The Aussie BBQ 2012
The Aussie BBQ returned to London for its third consecutive year and turned Cargo into mini Australia; all you could hear was wall to wall Aussie accents.
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The Aussie BBQ was a great showcase of emerging Australian musical talent in a setting outside of Australia. The event had a good turnout, especially later in the afternoon, and it was great to see a lot of the artists performing arriving early/leaving late to see bands from their motherland.
This year's line-up included fourteen artists; Ben Salter, Bonfire Nights, Husky, Inland Sea, Jackson Firebird, Jinja Safari, Kellie Lloyd, Mike Noga, Millions, Oliver Tank, Sietta, Step-Panther, The Bowers and The Killgirls.
Melbourne's indie rockers Red Ink were tasked with opening the event, despite the crowd being barely there, the Aussie four piece put on an extremely energetic show and set the bar high for the rest of the day.
Jackson Firebird had a huge sound for two guys (and a bottle bin). Their music was pure hard-hitting rock 'n' roll, and I loved every second of their set. Jackson Firebird performed extremely well, and made their unpredictable tempo changes look easy. The explosive duo took turns on the vocal duties, they were both great, but it was Brendan Harvey's gravelly voice that really stood out.
The Bowers filled the room with inoffensive and easily accessible rock with pop sensibilities. They were engaging and performed well, but couldn't quite follow Jackson Firebird and slowly people made their way out of the stage area and back out into the beer garden for a rare piece of English sun.
Jinja Safari were in a world of their own, and absolutely incredible. Different; yet accessible. They had a great stage presence, and played their selected instruments extremely well. They are definitely an energetic bunch and their Afropop style drew the biggest crowd of the day to that point. Jinja Safari have a lot of layers to their music, but thanks to their clever arrangements, dynamic vocals and great song writing, I can only describe their music as perfect. In fact, I liked them so much that I ended up going to see them two days later in Camden.
There's plenty of hype surrounding Husky at the moment, having recently toured the US and just signed to Sub Pop, I was excited to see what they brought to the table. From one brooding song to the next, they had the audience completed captivated. Their performance was pitch perfect, and despite being far less energetic than most of the bands on the bill they had a great turn out. Husky had some great harmonies, and they were not scared to alter songs in the live setting - for instance, Dark Sea saw the boys really build on the sound, giving the song way more depth.
Overall, The Aussie BBQ was a huge success; the event was well put together with a maximum turnover time of 10 minutes between bands. The only disappointment was that I didn't discover the likes of Jackson Firebird and Jinja Safari while I was living in Melbourne.
To view all photos taken during this set click here. There are 1 available.