Just typing up a review of Southbound since I can't be bothered repeating the same awesomeness over and over and over and over again... So this is my go to post that I can link to everyone who says:
"How was Southbound?"
Southbound was EPIC! I had such a good time that even though everyone there complained about the heat, the dirt, the toilets, the heat, the lack of shade, being ripped off from food and drink prices and the heat... I would still go again.
Friend's DIRTY DIRTY feet.Dependent on the line up, though I'm pretty sure there would be a fair number of bands I'd go see.
Getting on with it... I'll run this down simpler by going through the days, it's easier to understand it that way and what bands I saw and how much fun I
REALLY had.
Day #1 The Friday:There are 3 MAIN stages. There are a few more stages, but Coconut Club sucks and the Lounge Tent is more for the less established bands/artists. There were quite a few good ones and it was a nice tent to chill in and still listen to good music, minus the DJ sets inbetween (I liked them...) and Groove Tent is, well, the other other other one.
On Friday, the 2 MAIN MAIN stages named,
This Stage and That Stage (really... is... um... confusing) were closed off on Friday with only
The Other Stage (named exactly that) the only main stage open.
After unpacking, tenting up and scoping out the area I'm allowed to wreak havoc (within reasons) in, it was all a matter of time before some serious music soaking started.
The first act I caught was
Whitley, followed by running into
THE MIST TENT! A tent/gazebo thing set up that sprays mist. Got soaked and it was awesome and the others got sick. I on the other hand decided to change out of soaking wet clothes before it was too late.
I got to catch a little of
Dappled Cities, which are good and waited around for
Emiliana Torrini, who I had forgotten. But as soon as the music started playing, I remembered. Even with Ailis singing
Torrini's most famous latest, it did not ring a bell until
Torrini herself sang with her enviable voice and... Cheekbones.
Look at her!!! (Not a Southbound photo)After, a little nap was needed, the sun was beating down, sucking out the energy out of us like Dracula,
YOU MONSTER!!! Quickly though we caught the end of
Little Birdy, Katy Steele is awesome, except I did dislike her leather shorts very much so.
I think some bumper car action happened on this day. I rock at it. I think I did most of the major bruising some of my friends got. Weak!!!
... OH! Don't forget
WASAMBA started racking up a storm whilst we were all lounging it in the Lounge Tent and I had to follow them! Dancing for a while got me very very sleepy... Therefore Day 1 ended quite early, I KO-ed around 11:30pm. Was sleepy around 10pm.
Day #2 The Saturday:
The 7:40am sun had smacked hard. Very hard, was sweating and was not happy at waking up that early. But it did feel like it was 1pm due to the sun screaming down like the
pitchfork of hell. I managed to roll around and get some extra shut eye until about 10am, the heat was really gettting to me then.
We managed to get up and get front row action ready to catch
Philadelphia Grand Jury (better know as Philly Jays) as the first act of the day at This Stage and then caught
Washington at The Other Stage. I think I was doing something else inbetween though. Probably running and dancing in the Mist Tent.
Philly Jays were awesome. Bassist tried to get into the crowd.
I then remember taking a nap before running to get front row action at This Stage for
Little Red. Half of them came onto the stage without shirts. It was hot, I'd give them that.
Little Red. Rocking No-Shirt policy. Getting front row action is probably the smartest thing to do. Except for acts you know moshing is going to happen. Reasons being, you get shade and... you get shade.
For some reason I decided to see
Kisschasy instead of
Andrew Bird. Though I did catch a bit of him. He is amazing.
Kisschasy sucked, I forgot how much they sucked. I think also, I was running around getting signings from
Art vs Science (backlash -
Parlez Vous Francais?) and
Little Red.
Somehow I managed to get into the middle of the moshing sesspool of
Art Vs Science and I am
NOT doing that ever again. Elbows, shoving, feet stomping, guys being dickheads, girls being banshees... And the constant phrase "I have to get to my friend, they're at the front"... Yeah sure!
Unfortunately I missed
Grizzly Bear but caught the end of
Bertie Blackman at That Stage.
I was sleepy around 8 something. Had a nap, woke up at 12am and did a little wandering here and there, played shadow puppets in my tent and the tent across invited us for some drunken conversations.
Of course initiation had to be saying yes to the question; "Do you like
Sarah Blasko?" asked by the most drunk of the group. The only thing I remember is, Pizza Shapes kick BBQ Shapes' sorry little butts and "Laughing like a Donkey being tickled". Some guy a few tents away was "giggling" and sounded like a donkey being tickled.
Sleep did not come that night.
Day #3 The Sunday:Last day = MOST EPIC.Began with myself waking up at 6am to beat the crowd to the Solar charged Mobile recharge Station. Then tried to sleep, but inevitably the time came to "wake up" and start with a bunch of us with my sharpies drawing all over each other's legs waiting for the gates to open to the main stages and for the first act. Minus Ailis, she was being a poor sport.
First act for us was
Sugar Army at This Stage. It was awesome, their bassist Berney, is super cute and I got drummer Sher, broken drum stick. I could have gotten it signed, if I stalked them. They weren't doing a signing.
UNHAPPY FACE!!!The line up worked quite well as straight after, we were left in the front row still for
Lisa Mitchell who is adorable! And Richard the super cute classy drummer and her lead guitarist was sooooo dreamy!
Look at him! That is NOT a drummer! 
Fangirl screams were plenty.Ailis was blowing bubbles during
Lisa Mitchell which developed into quite a few photographers snapping pictures of her.
Perfectly... for some people,
Tame Impala were up next. Though toilet breaks were needed so we (minus one who stayed at the front) ended up a few rows back with the swaying and the slight moshing, mostly swaying though.
Tame Impala finished just in time for myself to run off and grab food then come back for
White Rabbits at That Stage, the band I think I was really amped up for (
Art vs Science was at the top though). They are so awesome! Wikipedia will tell you why.
Apart from the leads being
HOT and the percussionist breaking it down like a thunderstorm,
White Rabbits were Southbound's highlight, for me.
Leads Greg Roberts & Stephen Patterson. Hot Hot and HOT!Their harmonisings are to be reckoned with! On stage presence is amazing, energy is incredible and... I want Robert's sunnies.
I then decided,
Paul Dempsey was not worth missing out on
White Rabbits signing, so I grabbed a paper plate and listened to
Future of the Left playing at The Other Stage whilst waiting for the
White Rabbits to sign it, and they did like the paper plate idea.
Rushing off again I caught the end of
Dempsey, which apparently girls were being escorted out of and then meandered off to
The Temper Trap instead of
Sarah Blasko, I know but
The Temper Trap is more of a party then just listening to the sweetness of
Blasko. Lead Mandagi, really partied hard on stage and really tried to get into the crowd. Not possible with the power of security.
I managed to get some
Blasko whilst walking off to recharge my phone again.
Came the time to party with
Datarock and their red tracksuits with hoods, but I only got the end of them, still was awesome! I danced all the way through and they got
Art vs Science on stage and I'm pretty sure it was
Sugar Army as well that was up there. Somehow they ended up all doing a Can-Can Line.
MIGHTY!!!Ending with a saxophone solo, it was time to get to the closing "ceremony" lead by the
Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I did not get a good spot but
Karen O (Front lady of YYYs) is mentally wicked!!! She has some serious crazy stuff going on. I love her!!!
Sunday finished with a crowd at the camp site playing...
Naked Pole Vaulting and draping trees with toilet paper rolls. I caught a site of the pole vaulting. It did not last long though, security caught whiff of this. That cued us for late night movie sessions at the Minema (mini-cinema) Tent. Great art house shorts showing, except for the
HP Lovecraft inspired shorts, I more listened to them than watched. The Japanese shorts were
REALLY weird, like
REALLY REALLY weird.
It was so cold that night that I got no sleep at all.
The end.
5am. Monday morning. The Aftermath.Peas.
53. Take along enough money to be ripped off with.