Golden Plains

Just back from a weekend of camping in Meredith, for the Golden Plains music festival. First time for us at this particular festival, but not the first time. You see, Meredith Music Festival is held in the same place, but Golden Plains is the smaller one. And, usually, a much better line up of bands.

After dropping our dogs off to a kennel (only second time in their lives that we've had to do this. And they're both 13), we headed off to Meredith. It's only about twenty minutes or so from our house so, before we knew it, there we were. Now, to find the best spot to camp.

After driving around for a while, we decided on The South Pines. Close enough to the main amphitheatre, but far enough away to not be too disturbed come sleep time. Next job? Set up the tent.

We bought a new tent, especially for this weekend. We'd had a practice set up in our backyard but, unfortunately, we didn't have quite enough space, so this was the first time we could really get the whole thing up. And, while it wasn't quite a debacle, it wasn't pretty. Have you ever set a tent up in a howling gale? Then you'll know how we went. If not, imagine trying to read a newspaper in a hurricane, and you'll get the general idea. Not only was it a howling gale, it was about 27 degrees, so the wind was hot. In short, we sweated more than if we'd done a 10k run. Turns out, we also set the thing up backwards. It has an open back, that you can attach to your car. This is supposed to give you more room and make it easy to transfer things from the car to the tent and back again. We managed to do this but at the wrong end. Oh well, next time.

Once the first beer went down (for me, obviously Lady Hem isn't drinking), we headed on down to the stage. It seems there are a lot of 60's revival bands around. Certainly the first band we heard whilst setting up were doing this. But the first band we wanted to see were The Cosmic Psychos.

You'd have to be Australian to know who they are. I don't think they ever played overseas, though they may have toured with L7 in the 90's but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, they're an old fashioned, Aussie rock 'n' roll band. What's that? Well; here are some song titles. Dead Roo, Nice day to go to the Pub, Fish and Chips, What are you lookin' at? and the list goes on. I've seen them a few times and it's always a bit of a treat. They play well, they don't take themselves too seriously and they don't outstay their welcome. What more could you ask to 3 in the afternoon?

Still hot, so more drinking was to be had. A lot more. Bad mistake. Mainly because I don't remember much of the rest of the afternoon. I was drinking Kilkenny, which I found out from our Irish neighbours (two boys who set up a tent next to us), is the Irish Fosters. IE: nobody in Ireland drinks the shit. But, I did, coz I like it. And it comes in big cans. So, after 5 of these, I decide to keep the buzz going and get two Pink Flamingos. The Pink Flamingo is the bar on the grounds of Meredith. A Pink Flamingo is Vodka and grapefruit juice and it ROCKS.

I had two in quick succession but the one thing I forgot to do (besides drink water) was eat. I'd had breakfast but that was about it. So, as the Clean took to the stage (a band I really wanted to see), I pretty much passed out on the ground. I remember hearing them, but I didn't see them at all. I also remember vomiting out my nose. Well, something ran out my nose and it tasted like vomit. Glad you've read this far, hey?

By the time I was ready to get back up, Joanna Newsom was playing. She was alright. But, I was fast falling down, so we decided to go back to the tent to have a little nanna nap. The Irish boys were up, so I spent a bit of time drunkenly talking to them, while my wife laughed her arse off. I didn't end up going to sleep, but I did end up drinking another couple of beers.

By around 10pm, I was feeling better, so we all went back down and watched The Hold Steady, who fuckin' cranked it. They've lost their keyboard player, so they've recruited another guitarist. At several points during their set, they had three guitars going. It was a sonic joy. But, enough of this.

We went back to the tent and went to bed. Now that I've riveted you with this tale, why not join me tomorrow for more scintillating descriptions of our weekend that just makes you feel like you were there. Why not indeed.