THIS THAT 05/03/2022
THIS THAT at Sandstone Point QLD March 5th 2022.
Photos and Review by Jack Ridsdale
With a few rescheduled dates under their belt due to COVID, March 5th marked the date for the first leg of This That festival, taking place at the Sandstone Point Hotel. As with most festival the past few years, it did come with rescheduling/cancellation scares due to the recent floods, but the This That crew worked tirelessly to ensure that the venue and day would be safe for everyone to enjoy.
The sweltering day kicked off with Jack River drawing in a big crowd to help sing along to favourites such as Fool’s Gold, Palo Alto and even a live altered version of her hot 100 charting song Sugar. After Jack River’s set, the crowd drifted across the two other stages that were offered to punters before quickly tracking back to the main This Stage to catch WA heavy hitters San Cisco. During the brief break between Jack River and San Cisco, I managed to catch a good amount of time seeing Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers. The young four piece band absolutely rocked The Other stage and are certainly looking at putting their name as a staple on Australian festival line-ups in the future.
Heading back to the bottom of the hill where This Stage was located, you could see people flocking in from the bars, entrances, and other stages to catch the set of San Cisco. Having now been putting out music, touring and playing festivals for over 10 years now, they are no strangers to working crowds and they had the majority of This That goers in the palm of their hand. Mixing in their old tunes with newer ones off the most recent album and everything in between, they had people bopping up and down from the barricade right to the top of the hill. Front man Jordi, explained to the crowd that they’re all in a COVID bubble and the only time they’re not isolating is when playing on stage. It was evident that they have been confined to hotel rooms 24/7 from the raw energy they were putting into their performance.
Shortly after San Cisco exited the stage, in came The Rubens. Similar to San Cisco they had mixed in highlights from their discography dating back to 2012. Performing crowd favourites such as My Gun, Live in Life and obviously the 2015 hottest 100 winning song Hoops. The Menangle band had probably the most age diverse crowd of the day where punters of old and young were grooving on the Sandstone Point Hotel hill.
Next to take on This Stage were arguably one of the most popular Australian bands right now, Spacey Jane. Drawing in the biggest crowd of the day so far, Spacey Jane members came out to a huge roar of sun kissed punters. From the enthusiastic guitar kicking of guitarist Ashton to the charisma of lead singer Caleb, the energy Spacey Jane were giving off on the stage was definitely being matched by the crowd as people were perking up on shoulders to join in on sing-alongs such as Booster Seat and Feeding the Family. An amazing performance matched with an amazing crowd – it seems to be coming along as routine work for the band as of late.
The unofficial food break seemed to start after the Spacey Jane set, luckily enough there were plenty of amazing food trucks and seating areas positioned outside the That Stage and Other Stage. I took the chance to go see a good chunk of the Luude and Badrapper taking place at That Stage. Plenty of crowd favourite songs remixed with insane drum and bass beats could be heard echoing the tent. It wouldn’t be a Luude set without him spinning his newest viral song, his remix of Down Under. The muddy ground and muddy shoes weren’t stopping anyone from seeing this crazy tune being played live.
Dune Rats took to the main stage playing a wild set, where the crowd was even wilder. Crowd surfing, death walls and intense mosh pits were all seen during their set. Complementing the insane crowd, was their stage design, a massive blow up illustration of all three members with a giant rat in the middle. With the crowd and the stage design, its safe to say Dune Rats had the craziest set of the day.
Hayden James took to the stage shortly after Dune Rats, and he had a lot of backing up to do. His set had a great mix of techno beats infused with his own songs, whilst also giving the crowd a healthy hit of confetti. The silhouette of the Sydney based DJ and producer working his magic on the decks was seen by many as he played some of his biggest tracks including Just Friends and Something About You.
Over at the Other Stage WAAX was getting ready to rock out. Getting straight into it, leading singer Maz was taking full use of the stage, covering every inch of the stage whilst performing and throwing the mic into the crowd to let a few lucky people sing along. Easily my favourite set of the night, they went through all the usual suspects on their set list such as Labrador, Same Same and FU. Maz made a special announcement towards the end of the set to say that they have finished their newest album and is ready to be released in August this year. It’s safe to say that this is a project that should get us all excited and it’ll be the first of many times seeing WAAX this year.
Headliners Presets had the duty of closing the main stage, and they did not disappoint one bit. Starting off the set with an old favourite Talk Like That, they had the whole hill of the Sandstone Point Hotel jumping up and down in the mud. The duo managed to mix all their albums and projects together, playing their newest single You Belong and playing a heavy amount of tunes from their 2018 album Hi Viz.
During the Presets closing set, I managed to catch some of Client Liaison providing the vibes for the That Stage. The choregraphed dancing, champagne bottles and belting crowd were all the right ingredients to make their set one of the most enjoyable sets of the day. This That attendees put their final dancing shoe moulds into the mud under the That Stage tent as Client Liaison provided them with groovy tunes.
As fireworks were set off over the main stage, it concluded the first leg of This That festival. After numerous rescheduled dates and weather threats, This That put on an amazing festival with an amazing Australian line up. As This That goes to their second leg in Newcastle, it truly shows that the Australia music industry is pulling itself out of the slumps and returning to its very best.
