Origin NYE @ Claremont Showgrounds
Sunday, December 31, 2017
New Years Eve is always a tough one, you either want to go into the next year with some consideration of your half hearted resolutions and you’re in bed straight after the fireworks OR you wake up next to half a piece of pizza, still wearing your shoes and no idea where you are. If the latter is more your style then Origin is just where you should begin. Oh yeah, and the line up was fkn sick.
Ah yes, the Ol’ Claremont Showgrounds – maybe you’ve attended a Royal Show or two or maybe you’ve somehow been dragged along to a craft fair or some strange expo once upon a time – regardless, everyone usually has a fair idea of its layout – that is until four stages and three rides drop right in and you get all types of excited because of how disorientating it is, running with the heard from one stage to the next or finding a nice patch of grass to give your weak giraffe knees a break. So with the venue choice getting a tick of approval it was down to the music.
Danny Brown on so early at 5:40pm surely brought in the main chunk of the crowd and straight to the main stage where that sun was shining strong. Smokin & Drinkin and Dip both made appearances to the masses while meanwhile in a far off forest a songbird by the name of Kûcka was kicking off her set with Flume collaboration Numb & Getting Colder. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen her perform but it honestly beats me how she hasn’t reached headline status at every Australian festival yet. Her crystalised and pitch perfect voice is just earth shatteringly astounding and the production work behind all of her tracks from Walk With Me to Hyperreal is just a class of its own. Here’s to hoping 2018 is the year she releases her debut album gets the recognition she deserves.
Back down at the Pod, 6Lack was tearing it up with ‘Milly Rock’ arms flying about in the crowd and a real sense of hood love before he chilled down for a second with Luving You. The most gimmicky and hyped act of the night was going straight to the man Big Shaq and boy did he garner a crowd. Somewhere in his set there was a bit of Oasis (sorry, why?!) and thankfully ended with Man Not Hot.
After the fun and games, Tourist was starting up in the Forest stage with Too Late. Everyone was challenging those happy hippy vibes as it appeared to be a collective sway. The green bundles hanging from the roof further added to the enchanted forest paradigm with Run and To Have You Back while not so far off on the other side of the showgrounds, A-Trak was creating a whole other world. The terminal was a sweating, sweltering chamber that housed a number of mindless inhabitants – but there was one thing you cant deny and that’s A-Trak still puts on one of the best DJ sets you’ll ever see. It’s his experience and mixing finesse that sees him utilise the decks like not many DJ’s can.
$uicideboy$ were getting some freaky shit going but I made the mistake of opting for Goldie vs My Nu Leng. Considering it was the beginning of the set, the crowd danced rather apathetically and there wasn’t any energy between artist and audience. Perhaps poor stage set up choices attributed to this.
Kehlani is a goddamn powerhouse and all her adoring fans knew it. From the screams and chants before she emerged she took her set on as though it wasn’t just another time slot in a festival, it was her own show. Her dancers, her get up, her band, all just painted the idea that she commanded attention, and rightfully so. There is not a fault in her image, her voice, her choreography or even her message. She stands for everything great and we really cannot fault anything in her as a performer.
If it seemed hard to beat Kehlani, Mura Musa would have definitely given her a run for her money. Singing on the mic, picking up the guitar and then drum pads and keys – this guy is just a pinnacle of musical talent. He had two ridiculously good support artists help him with Nuggets and 1 Night and his cut up graphics also attributed to this very cool London urban aesthetic that possibly won him the title of best set.
If it was the first time you’d seen Stormzy, I’m sure you would have been well satiated, however if you’d seen him at Metro City only a few months prior it was almost a word for word performance, from “where my hype crew at?” to the order of songs, the only real improvement would have been the visuals on the big screens and talking about the new year.
If you’ve read this far, you can make the fair assumption that the Forest Stage was where it was at and the last act there for the night, Kaytranada, definitely didn’t disappoint. His wavy drum driven tracks just about rolled us right into 2018 as we got fireworks and confetti cannons across the whole festival and back at the pod some hectic Australian politics collage went up in smoke with some great pyro work.
Post countdown, it was easy to understand why Andy C is a legend. Aside from that, the light show was nothing short of insane. Topping the night off with some good ol D’n’B was the perfect way to round up the night.
If last year’s theme was dubstep/ trap – this year’s was most definitely grime/ hip-hop – personally it got tiresome to see the same genres of acts always on the main stage and whether this is a comment on the trends of music in Perth or globally we can’t be certain. But if there’s one thing for sure, it was that Origin got it mostly down to a T. They served up a big board with all types of selections for everyone to sample. Congrats.
MIA-CAMPBELL-FOULKES
