Cry Baby Fest @ Adelaide Gaol, Adelaide 25/11/2023
Delightful chaos ensued at Saturday’s Cry Baby Fest in one of the coolest venues I’ve attended in a while, appeasing history nerds and music fans alike with a chill atmosphere paired with an impressive and diverse stack of bands.
Forecasted rain held off with just a few threats of downpour, notably during West Thebarton’s set which had Ray Dalfsen exclaiming how crazy the sky is being. While the sunlight weaved through unwieldy rain clouds all day, festival goers enjoyed a relaxed day of floating between stages and chilling out on the grass eating delicious food.
With ‘Nat’ of Nat’s What I Reckon providing comedic banter and the usual Kenny G quips between bands on the Bacardi Stage, and a great view of the action from just about anywhere, it would almost have been the laziest festival ever if not for the high energy performances from the likes of Kingswood, Colourblind, Gyroscope and Dune Rats topping the bill and finishing the party with a frenzy. A seemingly never-ending rave party on the South Ave stage with DJ sets from popular Electronic acts such as Art Vs Science and Running Touch attracted a fair chunk of the patrons after dark while Jack River delivered a captivating soothing set to a mesmerised crowd.
The hour long sets and long breaks between allowed for lots of movement around the grounds exploring the historical landmark and an ample opportunity to watch a bit of every band. Kingswood got everyone up after an afternoon lull on the lawns and rocking to their set which delivered a great selection of tracks giving the crowd what they came for with more blues and grit than country. Their hit single Ohio blared out with such fierceness it had everyone moving while She’s My Baby gave me serious Queens of the Stone Age vibes and flaunted the exceptional vocals of Fergus Linacre.
Local self-proclaimed emo band Colourblind attracted a massive and engaged audience for their gut punching set on the South Ave stage, which was full of loyal fans singing along. I was immediately taken with their lively fast paced and heavy indie sound paired with post punk vocals. Lead singer Finn Cameron screamed his lungs out for Water while Bass player Bernadette Wright sang cute backing vocals, leaving me wondering if “Indiecore” is a thing yet and if not did these guys just invent it unknowingly. Entice Me proved to be an emotional crowd favourite, with so many people being swept up in the moody long intro bursting into song for the heart wrenching heavy chorus.
Speaking of heart wrenching, Gyroscope were the main attraction for a lot of us elder millennials in attendance, so it was no surprise that Daniel Sanders proclaimed they were the oldest people playing that day before firing head first into their set with Doctor Doctor sounding ripe and fierce as ever. A shoeless Sanders got in the crowd to sing Safe Forever when almost in perfect synchronicity an audience member dived into the crowd towards him to grab the mic and scream the bridge vocals. Belting out a heavy and animated rendition of Midnight Oil’s Beds are Burning Gyroscope kept the energy high and euphoric for the entire set which was every bit as amazing as I hoped it would be.
Jack River lightened the mood with their hypnotic synthy pop tunes, creating an enchanting ambience of sound and light and keeping a modest crowd relaxed and jubilant. Holly Rankin aka Jack River and her band played a lush and rich sounding set including recent single Lie In The Sun which got its first live play, and an adorably euphoric cover of She’s So High by Tal Backman which was dedicated to the women in the crowd (which were according to Rankin, outnumbered by the males there). Sharing with the audience that she is post-partum ‘punk rock’ with enormous boobs, among some seriously wholesome banter and “I love yous” between band members, Jack River finished her set with popular floaty pop track Fools Gold.
Dune Rats wrapped up the festival with a cracking set, culminating the party vibes and going all out with high energy punk rock tracks Scott Green and Up while also delivering brand spanker Be Like You and bringing the Clews girls, that had sadly missed their set due to airport drama, onstage to perform their crowd pleasing version of The Angels (greatest Australian punk rock band ever according to them) Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? proving that the song transcends generations and still holds its place as an iconic party belter. I’m not that cool, so Dune Rats have not been an act I have come across live before, but they were the perfect fit for this festival’s vibe, like Leyton Hewitt had somehow joined forces with The Chats and put a livelier larrikin spin on the whole Aussie pub rock thing. Dune Rats finished with Dalai Lama Big Banana Marijuana which seemed fairly fitting to the state of the punters by then and was a highly amusing end to the day.
It was another one of those festivals I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did, but the whole operation was pulled off so well and the bands played brilliantly, the energy was fun and relaxed, and I was coloured surprisingly impressed. My only gripe about the whole day was the criminal lack of a coffee cart, and very limited non-alcoholic options so I probably drank far too much Red Bull at the event which luckily managed to get burnt off during the chaos of the headlining act.
Live Review By Bec Scheucher