Words by Hudson Reed.

Photography by Josh Ma.

Festivals. Can’t live without them, can we? Yet, I myself have only been to about … four? I can’t really recall, but driving to Canberra for a single-day festival is definitely something that wasn’t on my 2023 bucket list. Yet, here we are.

Groovin the Moo, filled with scores of people, a swing ride, market stalls, food trucks, and a somewhat hidden in the back, DJ tent. My partner in crime Josh, and I rocked up in the morning of, fresh out the three-hour drive, bags waiting to be put into a hostel room, energised and ready for the day. Though I was nursing a slight hangover from the night before, I felt like I downed about 10 Red Bulls as we approached the gates.

Right off the bat, Teenage Joans were on stage in full force. Energetic, enthralling, leading the crowd in a, “When I say ‘Groovin’, you say ‘Moo’” chant. It was at this point we both realised, we missed the opening sets. Apricot Ink, I’ve been blessed to have photographed before, however Sputnik Sweetheart and Hunny Lala were new names to me. I assume they absolutely killed their performances, and got the crowd hyped enough for the day.

After getting my fill of Teenage Joans, there was a welcome to country at Cattleyard (always was, always will be). and then Yng One came on to perform. The performance was swift, with Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers coming on right after at 12.30, and boy did they blow my mind. I’ve heard of them before, but continuing with the women-powered morning, this second “Teenage” band came forth with visor, encapsulating rock and roll as the crowd devoured their set lyric by lyric. Their energy was static, intense but comfortably so. If you were hungry, they made sure you got fed with a hearty performance that puts your grandmother’s soup to shame. (Sorry nan).

Not ten minutes after them, Royel Otis took to Moolin Rouge. The crowd was mesmerised by their cruise-y tunes, and I more so on the fact that one of the band members had on a Grifters scarf. How did they know my go-to beer on a night out in Newtown? Quickly in my notes app, I noted that they had “mastery of their craft” with a quick little boogie at their danc-y performance, before jetting off (yet again) to another performer called Barkaa.

With most of this lineup being new to me, Barkaa was a pleasant surprise. They have a certain lyrical mastery that I can’t quite comprehend, and were heavily fun to listen to. Though, at this point I was sitting down, hangover cure beer in hand. Enter Teenage Dads. The third (and final) Teenage band of the day. I don’t know when, but I can only assume there was a group meeting of the three bands to determine who was the original teenage band, and who the imposter was. I picture that meme of the three spidermen pointing fingers at each other, but it’s two female bands and a single male-dominated group. The Dads were brilliant fun, their ability for call and response was incredible and I’m sure you could hear the crowd halfway to Sydney at that point.

This was another bump of energy for me, and with that I scuttled on to see Slowly Slowly. Now Slowly Slowly performed something that I will forever be grateful for. They managed to seduce the crowd with an outstanding cover of Blink-182’s I Miss You. Who doesn’t love that song right? They were playing at the same time as Dads, and still brought the same power and fun that the Dads were. According to my notes, “the crowd was into it.” I was into it. All in all, 10/10, and on my Apple Music rotation.

BBNO$ was... a character. An enjoyable one for sure, but I have never seen a performance open with cheese melting facts and a spaghetti recipe. Though, thankful for it because I now know how to impress my housemates with a bangin’ spag bol. He had a pretty huge turnout, by this point the field was filling up more and more, and people were getting drunker and drunker. Cue highly intoxicated female who apparently knew the words to two songs, even though she only sang about 1% of them. It’s giving Friday night karaoke after work, especially with majority of her singing being just twerking. In all, a very entertaining artist who I would love a chance to watch again.

The Chats. Straight to the point, they were incredible. As you’d expect them to be, they hit us with good ol’ rock, and made sure to break the sound barrier with their intense volume levels. Cue someone who I’ve been listening to while driving for the past two weeks. Choomba has become my top artist the last few days, especially when I’m at work or in the car. I call them an out-of-body experience, and for someone who doesn’t listen to too many DJ’s, they sounded insane. People were actually full sprinting to Moolin Rouge to watch them, and they brought out banger after banger. This has now fed my clubbing addiction to the point that I feel convicted to go to church about it. 100/10 will recommend and play it even if nobody wants it.

After catching a glimpse of Laurel, who was phenomenal I may add, I hopped over to view a band that I actually forgot I knew. Confidence Man came on, their musicians veiled in black-sheer fabric, and them in bright white costumes. As a CM-virgin performance wise, this was the best way to fix that. The crowd got low as they did, and jumped as hard as they could. At the drop of one of their songs, there was a champagne cork lost somewhere in there, and I think there was fake blood. I’m unsure, but it seemed pretty real to me. Either way they ate that up and I wish I was in that moment again.

Now it’s time for a little name change. I know it’s meant to be Groovin The Moo, but when Slayyyter came onto stage, it fully transformed into Yassin The Moo. All I wrote in my notes was this simple statement. “She ate that performance, and left no crumbs.” I will stand by that firmly. After being drawn to Slayyter for far too long, Skeggs was on next door, so I skipped over there to listen to them. It’s music you can drive to, but the rowdiness comes into play later on. In the sunset of the Canberra sun, people were crowd surfing, and starting three-person shoulder stacks. I think that encapsulates their performance very well, and I managed to position myself well for one band that was coming up right after.

I’ve seen them once before, photographed them at Falls Festival, and even had a chat with lead singer Baden after their set. Ocean Alley are, and will continue to be brilliant live, no matter the setting. With heartfelt strumming, lyrics and tunes memorised for years to come, and a bit of heartbreak in regards to them being someone I know’s favourite band, this was a performance I didn’t want to skip a single part of, and I didn’t. Though I did leave the pit halfway through to view from the VIP platform, I could hear them clear as day from half a field away. Still on my driving playlist, and I doubt I’ll be removing them anytime soon.

So we’ve heard all the good, but have we heard the bad? Or more fittingly, the baddest of them all? That’s right, Eliza Rose. She was energetic, engaging, and proving that she really is as her song title suggests and so much more. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stick around as long as I wanted (thus missing B.O.T.A.) as another artist I had seen before at Falls came through.

Genesis Owusu has and, in my personal opinion, will always be a proficient storyteller. His performance was full of energy, getting the dark lyricism coated in heavy tunes just right enough that the crowd was going ape wild with it. His presence, personality, and style all tied together to bring more life to his music than I thought possible.

Amy Shark was on the main stage for a while, and her performance was great. She’s not been someone I follow much, however she managed to have groups of people getting as close as possible to sing along with her. Though a lot were running to the Moolin Rouge to listen to Luude, who is also in my playlist alongside Choomba fittingly titled How To Freak Your Friends Out On Your L Plates.

Entering the final stretch, Denzel Curry came on stage with immense energy. Bringing a crowd to full hype on the last stretch of a festival is no easy task, but he did it. I also don’t know who was competing with who, Luude with Denzel, or the other way round? Both held their own, performing the same time, and both keeping the energy levels up and up and up.

Ball Park Music brought banger after banger, bringing fire and turning the crowd into sardines. They had the floor packed tighter than the trains back home in Hong Kong. Alt-J also managed to ring a solid crowd in, and these were a great two performances to wrap up any more conflicting schedules before the big finale.

Now I had never heard of Fatboy Slim before this festival, but good god did they bring Groovin to an incredible close. I found myself quickly grabbing a final drink and standing in the back to observe as the whole field was going absolutely bananas. Half my camera roll from the day was just me dancing in the back to FBS, really in my own little world as I enjoyed the closing music. If you’ve never played FBS before, I recommend you do it as soon as possible. (Add him to your driving playlist too, but maybe don’t freak your friends out.)

Groovin The Moo was incredible. I can only imagine how the others went, and I genuinely have never had as much fun as I did reviewing this festival. With an early drive back to get to work by 12pm the next day, I had a lot of sleeping to do. So, after a quick scooter ride to Dominos, I hit the hay and returned to reality. Festival’s post covid have been strange recently, however this was the first sense of normalcy since 2019 and god did it feel good. I will be returning for more, and hopefully it stays COVID free. God, do I love live music.

VIEW OUR FULL GALLERY BELOW.