Only a week and a bit late here is my full write-up for the One Movement festival that brought summer to Perth for a weekend before disappearing back to wherever it came from.

I honestly had no idea what to expect from OM, I’d only really heard of a couple of the bands that were billed to perform and even then there was only one that I was really keen to see but the sun was bright and the only alternative was to sit inside a dark room and do my assignments so I slapped on some sunscreen, slipped on the thongs and joined my friends on the bus to the train station.

Joining me on this adventure were three very good friends and seasoned music fans: Callum, the world renowned hand model, is a die-hard festival goer and was well versed with the various pit-falls we would face, Sam, our easygoing giant, was an expert at using his height to spot gaps in the crowds which we could use to navigate closer to the stage and finally Simon had an excellent idea of which bands were good to see and which bands we could safely miss. To be honest there was a lot more of the former than of the latter but I’m getting ahead of the story.

One Movement was being held on the banks of the Swan River so we had a beautiful view of the Perth Eye and the Bell Tower and the hundreds of billboards from the sponsors of the festival. This also meant that getting there was as easy as taking a train to Perth from Murdoch and hopping off at the Esplanade station before taking a short walk to the entrance and getting ourselves all wrist-banded in preparation for a wild weekend of music.

Our first stop after getting in was the drinks tent which was already doing good business despite the gates having only opened an hour before we arrived. A round of beers before making our way to the big stage seemed liked the just the plan. I always hate standing in line for drinks, no matter where I am, because I look so young. OM was no exception as I got asked for ID twice while standing in line and then had to produce it again when I was buying beer tickets. I’m sure I’ll be laughing about when I’m thirty and I look twenty but I’ll probably still be getting asked for ID then as well so we will see.

As I mentioned earlier the festival brought the summer that had been absent from Perth for so long and by early afternoon we were all quite eager to get into the shade and away from the burning Daystar. Luckily the festival organisers showed great foresight and there was a nice big tent where about half the festival crowd was hiding while the other half slowly burnt to a crisp. It was a great tent actually as they had set up a stage inside and we got to witness our first act while we enjoyed our beers.

The festival was divided into 4 stages with different acts from different genres taking place simultaneously which meant there was always somebody setting up or some band playing their hearts out. There was also a myriad of stalls and other activities that you could do to keep you occupied while the bands you were waiting to see got set up. One such activity was the silent disco which basically involved putting on a pair of wireless headphones and dancing like a loon to music only you could hear. I’m not going to say that I do this a lot but the practice I’ve had definitely helped an awful lot.

Murdoch University also had a stall up where they were giving out free stuff, I was a bit let down when I found out they were not handing out degrees but the free shirts were nice too so I will make do. I’ll be honest that it was around this stage that the festival fever took us and we spent most of the day dancing to bands, asking bands to marry us and just generally having a great time wandering around the place. A few key moments from Saturday stood out, number one was Davy Knowles and Backdoor Slam performing, they were spectacular. The second spectacular moment was grabbing food to eat after we realised it had been rather a long day without any sustenance other than beer. Festival food was expensive but oh so good, spring rolls have never tasted so springy than when you eat them freshly made. The third moment was The Wagons front-man mouthing off at the Perth skyline and what he believed it represented. After that we spent some wind-down time in the Village playing Tekken in preparation for a wild night at the after-party.

This may not be fair to say but One Movement did not have that many big names bands performing. But this, in my humble opinion, was probably for the best because it meant that there weren’t massive egos that needed to be stroked for every performance. All the bands that I saw seemed gratified with the response they got from the good people of Perth and from what was being said it sounds like a lot of them will be coming back which is means only good things for Perth’s future.

After we were done with the festival on Saturday we decided to really up the ante for the after-party. V energy drinks were handing out these interesting little concoctions called “Pocket Rockets” which are for all intents and purposes a normal V drink on a much smaller scale. The girl handing them warned me about drinking two in a day so I decided to be a responsible rock-star and follow the warning labels. Pocket Rockets don’t taste nice and I probably wouldn’t buy one if they were for sale and I think I understand now why they warn you about drinking more than one.

Anyway after we all stopped shaking from the energy hit we piled into Simon’s car “Lucy” and headed for the Georgia in Perth to see Davy Knowles and Backdoor Slam again. It was another spectacular performance and we ended the night with a 4 a.m run to McDonalds before all collapsing out of exhaustion. On a scale of one to ten I would rate that day as being somewhere in the 100 zone.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end. For me this meant I had to spend most of Sunday working on important assignments and making sure I didn’t miss any deadlines. Thankfully I got enough done to head into Perth in time to see the end of the festival with three amazing performances; Art vs. Science, Kate Miller-Heidke and Hilltop Hoods.

I was already a fan of Kate Miller-Heidke and seeing her perform live was quite spectacular and it’s always nice to find that the bands you like aren’t simply over-produced to sound good on their albums. Hilltop Hoods were really good fun, I hadn’t really heard much of their stuff before but that didn’t stop me from breaking out all the dance moves from the silent disco all over again. I did get punched in the head by a friendly fellow who was likewise dancing like no-one was watching but I do not begrudge him the few head taps or the light concussion that followed.

So overall it was a really great weekend. I got to hear a lot of bands that I would have otherwise not have known about, spend some time in the sun and just generally have a great time with friends which really in my mind is what a good music festival is all about. There will be a small selection of photos up on Flickr with more going up next month when my limit is reset.