I've got my hairdryer.
What a weekend, potatoheads!
Saturday was the Pauhaus festival. Kylie, Cal, Fatboy and I had previously discussed getting there a couple of hours earlier than doors open so we could have a picnic in New Farm park. We decided that noon was a good time to meet (with doors opening at 2:30pm). Kylie, Fatboy and I didn't get there until 1pm. Cal didn't get there until 2:45pm. Doing good, kids... I guess it was okay because it also happened to be a FREEZING ICICLE WINDS day. Kylie, Fatboy and I sat down near the river, shivering to death and willing that some passing stranger would fall into the river to amuse us.
Whatever. We sat around watching the line to get in the doors get longer... and longer... and a bit longer still, before finally suggesting that we should probably get IN said line. Fatboy came to some trauma when attempting to get in, as she was relying on some industry guy to put her on the guest list (with her friend Steve as a +1) but apparently it didn't happen and she had to wait around for hours for some other industry guy to show up so she could be his +1 (Steve didn't get inside at all; the festival was sold out). Being the typical caring sister that I am, I told her to keep me informed of her progress... then ran off inside with Kylie and Cal.
The day was so-so for me, only warming up when the sun went down. We watched Operator Please from the first level balcony in the Turbine Hall, skipped down to the Visy Theatre to hear only a couple of Wons Phreely's songs before high-tailing it out of there, mooched around a bit, watched Bit By Bats from the second level balcony in the Turbine Hall until I turned Kylie off them so much that we left after about five songs, then skipped back down to the Visy Theatre to check out Whitley. Two words: so cute. He's supporting Josh Pyke on an acoustic tour through Vic and NSW in July so you should check him out, particularly if you think quite highly of Josh Pyke because they've got similar sounds. And they're both well adorable.
Red Riders were next for us, back up in the Turbine Hall. These guys are fun and catchy. The two guys who do lead vocals look like they could be brothers, but after a bit of googling I can confirm that this is not actually the case. They're both very entertaining to watch, though. Also, Alex is a lovely guy. We met him while waiting for... Dappled Cities to start, I think? Or maybe Expatriate. But yeah, very cool. Also they do an hilarious DJ set, as I discovered later in the night.
Next up were Dappled Cities, previously known as Dappled Cities Fly, in the Powerhouse Theatre. I can't remember why they dropped the "Fly" from their name; maybe because there's another band out there with the same name? Or too many people told them it was a crap name? I don't know. (I was, however, close enough to the front to hear Dave announce "WE ARE DAPPLED CITIES... (fly!)!") Anyway, these guys are amazing. This was the first time I'd seen them, which is unfortunate for me because they're heading overseas for a year or so to try and pimp themselves out in the States, I believe. (All you US of Aians, check them out. You can download some of their tracks here.) Stereogum is a bit in love with them, too. Whatever, onto the actual gig, which was freaking amazing.
I took about half a million photos of these guys, which was a bit embarrassing for me to have to wade through afterwards. I have unfortunately fallen in love with the multiple shot function on my new camera - on my old one I could only get a maximum of three shots in a row. On my new one, it seems to be an endless amount. Sooooooooooo good. Kylie also mentioned to me just before the gig started that she thinks Tim, one of the two vocalists/guitarists, bears a resemblance to David Tennant, aka the current Dr Who, aka perhaps one of the most adorable men on television currently. So I was a bit caught up with staring at him while thinking, "Kylie is so right and I hate her for that."
If you want to see more photos, just check out my flickr page, because there are honestly two pages worth of photos of them. Culled down from probably about five or six pages worth. Once Dappled Cities finished, Kylie made a bolt out to the Turbine Hall for the Panics (her third favourite band ever) while I was content to listen to them from the back of the Hall and coincidentally run into Fatboy, who'd finally made it in an hour or so before with the industry guy, Simon, who was fabulously nice and had an adorable cute kitty hoody. That's what I love about the music industry - the label guys and artist representatives are all just as awesome as the artists themselves. What I heard of the Panics was great; they've got a really chilled out sound that is good for rainy days and thinking times. Probably red wine times, too, come to think of it.
About halfway through the Panics, Fatboy and I ducked back into the Powerhouse Theatre to secure good spots for Expatriate. My crush on this band gets bigger and bigger every time I think about them or listen to their music, which blows my face off (for the most part). Dave's grown a beard, which horrified me when I first saw it but I can tolerate it now (will resist to make lame joke about it growing on me...). Ben wore Ray Bans the whole way through the gig, which he later claimed was due to an eye infection. I don't know if I believe him one hundred percent.
It's a glowing butt. Well, I think it's supposed to be a heart, to be honest, but it looks like a butt. It fell down halfway through the gig and I laughed. Oh, Damian. He wore red-framed sunglasses that matched Ben's, but only for the first song, because he couldn't see what he was doing. I have really fallen in love with the Powerhouse Theatre; the lighting made everything look wonderful. See below.
When the gig was over, the Theatre cleared out pretty quickly as almost everyone made a dash for the Grates. While I like the Grates and all, I again didn't need to be in the middle of the hot, sweaty crowd for them. Besides, there were Expats to chat with. Dave came over for a sweaty over-the-barrier hug while Ben put up with some dude talking about how they hung out together fifteen years ago and their mums are best friends. After that guy left, we were talking about going out after and Ben was like, "I didn't want to say anything around that guy because I didn't want him coming." Hilarious.
And for Kylie's sake, here's where the story will end: we waited around for the Grates to finish; Kylie didn't even want to wait that long so she jumped on the shuttle bus into the Valley, where Fatboy and I met up with her, had a bit of a dance at Rics with Kylie and friends, waited around to try and get into the exclusive afterparty at the Troubadour, didn't succeed and went home to bed. The end.