Flemington Racecourse

The Wiggles

Sam Moran, The Wiggles, Flemington Racecourse, 3rd December 2011

Gallery: The Wiggles

Another year, another December, another huge tour by The Wiggles! Hot on the heels of their induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame the skivvy wearing four-piece thrilled kids in Melbourne with their 20th Birthday celebration.

With a makeshift bigtop setup on the lawns of Flemington Racecourse, a steady stream of strollers, helium filled balloons and dinosaur tails made their way to their seats.

These guys work hard. Their 3rd 90 minute show for the day was everything you’d expect from the most successful children’s entertainers in history. Sure, their songs drive you mad when you hear them for the 912th time at home, but how can you argue with the smiles on the faces of a tent full of pre-schoolers?

In a staggering series of shocks, Jeff fell asleep a couple of times. Murray played a red guitar, Samdrove the Big Red Car and Anthony made all the mothers in the audience want to leave their husbands.

Dorothy danced, Wags did handstands, Henry spun around a bit and Captain Feathersword shouted a lot. No surprises there either, nor was it a surprise that there was a focus on older, shorter ‘Greg’ songs which even the kids who’ve grown up with Sam in the yellow skivvy seem to favour.

Hot Potato, Fruit Salad, Toot Toot Chugga Chugga and Wiggly Party were all there, and Stairway to Heaven even got a run courtesy of Murray perched on top of a human pyramid with his guitar.

Not sure yet if this will be the last, but it will be more than a bit sad when December comes around and there’s no tickets to the Wiggles in the top drawer of the desk here at home.

The Killers (USA)

Brandon Flowers, The Killers, Good Vibrations Festival, Flemington Racecourse, 21st February 2010

Gallery: The Killers

Just to even make these shows was an incredible effort. The Killers had cancelled shows the week prior due to the sad death of lead singer Brandon Flowers’ mother.

It was expected by most that the remaining 2 shows – in the Gold Coast and Melbourne – would follow suit given the circumstances.

There was no stopping this band though who came out for the Good vibrations summer festival and played one of the more emotional sets fans are likely to see. Not content to come out here, play a couple of shows, go through the motions and collect a pay cheque the whole band led incredibly by Flowers turned on an epic show at Flemington Racecourse.

Incredible performances of The World That We Live In, a cover of Joy Division’s Shadowplay and an amazing closer in When you Were Young were highlights. But tonight was all about courage and emotion and after saying goodbye to his mother only days earlier, Brandon Flowers showed he had it in spades.

Setlist

  • Somebody Told Me
  • For Reasons Unknown
  • Bones
  • The World We Live In
  • Human
  • (Piano Snippet)
  • Bling (Confession of a King)
  • Shadowplay
  • Human (more…)

Basement Jaxx (UK)

Simon Ratcliffe, Basement Jaxx, Good Vibrations Festival, Flemington Racecourse, 21st February 2010

Gallery: Basement Jaxx

Good Vibrations has historically been a dance festival, but with The Killers headlining the main stage, lead in act Basement Jaxx had their work cut out for them.

With a crowd building to see the headliners, many weren’t that interested in hearing the Brixton artists offerings.

Slowly but surely though with a mix of great beats and amazing on stage guests (gorillas, frogs, escaped faceless prisoners, rappers, dancers and a drummer disguised as a native American) the crowd got into what was on offer and by the end were pumped. (more…)