Homebake - the agony, clean ecstasy and WTF clean toilets and plenty of tp??!??

Alex Yamakazi - Monday, 8 December 2003 - Print Version

The hated rays of the sun shone on Homebake through a thick and deceitful bank of cloud. Not content with punishing the partygoers with stealth sunburn the almighty spiteful one also smote us with rain.

I'm not sure that I felt totally safe with the abscence of the anti-lemming cattle run maze barriers we had at Livid but since I didn't at any stage feel the urge to run willy nilly into any inanimate objects thus bringing myself to a messy sticky end, perhaps it was ok.

Following my carefully highlighted program my first stop of the day was at the dome stage to see Offcuts. This was not by choice but unfortunately my other half has not yet realised the obvious advantages of obeying a kindly and wise leader such as myself. Surprisingly, Offcuts were OK. Some of their funkier stuff was danceable. The messy rock stuff wasn't. Messy rock is a hideous plague that must be stopped. While I'm on that topic... Death to Jet. Just Death to them. If you don't already understand why I can't explain it to you.

After Offcuts we wandered about for a bit, caught up with some friends and made our way through the Homebake markets. No excitement there just your standard "witty" tshirts and shiny things to attract the drugfucked. Water was $3 a bottle, Coke was $3 a can. Not impressive considering what we had already paid to get in. Then organisers wonder why people get dehydrated, fall down, die and that grieving parents then sue. And Of COURSE it was their FIRST drug experience their little Mary-Sue was NO junkie. (Despite the evidence that she had taken 6 pills, 3 vials of GBH and 3gs of speed) Ranty today... aren't I??

Then a visit to the toilets which to my great surprise were clean and plentiful. They also had toilet paper. AMAZING STORIES!!! Even better, they stayed in this state for the duration of the festival. Pristine.

Back to the dome stage for a good dose of RRRRRROCK with The Butterfly Effect. Sensational stage work and a charismatic front man ensured that these guys really got the crowd going. Perhaps not as brilliant a performance as their show at the Annandale but definitely very, very solid. It will be interesting to see what happens to these guys over the next few years. They have the talent to make it big but will today's current musical climate allow it?

Over to the main stage next for 1200 Techniques. Nice work by the front man and some crowd pleasers thrown in from the mixing deck. Not really my thing but nice enough.

Next stop was Bexta under the big top. I used to be a fan and perhaps I've just grown out of hardcore but to me it seemed a very lacklustre show. Too much doof and not enough wiggle, all very stock standard stuff and Bexta didn't look like she wanted to be there. At all.

After a quick wander around the rides area and catching up with a few more friends it was time for Katalyst. Some very nice very funky hip-hop, again with plenty of crowd-pleasers thrown in. Their act suffered because of lack of time. HORROR: they cut N.E.R.D's Lapdance short. I will pray for their souls.

We then went in vain search of the Hopetoun stage but unfortunately we didn't find it. So damn. We missed out on Little Birdy. After some more wandering about we made it back to the big top in time to catch the end of Gerling. Crackling speakers marred what was otherwise a slick little show. They did a great job of getting the crowd going.

We did something in between Gerling and Resin Dogs. As we were no longer coherent enough to follow or even find the highlighted program, I think we may have been unsuccessfully trying to molest the sexy bitch who was working in the indenial stall. Something like that. Trust me, I'm doing well to remember this much!

Resin Dogs were up next and they were just brilliant. The rain was coming down outside which forced everyone into the big top. It was crowded and hot but it was a funky, funky show, some great deep sexy beats and they really knew how to play to the crowd. Definitely the highlight of the day.

Although we did really want to see Pnau, exhaustion had set in. They are an excellent outfit and I was sorry to miss them. We trudged our way out thru the mud and back to the real world.

Alex Yamakazi