Today was the
Homebake Festival at the Domain in Sydney. After a night of thunderstorms, thankfully the weather held today. It was warm with periodic cloud cover, which provided some time out of the sun. The show was sold out (20,000 tickets) and the lines to get in were huge when the gates opened at 11:00 am. Once I entered I had a wander around the grounds. Along with the stages there were merchandise and food tents scattered about. The food was pretty good considering it was a festival show, and not overpriced.
As you can see from the timetable, there were four stages going at the same time. I spent most of the afternoon at the Dome Stage and caught sets by Expatriate, Architecture in Helsinki, The Go Betweens, and Sarah Blasko. I then headed toward the Main Stage for the end of Wolfmother's set, and stayed there for the rest of the evening. I got a nice spot by the sound board along a front barricade, so I could lean against something as well as watch the big screen. Ben Lee was his usual optimistic self and threw flowers to the crowd when he came out. The Living End rocked and the place went nuts, which wasn't that surprising considering how drunk a lot of people were. I got to hear a couple more new songs from their upcoming album, which was cool. The evening ended with the Finn Brothers, and I made my way up to the front of the stage to get as close as I could. Their set was pretty similar to what they did at The Enmore Theatre on Thursday night. The crowd sang along to the Crowded House and Split Enz numbers, but didn't seem to know the latest material. They played for an hour and a half and then the show ended at 11 p.m. because of curfew. It was an amazing day of music, and I was exhausted by the time I got back to my hotel.
It is 2008 here in Australia and soon to be in the United States. I spent my New Year's Eve at The Espy in St. Kilda with Tash and her friend Steve listening to various bands. We caught the second half of Children Collide's set, rang in the new year with Architecture in Helsinki and caught a couple songs from Rocket Science before heading home. It was an incredibly hot night as temperatures during the day were 41/106 degrees, and it was still 30/86 degrees by the time I got home around 3:00 am. I've been lying low today as it reached 41 degrees again, but a cool change has finally come through, so I should be able to sleep tonight. I hope you all have a fantastic 2008!
