Photos By: Monika Smith Photography

Review By: Monika Oberscheven-Smith

Notes By: Jess Miller

*Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

It felt very strange to be at another festival having only shot and reviewed one on Friday and now I stood outside the gates of Scene & Heard Festival at Wickham Park in Newcastle,

The last time I was shooting and reviewing at this festival was in 2019 with an equally matched line up to the rescheduled rescheduled festival. As we all congregated outside the gates, I knew that as always, the Scene & Heard team were one of the best organised festivals that I have been to. We got through the gates initially really easily, picked up our passes and were met with a bag check which was quick but really thorough; then smoothly made our way into the festival.

We picked a spot on the yellow line marked out the ground to keep the seated people away from the standing/moshing/dancing people, a vast difference to the festival a couple of days ago which I think is a really fantastic set up. The sun had dried out the damn ground pretty well, and we were met with dollops of clouds and a fierce burning sun. The weather could not have been even more perfect for the day ahead.

***Caligula*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

The first band to hit the stage to the early arrivals to the festival were Caligula as they played people came closer from having explored around the grounds (probably checking where the loos were and what food/beverages were on offer). A few people already had some Red Bull cups, and Six Strings varieties in hand. As they all prepared for the day ahead. The band covered their old catalogues mixed with some new songs.

Ashley Rothschild danced and moved around the stage as if he had never left it with all this time off and with the enthusiasm from his youth. The crowd met the bands energy as Caligula tend to have a few chilled-out tracks which you could see them moving together, bopping around and tapping their feet during their whole set/

"This song is about headaches, migraines and forgetting what you went to get out of the fridge" said Rothschild as I looked over at my friend Jess and we nodded because this, this was our life, so this was our song. The crowd kept building as the first of probably a ton of nostalgia from the 90s youth/20s resurfaced in our minds.

With the billowing smoke from the machines the band finished out a well-rounded set.

***The Porkers*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

By the time local lads The Porkers were ready to take the stage, the crowd up the front had at least doubled to check out the ska punky goodness from the long time legends. At this point the picnic rug and seated areas were filled with people camping out together watching the pit bounce around with anticipation.

The sun was at full force by this point but there was a nice cool breeze keeping the temperatures down for everyone. Which was perfectly timed as the crowd for this band were full of energy for the funky tunes blaring from the stage.

The entire band mirrored the crowd's enthusiasm by giving just as much as they were getting back. Good ol’ Peter Porker swung the microphone around on its cord like a windmill and that was the level of chaos he kept up for all the set. Running all over the stage, hyping up the crowd and interacting with just about everyone which ramped everyone up even more. It was a mutual hype fest.

Standing area was getting full. Everyone is getting into the entire set. They have some great audience interacting. Tonnes of fun to watch. Everyone was letting go and living in the moment forgetting everything that is happening all over the world. A rare escape from reality.

***Tumbleweed*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

Richard Lewis Tumbleweed’s singer ambled on stage. I would describe him as the hippie that you would see in somewhere like Byron Bay or Nimbin that you know if you sat down and talked to you would get some ridiculously cool stories. In other words, he is pretty damn cool.

The crowd that had wandered off after The Porkers set had returned to the front of the stage to experience the stoner rock goodness. The band didn’t miss a beat, the highly experienced musicians who have been doing this for a long time seemed to have just fallen back into their tight set and playing.

The whole set fell into the particular chilled out vibes of the band were you can’t really dance or mosh to it (you are welcome to try) but you kinda just nod your head which pulls your whole body into some sort of wave motion.

Pulling out some maracas Lewis sung into the mic as he shook them to match the beat (I have to point out that my friend thought he was holding a bag of oranges before she realised what was happening). All in all Tumbleweed’s set was a goodun.

***Frenzal Rhomb*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

I think the last time I saw Frenzal Rhomb live was at a music festival in Gosford when I was in my 20s? Whenever it was it was ages ago for someone who binged on the band my whole teenage life. I missed their set at Download in Melbourne as I was serving them beers at the artist's bar. It is ridiculous to think that the band formed in 1991 and I am older than the band itself

The band walked out to We Build This City by Starship (I do prefer the Frenzal Rhomb version which I think was a B-side on a single?).

The band announced that the first song was off one of their first records that they said no one bought (again I have this album still alongside many other of my CDs). “Richer Than You” which made me not want to photograph but I couldn’t help but sing along instead of doing my job.

The crowd had massed to the front to see one of the biggest favourites on the bill.

"We prob don't need all these smoke machines were not the fucking Foo Fighters" Whalley said which was the quote of the day.

Moving straight into another classic “Russel Crowe’s Band” is a fucking pile of shit. Which the crowd moshed and thrashed around like crazy to while scream yelling the lyrics back at the band.

The masters of putting on a good show the crowd was surging and the whole band was sucking in the energy from them to put on an equally as mental performance.

The crowd kept up the chaos as beer cans were being thrown up high into the air and crashing down into the crowd while a nice little mosh pit formed filled with ever so excited punters. As McDougall was lost in a cloud of Foo Fighter smoke, the band just continued to be phenomenal on the stage.

Finishing their set with the top favourites from the Aussie charts from back in the day from the album A Man’s Not A Camel; You Are Not My Friend & Never Had So Much Fun. Which you could hear almost every single person sing around to as the crowd got even more excited, and people on the outskirts even had their own mini mosh pits.

***Ratcat*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

Veteran Indie Rockers Ratcat were the next ones up to hit the stage. I had honestly never heard of this band before. Apparently, it took them a couple of songs to find their feet again (not in a bad way but someone in the crowd seemed to notice and point it out loudly to them) this made which made Simon Day and the rest of the band laugh perhaps this harsh criticism (as I did not even notice any flaw in their playing).

The people who were in the seated area got up from their chairs and picnic rugs to start dancing to the tunes. The rest of the audience were bopping their heads and swaying to the beats. Everyone was chilling in the sun, having drinks and chilling out with their friends. The band dedicated the track Tingles to Karen for her birthday.

When the band started to play “Don’t Go Now” and then my brain clicked! I had heard the band before. The entire crowd seemed to jump on this track and everyone was dancing along. The band had definitely found their groove by this point and you could tell the high level of happiness to be back on stage.

***COG*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

The momentum was kicking up a notch as the stage darkened with red lights and way too much smoke (a photographer's nightmare) with prog rock legends COG taking the stage with eerie UFOesque music while the mic checks were being completed.

Opening up with what sounded like tribal chanting which seemed to waft over the crowd as the drum kits could be felt slamming in your chest and right down to your toes. As the lights shifted to a more welcome hue of cyan COG threw into “Doors (Now And Then My Life Feels Like It's Going Nowhere)” the standing area was absolutely packed and the seated area was completely full as it seemed that most people had arrived around this point of the day, or had already extensively explored the grounds already and now were ready to settle in for the rest of the evening.

The crowd were headbanging and singing along to the mellow start to the set but things picked up into their second song as things got a lot heavier which made the front row and beyond raise their hands in the hair and raise their fists. The people scattered around the back standing area were also headbanging and really getting into the set,

"Really feels like we've all been separated for so long kept apart isolated and finally it seems like were being drawn back together" stated Flynn Gower in a rather fantastic way to their track Drawn Together. The band was putting on a phenomenal show which accompanied the epic atmosphere that the band had created. The sun started to drop in the sky which was welcome as it was scorching on the crowd all day long. Which was a great relief and a good accompanying end to their set.

***Spiderbait*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

When Spiderbait took to the stage it was a little heartbreaking to hear Kram talk about the horrific experiences he and his family has been going through. The band had not seen each other in about a year. His house was flooded in the northern NSW floods and they had lost almost everything.

"I think like a lot of musicians we thought when covid hit we'd never be doing this again. Just seeing your faces again. Make some noise." Said Kram as he stood up pointing his sticks in the air and out to the crowd.

He mentioned that they had initially taken over the slot from Regurgitator and they did not want to pull out disappointing fans. Despite all the heartache the music industry has suffered and the personal battles he used this opportunity to rile up the crowd and to use their energy to motivate him more because who wouldn’t need that kind of love and support with the absolute nightmare, we have all been through but more so those have been directly impacted by the floods and lockdowns.

The mosh pit at the front surged forward to the stage and moved together like a white squall. It seemed that the entire crowd had been waiting all day for this moment as Spiderbait to take the stage as every single person was singing, dancing and jumping around from the start of the set to the end.

The uber talented Janet English, what can be said about her? You could combine all the kind and complimentary words and you wouldn’t even get close to how fucking cool she is. She is one of the most talented musicians in Australia, if not the entire planet.

While the band played a lot of new stuff (thanks Janet!) the crowd went off the hardest and sang the loudest for the oldies but the goodies Buy Me A Pony, Calypso, Black Betty. The sun had finally set and the lights on the stage were at full effect; which really made for a spectacular backdrop and added to an already magical set.

The band seemed to have been really appreciative of the crowd's energy and participation as the stood arm in arm at the front of the stage and bowed in gratitude to everyone in front of them.

***Grinspoon*** *Images are copyrighted and remain the property of* ***Monika Smith Photography***

The end of the evening saw one of the biggest Australian bands of the 90’s Grinspoon rounding out the entire evening of goodness.

Everyone from all over the grounds had moved as close as they could to catch the last act of the day looking all keen to soak up the ending of the festival. Opening up with one of my favourite Grinners song DCX3 the whole crowd was out of control (in a great way!) singing loudly, moshing and going absolutely beserk.

I was in particular jealous of Phil Jamieson’s pants as I had a similar pair but his was a bit cooler.

As usual he was bouncing all over the stage, jumping, kicking and being like a tornado ripping up everything in its path.

As he stood looking out at the sea of people swirling in front of him, he seemed to take a moment to be in the moment and soak it all up before addressing the crowd "Holy shit it is so good to see you motherfuckers thank you"

Admittedly I was enjoying and soaking up the set myself too much to pay attention to take many notes! With them throwing out Just Ace which obviously every single person in the crowd scream sang to each other and the band. Hard Act To Follow, No Reason, Better Off Alone and 1000 Miles the whole set was a bit distracting and I was just living in the moment so much which says a lot about a live act when you are supposed to be writing a review of their whole set.

As the confetti canons exploded signaling the ending of the festival, once again Scene & Heard was unmatched and absolute perfection. The whole thing went off without a hitch and it was once again brilliantly organised with the set-up, the availability of food and beverages. I look forward to the next one already!