Hang The DJ - Parklife Wants Your Money

An eternal sigh filtered through music forums today as it was announced that there would be no sideshows to accompany this years Parklife line-up. Death From Above 1979 fans nationwide now have to bump and orally grind with the rest of the shirtless gimps on the green to see their one record heroes.

It appears with the current market saturation, festivals are literally clutching at straws to get punters to their events. Basically, they’re being greedy little bitches and not letting you have any of the international goodness for anything under $150. Splendour in the Grass are also familar with the ‘greedy bitch’ approach after they exercised the same deal with Coldplay and Kanye. Good Vibes started the trend back in February when they held Phoenix to a festival-only agreement.

If this is what it’s coming to then I believe the death rattle of the festival craze must be upon us. Plenty of international artists are touring in Oz because in layman's terms, our dollar gets you paper right now, so bands don’t really need festivals to get paid no mo’. With Soundwave Revolution collapsing only weeks before it was due to commence, the future of Australian festivals are on shaky grounds. My advice would be not to isolate your audience by forcing them to participate just for their money. Find the spirit of the festival again, much like Homebake. In this case it’s not better to burn out than to fade away in my opinion.

Leeds VS Melbourne - A Kaiser Chiefs Epic

Last night I caught Papa VS Pretty supporting cheeky English rockers the Kaiser Chiefs at the Palace in Melbourne. In a sea of Splendour sideshows, I was lucky enough to catch a show I wouldn't normally go to. I'm a massive supporter of Papa VS Pretty and have been since they were still in high school, so it's a given that I always catch them whenever they're in town.

Hot of the heels of their sold-out show at the Northcote Social Club, PVP where back in town in full support with the young and talented Stonefield. Now, I enjoy the Kaiser Chiefs like pretty much anyone who owns a radio and unknowingly hums along to their tunes.. but I don't know anyone who actively updates their status with: "Oh my god! Can not wait for the new Kaiser Chiefs album!" - am I right? In my opinion the Chiefs peaked in about 2005 and have been pleasantly meandering along since then, inoffensively. Good band, but you know, they just quietly do what they do but remain present. I took a friend along to the show and he claimed to not be a massive fan at all, but somehow he knew all the lyrics.. Impressive what repetitive radio does to you!

Anyway, PVP were great as usual, rocking a near full room at an early time slot and were complimented by a rather flashy light show. It was towards the end of their set that the room really begun to fill out, thick accents in tow. I had a feeling that the crowd would be heavy with expats but at one point, I was the only Aussie in a sea of poms and Irishmen.

Kaiser Chiefs exploded onto the stage after a big light show intro accompanied with the excessive amount of dry ice you'd expect. The lads opened with favourite 'Everyday I Love You Less and Less' which I have to admit, like the rest of the show, it was pretty damn energetic. The crowd were quite active themselves, some even crowd surfing througout 'I Predict a Riot' and 'Ruby.'

Towards the end of the set, front man Rick Wilson begged the question of how many people in the crowd were actually from Leeds, to this about 80% of the room erupted into hysteria. When Wilson asked how many Melbournites were present, a weak response lingered before the poms started rioting again.

I have to admit it was a pretty entertaining show, professional and exciting with the perfect amount of wanky stage lighting you'd expect from international artists. I'd probably see them again on a festival bill but maybe not a sideshow because it seems their set list hasn't totally changed since 2005. Still, enjoyable enough.