Flip Out Festival – Manning Bar, Sydney – 29 Aug 2009

On Saturday 29 August I, along with Jonny_YesYes (aka Mr Polaroids of Androids), went to Flip Out Festival at Manning Bar in Sydney.

I arrived right on 2pm, as the doors opened, so I was one of the lucky punters to score a free cd featuring rare and exclusive tracks from all the artists at the festival.

Zond

As I walked into Manning Bar, Zond were already playing. I can’t tell you that much about them as I was:

• reminishing about my Sydney Uni days at Manning Bar – “I was standing right there (*pointing*) when I saw The Avalanches perform. A week later they broke and they were HUGE.”
• distracted by the pretty colours of my new free cd… pretty
• deciding what beer to drink (James Squire Golden Ale on tap – winner!)

I do remember being slightly disappointed by Zond. Sure they were loud but they weren’t heavy heavy. After all the hype: “Zond will tear Sydney a new arsehole.” – buffytufnel on Mess+Noise. I was expecting more.

Royal Headache

After Zond and with my areshole still very much intact Royal Headache kicked off on the side stage.

Side stage = fail. Massive fail.

If you look closely (and maybe squint a little bit) you will see a band playing. The “stage” was on ground level (I think they were going for the lo-fi look) so unless you were standing on top of the band you couldn’t really see. To catch a glimpse of the band people gathered on the disabled walkway / ramp thingy, which just looked awkward and annoying. We hung back and observed Royal Headache from a distance. Although we couldn’t really see much we could hear. And the sound quality was fantastic.

Royal Headache killed it. Next big thing?! Yeah there’s a lot of hype about them but I think it’s well deserved.

Slug Guts

Slug Guts look like they’ve been taking fashion tips from James Dean (circ Rebel Without a Cause). Tshirts with rolled up sleeves, some with ciggie packs rolled in them, slicked back styled hair, attitude and tight jeans. HOT!

Their performance was raw with captivating guitar rifts combined with haunting, dark vocals. I enjoyed it alot.

Ooga Boogas

They started off well but somewhere in the middle they lost me. The pace slowed and it felt like the music wasn’t going anywhere. I drank more beer and got some food. The Manning burger gets two thumbs up!

Naked on the Vague

Punk. Psychedelic. Distortion. Awesome.

We skipped James Arthur’s Manhunt for a bit of records and merch shopping and then some fresh air and chit chats with the people. I spied two old framed posters on the Manning wall – a Tumbleweed poster and an Ammonia poster. I quickly devised a plan in my head on how to distract the security guard, steal the posters and get them out of Manning. I was just about to execute my cunning plan when Jonny_YesYes snapped me out of my trance with a schooner of beer. The posters still safe on the Manning walls… until next time.

Deaf Wish

Looking at Deaf Wish they really don’t look like they belong together. An old guy, a punk dude, and a skinny indie type guy. Such a mixed bag. But then you hear them play… and it’s mindblowingly awesome. With their raw, edgy sound they were definitely one of the highlights of the day.

The Stabs

Another band that was on the side stage who really deserved to be on the main stage. Elements of grunge and punk. By the end of their set I was struggling to get my breath and had a sudden urge to smash shit up.

But… what on earth was with the small group near the front of the main stage that started popping pills around this point of the day? Really? Did I miss the memo? When did ecstasy make the cross-over from dancey dance festivals to indie rock festivals.

Goodnight Loving

Country, folk sounding music. After so many noisy, loud, punk ruckus type bands you’d think it would make a nice change. It wasn’t. It was boring. Yawn-fest.

The UV Race

We did not want to miss The UV Race and since they were playing on the side stage we went right up the front to get a good view.

The set was EPIC. The UV Race play short, sloppy garage punk-rock songs that left me hanging for more.

They ended with Lego Man which is catchy as fuck. It’s still stuck in my head, a week and a half after the festival. Who wants to be a lego man?

We had no interest in seeing Pink Reason and Super Wild Horses. I was keen to see Eddy Current Suppression Ring but not keen enough to hang around. There’s only so much Manning one person can take. No doubt Eddy was fabulous and they will turn MASSIVE next year with the release of their second album and we will regret not seeing them at Flip Out. But that was the risk we were willing to take. We left Manning and hop, skipped and jumped our way to Spectrum to see the wonderful Talons and Violent Soho play.

Overall Flip Out festival was great. Good crowd, great music and good vibe. My only complaint was the ridiculous side stage. Thanks to Stained Circles and Aarght! for putting on the festival! Hope you guys can do it all again for us next year!

To re-live Flip Out festival at Manning check out these live recordings.