Peats Ridge Festival Review (2010/2011)

Nestled in the depths of the New South Wales Central Coast, the Peats Ridge Festival proved to be three days of pulsing sun and pulsating tunes from Australia and abroad. As Max Easton writes, it's one of the finest New Year's options on the festival calendar.

“Oh, hey, can we get the time?” pauses Danish multi-instrumentalist Anders Trontemoller at the cusp of his headlining New Years Eve slot. An expectant silence spreads across the crowd assembled under starry skies. “Oh…” he continues, “happy New Year everyone!”

Oh yes, it’s that time of year again…and there’s nothing that more embodies a festival than spending New Year’s eve in line for a beer yet still making it to the faux-countdown at 12:04. We’re at the Peats Ridge Festival, and after finding and losing every friend we’ve made over the three days there’s a handful of us hugging to the how-the-fuck-can-anyone-listen-to-this dance of Trentemoller. Luckily, the firebrand Columbian jams of Watussi prove to be a reprieve from the Danish doof, wherein some semblance of a crew slowly begins to rebuild itself in order to whittle away the early hours of the New Year. Throw in the reggae-fusion of Brisbane’s Chocolate String Orchestra and Peats had programmed a blissfully groove-filled introduction to 2011.

Prior to the New Year though, and the timetable shakes out the themes that bring in 2011 for a bill of endless options and variety. You could venture into a sparsely populated tent for Peats locals The Delta Riggs, a band who tip their entire collection of headwear to The Black Crowes, but still manage to impress with their revivalist brand of southern rock from the heart of the NSW Central Coast. You could take refuge in the main stage shade and be coaxed by the incongruous lyrical meanderings of indie-pop chanteuse Ernest Ellis, or realistically, you could take a beer down the creek and sit in stunning surrounds while that band you really wanted to see plays somewhere off in the background. Regardless of where you went there was something to see, something to do, something to drink…and it’s that dangerous mix of heat, booze and preoccupation which had many a reveler peaking too early and collapsing in the shade by the late afternoon. It's a good thing, then, that wherever you collapsed you were likely to find some great tunes. From the quirk-rock of Dan Kelly's Dream Band to the Midnight Oil/Violent Femmes surf-rock supergroup The Break, all tastes were accounted for while the sun was out...then the reprieve of dusk hits and it all gets better.

With the high-pitched whine of frontman Doug Martsch emanating from one of either his bald spot or beer gut, Built to Spill are a strange shock to the visual senses; but that’s not the sense you’re exercising in their presence. Recording in an era dominated by the aching predictability of loud-soft 90’s grunge, Built to Spill were one of the core acts keeping rock rooted in reality. Their distinct, childish indie sound is an influence on more current-day acts than you can shake a fallen Peats Ridge branch at and it was all layed out in impeccable fashion on night two of Peats. Tight to the point of telepathic, Built to Spill were one of the most professional outfits on the bill, inducing smiles on their ventures through their nigh-on-brilliant discography and would be the festival's stand out if it wasn't for a certain band from Nashville.

Almost any discussion following the set of The Dynamites offered them as the festival highlight...and it’s not like I’m gonna argue with an hour of open-air funk and soul. With the bellows of Charles Walker fronting the impeccable backing of The Dynamites there’s almost nothing you could fault aside from the short length of their songs. As a card-carrying member of the James Brown school of ten minute funk songs, condensing all those grooves into three-minute outings is a fierce tease...but at least I can empathise with all my ex-girlfriends now right?

As always, it’s the acts you didn’t expect to like which end up raising the eyebrows. Cloud Control played a disproportionately massive set of indie tunes and while they're very much of their time in the Pitchfork era of hollow reverb, they were no less impressive. Likewise, Sydney’s Deep Sea Arcade impressed with their Stone Roses meets the Beatles rock-pop, toying with infectious melodies and balls-out pacing to carry the early evening of New Year's. Relative unknowns like Jinja Safari, Tin Sparrow and Georgia Fair (with the downplayed guest appearance of Lisa Mitchell) all made a convincing case for your attention, while the songwriting genius of San Diego resident Steve Poltz was overwhelmingly enjoyable. With his dark kid's show host schtick dropping lines like "you sucked me into your heart through the vacuum between your legs," Poltz was masterfully witty and as good as impossible not to like on first listen. Elsewhere, the alt-country sounds of Canada's Jason Collett were some of the finest on show at the festival despite the modest turn-out to both his sets, while his backing band Zeus proved to be one of the most riotous rock bands on the bill.

The Peats Ridge Festival is more than just the only live-in festival option for Sydney-siders at this time of year; it’s one of the best options in the country. It’s half the length of Woodford, half the line-up of Falls and half the distance from Pyramid, but for all intents and purposes, it's just as good. The crowd is amiable, the location is stunning and while the line-up may predictably headline Angus & Julia Stone, it’s the rest of it that’s so laden with great tunes and good times...and in essence, it's exactly that which keeps us breaking the bank throughout the festival season for events just like this.