Live Review of St Kilda Festival
I recently moved to St Kilda. I was out all weekend at a variety of social functions and arrived home on Sunday after a journey of 1000 miles. I collapsed on the bed and lay there until through my window I heard a cover of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ drifting in from the park over the road. This spurred me to get out of bed and walk down. I attend the festival every year and the first thing I thought when I moved in was how convenient it would be for me this time around. I knew I couldn’t miss out.
The festival is long, spread out across almost the entire suburb. St Kilda is known for hot people on the beach, early modern inter-war old buildings that shelter the most good-natured troublemakers in the city, and hostels that bustle with all of Europe’s most obnoxious millennials. And today the rest of the city too pours in to eat Dutch pancakes, pick up free merch being handed out by Optus and Chemist Warehouse, and most of all watch the bands.
Kite Vendor began as I arrived at the stage set up in the garden next to Luna Park. The sun was out and the palm trees stuck up around the stage, framing the band who began their set with a long soundscape. They launched into a set of uptempo, atmospheric alternative-rock which I really liked. They had an edge of bands like Fontaines DC and The Strokes but with an unmistakable Melbourne-indie sound, using more unusual chord progressions and giving the bass and drums a lot of space. The scenic railway roller coaster was passing periodically, with everyone wooing on the downhill section behind the stage, adding to the general cheer of the day which had turned into a rather nice one after yesterday’s wind shut down some of the stages for a time.
After a few songs (they were very good, Kite Vendor) I walked north to acquaint myself with the other stages. All the streets were closed off and I walked down the middle of the highway. There was hard techno coming from a small stage set up in a tent ahead of me, and I walked past the Hare Krishnas handing out the Bhagavad Gita and selling affordable meals and drinks in their orange robes, past the techno and past the statue of captain cook which was recently reinstalled after it was toppled last Invasion Day. Further north past more nautical sculptures outside the Mariners Club there were two more stages, where Private Function had just wrapped up. I heard from afar the last part of the last song they played and it sounded great. The other stage was sponsored by Jameson and you could buy whiskey there, but nobody was playing as I passed so I went on.
I walked back up the hill down Fitzroy st where I once saw a large group of homeless people laughing and playing 10 pin bowling late one night on the footpath. Today there was a long line out the door at the bottle shop and the kebab shop. Further on up on a hill next to a very martial statue of a soldier standing with his gun over his head Amos Roach was singing Down City Streets, a song I saw Archie Roach play here the first time I attended the festival back in 2017.
After their set I continued back to Acland Street then nicked into my house to eat some mi goreng and grab a drink. I put two beers in my pocket and walked back out to the stage next to Luna park to watch Playlunch, and lay down on the hill at the back of the park watching the sun set. The disco-infused ‘bogan funk’ they play was a hit, and the crowd built as the set went on, with lots of groups split-off, dancing and bopping throughout the park. After Playlunch’s set the festival was over for another year and I walked home through the still buzzing streets to retreat back to bed.
St Kilda festival is always marvellous. One of the best free cultural events in the city, they always have at least a few great bands you want to see, and the vibe is always immaculate — St Kilda brings the best out of people. Today while I dilly dallied around the house for most of the morning, not feeling like doing a thing, nothing could bring me out and lift my spirits quite like it.
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