Groovin’ the Moo is that one time of the year where Canberra’s music-savvy younger population really let loose for a party that has to generate enough memories to last the whole year. One of the cool things about festivals is they generally give totally different experiences depending on what acts people chose to watch and where in the crowd they stood.

Luckily, Canberra put on an incredible day weather-wise – perhaps it was a final apology for the summer we never had. We all checked our big winter coats into the handy cloakroom and many of us didn’t get them back again until home time.

It’s always worth making the effort to get to festivals to catch the early acts, such as the all-girl local hip-hop duo Coda Conduct on the Triple J stage, or the remarkable The Delta Riggs in the Moolin Rouge Big Top who absolutely blew everyone away. While it seems unlikely to name one of the first acts of the day ‘festival fave’, The Delta Riggs held their own against the acts that followed and remained memorable through to the end. They oozed rock’n’roll in every sense from their brit-rock look, to their crazy/fun onstage antics, and their outstanding songs.

Out on the Main Stage, the sun was shining down as UK’s Peace delivered a variety of upbeat tracks and quiet, beautiful ballads. Their sound is so British that it stood out amongst the very Australian lineup, and created a beautiful interlude to the festival. Their set built up to their killer track World Pleasure, which was just perfection coupled with the beautiful weather and the general happiness of the crowd.

Peaches really needs to be seen live to be understood (although there’s still no guarantee you’ll know what’s going on). She is certainly marked not by her singing or music writing ability, but her statement and what she stands for. Her show is an experience – as she struts around the stage in a leotard, joined by scantily-clad back-up dancers with suggestive moves (one male, one female), and her various props, (e.g. singing one song from inside a giant inflatable condom). She certainly isn’t for everyone, but her stage show is entertaining.

Those who were prepared for A$AP Ferg were not disappointed. Anyone who wandered into the crowd unknowingly was suddenly thrown into a world of gangster beats and an audience singing along to words they may not usually use, but loving every second of it.

It’s tradition to think that whichever stage you’re at is where the party is, but this was definitely true for RL Grime. He absolutely brought the house down, smashing out hit after hit of his own tracks as well as mixing in some party favourites. As expected, his hit Core was massive; in fact the whole set was unforgettable, paired with great visual displays on the backing screen. He pulled out Zhu’s Faded as a final track, oddly turning the start of it into a moment for everyone to pull out their lighters and sway, before bringing in a drop that had everyone moving.

Other general highlights of the day included:
– Surprisingly few animal onesies
– Playing ‘spot the man-bun’
– The energy brought by Tkay Maidza
– The fact that Wolfmother actually still sound good
– The surprise festival debut of 11-year old Canberra local Black Summer
– Hermitude bringing the beats and making the whole crowd pulse
– The audience making up for the lack of energy onstage from Ball Park Music
– Charlie XCX’s animal print body suit – for better or for worse
– Singing along yet one more time to lost childhood days with everyone to Hilltop Hood’s Nosebleed Section
– The fact that you can save a dollar on your drink if you take back five empty drink cans (and the entrepreneurial people who had mountains of empty cans but no way to transport them back to the bar)
– The visual displays on the backing screens; from Ball Park Music’s animations tailored to each song (including some creepy severed heads), to Wolfmother’s giant logo, to the glowing, burning sun that shone over everyone for a moment during RL Grime
– The 99 red (luft) balloons that fell from the rafters of the Moolin Rouge Big Top
– The people who still had it in them to dance like crazy to Flight Facilities at the very end of the night.

Images by Brianna Williams Photography