to throughout the evening.
Undoubtedly this was an accomplished set with Jay backed by thoroughly capable musicians, and with the material to justify the lengthy set time of nearly double most other acts for the day, the longest of the whole weekend, but unfortunately it was ultimately a hollow run-through of past glories.
Sunday
I had been looking forward to Sunday's Harvest Rock II line-up, for which I considered more palatable than Saturday, but the major drawback was performance times clashing meaning sacrifices would have to be made.With an opening quip, "Harvest, we're gonna get all the crops," by Michael D'Addario gives an indication of the tone of the set to follow by the Lemon Twigs (essentially Michael with older brother Brian, backed live by Danny Ayala on bass and keys and Reza Matin mostly on drums).
In their allocated 45 minutes, they manage to perform 14 songs, hitting the ground running, starting with 'The One' and followed by 'In My Head'.
Brian recommends buying their latest album on iTunes, but the joke falls flat until he clarifies that it's "an outdated streaming service joke" and Michael later similarly jokes about MySpace and there's something telling in these cultural throwback jokes given their musical style harks back to a '70s heyday; and that the retro clothing they are wearing is quite possibly far older than they are – you won't see a bigger collar than Michael's all weekend.
Image © Mike Lockheart
It's not surprising that these songs have a musical theatre quality considering their 'Go To School' concept album. We are treated to a couple of new songs with 'Golden Years' and then 'Rock On' before a cover of The Beach Boys' 'This Whole World' ends with spot on beautiful vocal harmonies, and their last song 'Leather Together' is like early Beatles performing at breakneck speed.
During her set, Julia Jacklin indicates her name displayed large on the screen behind her in a simple early computer font and states: "My name is Julia Jacklin." She's like a porcelain doll caught in the direct midday sun, her band thoughtfully further back on the stage in the shade.
Prior to 'Don't Know How To Keep Loving You' she announces this is her last show of the year. "It's a good thing and a bad thing," she clarifies and continues to tell us that she is grateful to be able to call being a musician her job, introducing her band as her employees as well as her friends, three of which, Blain Cunnen on guitar, Clayton Allen on drums, and Harrison Fuller on bass I note were backing Jade Bird during her set on Saturday.
Nick Murphy's solo performance of beats, soul and funk as Chet Faker did not quite inspire the general dance party vibe evoked by Chic or Jamiroquai the night before, but those down front were giving it their best during a show we are told was made for the evening.
'Birthday Card' is followed by the epic audience sing-along of the pseudo orchestral 'Drop The Game' and then into the contrasting 'Get High', while later the crunchy beats and clicks on 'Talk Is Cheap' demonstrated a degree of versatility and variety within the set.
Although it wouldn't be fair to describe Vera Blue's whole set as a her take on EDM, it certainly started that way with 'Lethal' accompanied by the most arresting back screen visuals for the weekend thus far (possibly only second to Beck's later that evening) with sparks and loops of flame, and later cascading flowers and lava lamp-like stained glass windows.
Early on, she references her somewhat clunky black wings with "Happy Halloween. I though I'd get spooky for no reason." She covers Enya's seminal 'Orinoco Flow', the "sail away" chorus becoming an anthemic audience sing-along.
This is a commanding performance that latterly includes a couple of songs of positive reclamation in 'Lady Powers' and 'Regular Touch' before ending with a version of her collaboration with Flume, 'Rushing Back'.
Image © Mike Lockheart
Flanked by her dancers dressed correspondingly as though suited for a baptism, Santigold’s opening performance is her collaboration with Major Lazer, 'Hold The Line', while the rest of the set is dominated by her "self-titled" first album 'Santogold', commencing with 'L.E.S. Artistes'.
The cardiovascular stage choreography seems to borrow from James Brown's act of collapsing then being supported and returned to performance by her dancers.
There are some technical difficulties, most notably during 'My Horror' which cuts short suddenly, but she carries on, even potentially sabotaging herself by asking for dancers to join her on stage, literally inviting a chaotic stage invasion for 'Creator'.
Surprisingly she is able to clear the stage again straight afterwards and successfully concludes her set after a couple more songs including one to make up for the earlier tech issues.
There is a feeling of great anticipation and then the crowd roars with delight as Sparks (brothers Ron and Russell Mael) walk on stage, commencing their set appropriately with 'So May We Start'.
While to the casual observer Russell plays the frontman ably with his trademark, occasionally histrionic falsetto, Ron's performance, not limited to simply musical instrumentation, certainly cannot be downplayed, taking to front of stage a couple of times through the set, notably contributing deadpan spoken vocals on 'Shopping Mall Of Love' and then later a vaudevillian dance routine.
Sparks - image © Mike Lockheart
This is a singular musical duo, with great sense of humour pervading their satirical, abstract take on the mundanity of life. Special mention must go to Evan Weiss for his effective guitar shredding during the classic 'This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us'.
Paul Kelly is inarguably Australia's greatest living songwriter and is ubiquitous in Australian culture.
Whether or not one considers he has been oversaturated in recent years, no one says a bad word about him, and with classic songs like 'To Her Door', 'How To Make Gravy' and 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' performed on a Sunday evening, who would?
Beck rounds off the weekend grateful to return to Adelaide after an extended absence. 'Devils Haircut' sets the pace and during the first half of the set Beck gives us a rock show that demonstrates exactly why he is the Sunday headliner.
Some of his stage banter is a little corny – he refers to the audience as "Midnite Vultures" before launching into that album's 'Mixed Bizness' and he asks, perhaps rhetorically, "Should we stay up all night? Let's stay up all night," before a similarly titled song.
Beck - image © Mike Lockheart
He channels Marvin Gaye on a loose performance of the neo-soul 'Debra' and occasionally refers to the full moon. In the middle of the set things quieten down when somewhat appropriately he performs the 'Seachange' song 'Lost Cause' as country folk and then momentarily sits on some onstage steps to play slide guitar as an intro to the slacker anthem 'Loser' that shot him to stardom all those years ago.
Somewhere along the way there’s a harmonica solo and the set is rounded off with 'Where It's At', bringing this year's Harvest Rock II to a satisfying close.
More photos from Harvest Rock II.
