PHOTOS BY: MONIKA SMITH / WORDS BY: LEWIS MORLEY

FULL PHOTO GALLERY: RAWING IN THE PIT MEDIA FACEBOOK

Nestled amongst towering fig-trees which ring Wickham Park is one of Australia's premier nostalgia festivals. Focused on the biggest music from the 90s and early 2000s, Scene & Heard Newcastle is the relatively pint-sized sister festival to This-That.

One of the strongest points for Scene & Heard is this partnership: both festivals share significant organisation and infrastructure, being held one day after the other. Where This-That is at the bleeding-edge of music, hosting the newest, most popular current artists, Scene & Heard goes the opposite way, playing almost as a slower after party, showcasing classic hits.

This partnership is much to Scene & Heard’s advantage, as it gives the smaller festival access to a much larger venue with significantly more infrastructure and amenities than it could justify alone. So, while the festival area is trimmed down slightly from that of its larger sister (one stage and a small DJ tent), it still uses almost all of the massive park, which gives Scene & Heard room to breathe, even during the headline act. This also means more than enough food and drink options, short lines, plenty of grassed space for chilling out, and even a surplus of toilets (which is very welcome). Altogether this makes for a more laid back, easy atmosphere than the packed crowds of many larger festivals, and one main stage with manageable band-breaks (just enough time to grab some food) means there’s a whole lot less stress and absolutely no FOMO.

Some of the best acts of the 90s and early 2000s made the cut for Scene & Heard Newcastle on Sunday the 10th of November. Many of the artists who turned up absolutely could have headlined almost any festival at their peak popularity, and I was genuinely impressed by how little the years have changed their sound.

First up was Even, and I may be showing my youth by saying that I’d never heard of them before Sunday, but my scepticism was immediately shut down by their opening song “Stop and Go Man”. Its distinctively 90s indie sound, to me reminiscent of You Am I (one of my favourite bands), immediately had me feeling the era, and completely suited the dusty festival-at-midday vibes. Punters, many with folding chairs and picnic blankets in tow, trickled in at a steady pace, and by the end of their set the mosh was filling out nicely, with a solid ring of chairs and blankets behind.

Following Even, and a 20 minute break during which Gyroscope’s “Doctor Doctor” helped fill the void (definitely more than once), Magic Dirt crashed onto the stage looking as 90s rock cool as ever. They got off, in my opinion, to a rocky start, toying around experimentally for an over-long instrumental, but then settled into their stride. Their huge, epic sound filled the half-amphitheater as Adalita heralded the intro for “Plastic Loveless Letter”, at which point most of the lawn chairs spilled their (now frantically dancing) owners into the pit. The song ended with a tribute to late bassist Dean Turner, as Adalita plucked those punters drinking Jack Daniels (Turner's favourite) from the crowd, bringing them onstage for a pretty hectic rendition of “Dirty Jeans”, complete with tambourine borrowed from The Dandy Warhols. Altogether, and as was a trend throughout the day, a throwback to some amazing hits from the last few decades, their set ending with a classic, terrifying, and fittingly theatrical almost-smashing of their instruments.

Another run of “Doctor Doctor” for good measure and it was time for one of my most anticipated acts, Sneaky Sound System. Angus sauntered onstage first, teasing the now screaming crowd from behind his desk with warbling synths and hard beats, before a peaked roar from the pit announced Connie’s entrance to the stage. The clarity and soulful power of her vocal performance was nothing short of mind-blowing. The billowing clouds of smoke and dust picked up by the breeze mirrored the rippling, flowing majesty of her outfit (which I choose to believe was tailored specifically for this performance), and the smooth ebb and flow of her voice. This was an absolutely packed set, with the duo spinning back-to-back bangers for a solid 40 minutes. “Kansas City” had the crowd on their feet again, chests pounding with the beat, before Connie whipped them into a manic screaming mass for “UFO”, the perfect electropop singalong.

Then came alt-rockers Jebediah, with Vanessa sporting a fantastic mohawk/mullet combination (dare I call it a mollet?) and Kevin Mitchell (Aka Bob Evans) sporting his distinctively Aussie, nasal punk voice. Emancipation anthem “Leaving Home” had punters literally tearing off their clothes in excitement. Crowd choruses of ‘I hope you come around’ abound for “She’s Like a Comet”. Overall the Perth crew haven’t lost an ounce of energy, delivering hits like “Harpoon” and “Fall Down” with an obvious excitement, and an unmistakable joy to be onstage.

Alex Lloyd may be best known for his memorable vocal performance on Hottest-100 (2001) winner “Amazing”, definitely one of the biggest earworms of the decade, but his strong, confident vocals cut well into a much deeper repertoire than I’d given him credit for. While I was almost entirely unfamiliar with his catalogue, the few I knew (“Beautiful”, “Green”) were surprisingly magical (Alex’s fantastic vocal control has, if anything, improved with age), and the majority of his set passed as a welcome mid-afternoon breather between some pretty intense and energetic acts.

Eskimo Joe (who were absolutely ROBBED of a 2006 Hottest-100 win), and they’re still rolling strong! There’s hardly a better song to open a set than “Sarah”. With its rhythmic tics, spine tingling pick grind, Kavyen’s hushing, distinctively rounded vocals and building crescendo into ‘EMERGENCYYY’. It filled me with warmth to see the pure joy the three clearly derived just from performing, backed up by the energy and skill which got them the fame they so rightly earned (much better than Augie March... Australia, the way you vote is truly confounding sometimes). The trio made the most of plentiful stage space, and wasted not at inch of it - playing to the adoring crowd, whirling and running to punctuate the ethereality of “New York”. Ending the set, hearts ticked along to the majesty of “From the Sea” (at least that song came third to actual competition in 2004), and I was genuinely disappointed to see these absolute masters leave the stage. If you’re craving some Joe as much as I am writing this, they’ve just released a ton of classics backed by Perth Symphony Orchestra - go check it out.

The only imported act on the bill, The Dandy Warhols, came out to a hypnotic buzz, quickly followed by a deathly silence. Technical difficulties, apparently, but understandable - as Courtney Taylor-Taylor so perfectly put it: ‘We require huge amounts of energy to rock so massively’. It’s a testament to the professionalism and skill of the Scene & Heard team that everything was back up in only a couple of minutes. The speakers resonated to the rumbling growls and hypnotic warbles of Zia’s impressive synth setup as the Dandies’ signature blend of psychedelic/shoegaze rock took hold of the audience. The entrancing atmosphere was only enhanced by the almost permanent, familiarly sweet plumes of stage smoke (I pity you, Monika, lost in the primordial fog of the photo pit).

Sun set to the soundtrack of Veronica Mars, as “We Used to be Friends” brought our nostalgia across into other media (and reminded me how ridiculously little Kristen Bell has aged in the last 15 years). This, of course, elicited a massive audience reaction, with people sprinting past me from all over the site, vying for a prime dancing position. With the going down of the sun came the light show; suitably hypnotic as the set hit a true psychedelic stride - the return of the tambourine, the rhythmic wash of the bass and soothing rolls of Courtney’s voice. Almost to punctuate the psychedelia, barefoot dance circles started to spring up on the outskirts of the pit, kicking up small puffs of dust to glow in the evening light and throwing back to the primal heart of festival culture.

The dark of night had truly set in, blinding spotlights roamed the crowd like an alien invasion. The official headline, Wolfmother, arrived behind a full wall of smoke to howling guitars and the screams of the masses. The smoke cleared to “Victorious”, a more recent hit and powerful starter to the main event for the night. It’s been a day for distinctive voices, but arguably no voice in Australian music is as recognisable as that of Andrew Stockdale. Probably no hair is quite as recognisable either; Andrew’s glorious mane took pride of place onstage - perfectly preened, healthy and shining as ever.

Deftly sliding into “New Moon Rising”, Andrew expertly worked the audience into a hive-mind of claps - the song just makes so much sense live with its building power, tension and plenty of space for interaction, not to mention that fantastic wail!

As the set progressed to “Woman” I came to realise just how many hits the trio actually had; three songs deep and we’re still rolling in some of the biggest Aussie songs of the century, all of which have been masterfully built specifically for an intense live performance. My first thought was “How can they possibly build from here?”, but of course they did, pulling out their newest release “Chase the Feeling” with its crunchy rock’n roll guitar riffs, which drop off briefly, building the quiet tension into a perfectly retro sounding solo, executed with that mix of passion and technicality which brings shivers down your spine. My personal favourite - “Apple Tree”- was just as frantic and insane as I’d dared hope; the tight, claustrophobic chorus deftly conflicting with the broad sprawl of the verses. This speed then gave way to the epic, soul-filling breadth of “Colossal” with its Iron-Maiden-esque riffs and forceful vocals, the howls reaching levels of a shouted brutal intensity I haven’t heard since Ground Components’ barely controlled screams. At this point, the whole band is teasing the audience, ending every song with a dramatic flourish as if it were the last, each time inciting a massive roar from the crowd.

From the bluesy jangle of “Vagabond” to the screaming guitars of “Pyramid” it’s increasingly evident how varied are the influences and tastes of this insanely live-music-focused band. A bass heavy interlude pumped the blood back into everyone’s tired legs as the Wolfmother logo started to glow and grow and Andrew invited the crowd to another dimension. The lighting went insane, fitfully flitting from sky to pit and whipping beams of light chaotically across the field before slamming home as the grand finale pierced the crowd’s screams - that most iconic intro - “Joker and the Thief”. It’s a song which just ripples through your soul live, and hammers in the fact that you truly are in the presence of Aus music royalty, and unquestionable masters of live performance.