An early thought waking up on Saturday morning was ‘thank God for sunglasses’. We emerged slowly from our tents to access the damage from the previous night – Jess’ near-empty bottle of tequila was still outside (she’d hoped someone would’ve stolen it) Geoff had to be rescued from his tent, I had a huge bruise on my knee and somewhere nearby someone was playing an acoustic guitar and tunelessly freestyling an ode to the night before. Synergy Day 2 was underway.

 

After freshening up (it’s incredible the power toothpaste has to make you feel human in situations like these) and searching for breakfast in the extensive food court, which contained everything from curry to pizza to a tea caravan, we ambled down to the main stage to join Ilana and Dan (with his broken leg and wheelchair) and check out Southern Gypsey Queen.

Southern Gypsey Queen were a lot harder (and less gypsy) than I was expecting. I recognised one of their songs, possibly from an ad or something, and it wasn’t bad, but overall I wasn’t really a fan and left during their cover of 99  Red Balloons (which the female vocalist did a pretty good job of emulating).

It’s weird but the weekend seemed to be haunted by Joy Division T-shirts. I saw so many variations of the Unknown Pleasures cover (as well as a few general JD shirts) walking around that I really wish I’d been photographing them…especially the one on The Sleepers’ guitarist Adam Hill, whom I bumped into in the LMG tent – it was the album art with a Japanese title. He’d decided that given the notorious nature of Asian translations, the text probably read ‘Happiness Separation’ – genius.

Things were pretty laid-back over in the LMG tent, it was already hot and everyone was relaxing on the grass watching Supercancer. Another act that negated my expectations – based on their name I was expecting an angry metal band, instead they had an indie sorta teenage feel about them, which is cool if you like that sort of thing. I confess they started sounding a bit samey to me after a while.

Mister & Misread were pleasant enough but not really our thing…we left to go check out the river, which was lovely. 7th Son provided a good soundtrack for our lazing in the shade, it was really tempting to just park off and spend the day by the water.

…but that wasn’t going to happen. Back in the LMG tent Woodstock Mafia managed a decent and pretty dedicated crowd inspite of their lunchtime timeslot. They’re always cool to watch and put on a great set, and the free beers they were throwing into the crowd were an nice +bonus.

Over on the main stage, Tumi and the Volume were providing some laid-back grooves for the assembled masses. I first heard Tumi on 340ml’s Movimento, though I didn’t know who was until his ode to Joburg on Bittereinder’s A Tale of Three Cities. I enjoyed his sets at Ramfest and Bittereinder’s album launch back in March and thought the afternoon slot actually worked really well for them.

Sixgun Gospel had potential but the singer seemed to be struggling and was out of tune quite a lot. Her stage presence also seemed a little awkward. Apparently they’re usually quite good and so must’ve just been having an off-day…

As we were about to leave and seconds before Dan was about to get back into his wheelchair, a totally wasted Jacques Moolman (from Shadowclub) bursts into the tent, sees the wheelchair and plants himself in it, much to the shock and distate of Dan and Ilana…I thought it was hilarious.

We joined the rest of our group sitting in the shade by the main stage. The Rescu were playing; can’t say I’m a fan of their Coldplay-esque anthemic pop…Tasha Baxter (up next) wasn’t quite what I was expecting either and was pretty cool though we didn’t hang around for too much of her set.

Last time I saw like knives, I wasn’t mad about them and confess I ended up chatting to people for the majority of their Synergy set…they seem to have a solid and dedicated following who enjoyed them though.

My Flawless Ending were impressive when I saw them last, and this time round they were no less energetic on stage. They’re very showy, but it’s entertaining. Unfortunately I missed the watermelon…not sure exactly what they did with it but I saw its dessimated remains on my return and apparently it was amazing…

What’s more annoying is the reason why I missed the watermelon – I’d wandered over to the main stage to check out aKING. Now, I really don’t like them, but I’m clearly in the minority. Their audience was ridiculously big – and these weren’t randoms these were fans, people who knew the words and who cheered when they recognised opening chords. I dunno…the band’s just…boring. Some of their songs (like The Runaround) start off promising and then somehow lose the plot and others are just crap…

I parked off in the LMG stage for the next while – Ark Synesis, very cool band very cool show.  Peachy Keen – also loads of fun and a crowd favourite.

I’d been meaning to see We Set Sail for a while; I wasn’t familiar with any of their music but learned that they’d recently lost a few members/instruments and so were sorta starting anew. They were very cool, instrumental post-rock that reminded me a bit of Bateleur, but rockier and less jazzy.

Quick stop-over at PH Fat, where everybody was getting down like animals (hardy har har)…really though, there were a lot of people running around in various animal outfits all weekend…

 

Back on the main stage things seemed to be running late. I was expecting to come in halfway through Desmond & The Tutus, instead I came in time to hear them being introduced. They’re so much fun, both musically and visually, and when they get a big crowd to all make the German Modern claw it’s quite a sight.

Back to the LMG tent for another favourite of mine, The Sleepers…

From the dark intensity of The Sleepers to the manic pop of Jax Panik – Synergy last year was their first real live performance, and you could tell it was an experiment of sorts. There were 5 or 6 of them, dressed alike and with masks, I think they even repeated Dinosaur as they hadn’t planned an encore. Fast forward to the present and they’ve pretty much mastered their live setup. Down to 3 members – Jacobus van Heerden, rapper HC and ex-drummer-now-mask-wearing-DJ (and, I suspect, stylist) Deon van Zyl – and with a year’s worth of successful shows (both headlining and supporting acts like Sean Kingston and David Guetta) it’s clear they’re at home on a stage and on a steady ascent.

Always a blast to be at one of their shows.

The Great Apes closed up the LMG stage with their usual raw force and a headbang-enducing set.

Swedish headliner F.O.O.L. was bouncing around the decks of the Red Bull stage. I thought there were supposed to be 2 of them but there was just the one…he seemed to be pleasing the crowd well-enough though.

 

The main stage was still running late, so I was in time for most of Isochronous’ set. I stayed mostly at the back with Ilana and Dan, neither of whom seemed overly impressed. I blame that on the fact that they couldn’t see the band – watching them (and especially Richard Brokensha) really enhances the experience.

Again, a very slick band well-used to playing both at home and abroad who always put on a good show, though this one did feel more reserved than usual. They ended with current single (and my personal favourite) Destiny and screened the new MK MVP–winning video behind them. I saw it last week and have to say I’m really disappointed. There’s a concept in there somewhere but it’s burried under gratuatous destruction in slowmo; they should’ve just done a performance vid based on the final shot with that super slow falling confetti, it would’ve looked amazing…

The crowd was thrilled to see The Narrow. Going in, I just knew one one of their songs (Run with it) though I recognised Lonely Lonely when they played it. The delays of the night caught up with them and they were constantly being told (and telling us) how many songs they had left which was weird and made their set feel a bit rushed.

Finally, the moment I’d been waiting for all weekend (and even longer before that) had arrived – BRMC. Back when I was a miserable 14 year old I used to watch and collect music videos obsessively. MTV actually used to play good music back then and it was on MTV New that I saw Stop by BRMC. I then got Fail Safe on a magazine compilation and have been a fan ever since.

On stage they didn’t disappoint – they didn’t play my all-time favourites (Rifles and In like the rose) but their set contained an awesome mix of old and new tracks including some of my other favourites (epic opener 666 Conducer, Red Eyes and Tears, Weapon of Choice, and the incredible encore Shadow’s Keeper), the obvious hits (Stop, Spread your Love, Whatever happened to my rock n roll) and some slower numbers (Aint no Easy Way, Bad Blood, Shuffle your feet).

Visually they didn’t move much, and for the most part were dark silhouettes against a smoke-lit black background – but this wasn’t a bad thing. They were hypnotic. Watching their level of talent and experience was mesmerising; you could see that everything was focused on the music. Bassist/vocalist Robert Levon Been regularly positioned his bass (and occasionally 6-string) like a shotgun and switched instruments/effects seamlessly; he had an interesting way of fragmenting lines while he sang but the only downside to that was it made singing along a little harder.

I must admit I was rather disappointed that drummer Nick Jago had been replaced (some years ago) by The Raveonettes’ Leah Shapiro because, well, I would’ve happily enjoyed staring at him…Leah was really intense; staring straight ahead, I would say ‘blankly’ but I’d rather believe she was just totally absorbed in the music…

Guitarist/vocalist Peter Hayes barely moved at all, and was largely invisible under his shaggy hair, but again, this really worked for them. It would’ve been weird if they were hopping around the stage and trying to get audience participation…don’t get me wrong, some bands do that stuff really well, it just wouldn’t’ve worked  for a band like BRMC.

They returned for an encore and I’m so happy it was Shadow’s Keeper, my favourite off Beat the Devil’s Tattoo. The already long track was stretched to near unrecognition, and then, somehow Leah had left the stage unnoticed and Peter and Robert did the most amazing stripped down harmonies, their voices echoing over the silent crowd. Really goosebumpy stuff, and the most lovely way to end a set.

“We love you guys. You take care of each other” Robert said before they waved goodnight. They promised to come again, I really hope they do.

– – –

Day 1   |  Day 3 |  Video

More on:

BRMC  |   The Narrow  |  Isochronous  |  The Great Apes  |  F.O.O.L.  |  Jax Panik  |  The Sleepers  |  Desmond & The Tutus  |  We Set Sail |  Peachy Keen  |  Ark Synesis  |  My Flawless Ending  |  aKING  |  like knives  |  Sixgun Gospel  |  Tumi & The Volume  |  7th Son  |  Supercancer  |  Southern Gypsey Queen  |  Your LMG

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