St Kilda Festival- The Basics and San Cisco

Today was Festival Sunday at the St Kilda Festival, and thankfully the weather Gods were kind to us as the temperature wasn't nearly as hot as forecast earlier in the week. This year is the 35th anniversary of the festival, which is the largest of its kind in Australia. As I was walking along Jacka Boulevard I came across the Hare Krishna Ratha Yatra parade as it passed under the pedestrian bridge and people threw down rose petals from above.

I met up with Mary near the front of the main stage for the mid-afternoon set by The Basics. It was an impassioned start with "Time Poor" and "The Lucky Country" as the first two songs. Kris reminded the crowd that Monday's Liberal Party spill wouldn't result in any real change if someone else became Prime Minster. The set was a good mix of older songs, with the Stand Out/Fit In tracks "Have Love, Will Travel," "Hey There!," "Just Hold On," "Three Cool Cats" and "Rattle My Chain" (appropriate for the occasion as the album cover was shot at The Espy). Kris and Tim just returned from a quick trip to Kenya and were dressed in a dashiki and Maasai red plaid cloth. Unfortunately Wally was losing his voice as the set went on, but he made it through "So Hard For You" and "Second Best," which contained an extended drum solo. One funny moment was when he took a sip of Kris' lemonade, realized it contained alcohol, and asked Kris if he'd made a shandy (the answer was yes). By the end of their set the grey skies had turned blue and the sun was out. They closed with a great cover of Neil Young's "Old Man," and as Kris referenced Jimmy Fallon I think my tweet to him about the Two Neil Youngs bit on the Tonight Show last week may have inspired its inclusion in the set.

We managed to find Tash, who was sitting further back on the hill, and stayed there to watch San Cisco's set. Although I own all their releases this was the first time I've seen them live. They played a mix of new songs off their upcoming album Gracetown as well as some old favorites such as "Awkward," "Beach" and "No Friends." The newer single "Run" and just released "Too Much Time Together" got a good reaction, but it was the set closer "Fred Astaire" that had the huge crowd bopping along. I thought it was really brave of them to play so many new songs to a festival crowd, as it would have been easier to focus on their older, more well known tracks.