Cruel World Roundup Up

All in all a pretty good day.  Only downsides were a case of sunburn, too much walking, and inevitable phone connectivity issues towards the end of the day.

Didn't know many of the early bands.  Supposedly Zanias is an Australian performer ??  I'm sure some of you may know.

Caught the end of Harsh Symmetry who were on before The Motels.  They did sound like they came straight from the 80s even though they looked quite young.  I could imagine myself dancing to their music back in the day.

The Motels were pretty good.  Played the hits I knew and the rest was good.  Did suffer from a few mic issues though.

Off to The Mission UK next.  They were the highlight of the day for me.  Sounded excellent.  Played a bunch of songs I knew and I got goosebumps on two occasions - that's how I know they were great.

Next up was The Stranglers.  Think I've only ever seen them do one average show - today's was good.  Again suffered a few tech difficulties but they worked through it.  I've seen a few online reviews and many agree at how good they were.

Didn't stay to the very end because I had to trek to the other end of the festival to see Gary Numan.  Put on a great show.  Again, I really only know the hits but was very impressed - might have to investigate more of his back catalogue.

Caught the very end of Tolhurst and Budgie.  Think they had the singer from Modest Mouse on vocals doing 'A Forest'.  For those unaware, The Cure are in my top 3 'bands beginning with C'.  I thoroughly enjoyed the snippet I listened to.

Next up was Ministry doing songs from 'With Sympathy' and 'Twitch'.  These weren't as heavy as I expected them to be but were great nonetheless.  Internet consensus is the same.

Jesus and Mary Chain next.  Another of my faves - probs my 2nd fave of the day.  Got goosebumps once.  Played a bunch of hits and can't wait to see them again later in the year in Aus.

Bummed around a little until Adam Ant began.  Again, only really know the radio hits but thought he was excellent.  Not a lot of banter but that's the norm for AA I believe.  If he tours Aus I might go check out a full concert 

Heading into the bigger acts, Soft Cell was next.  Was ok, but unsure what I expected.  Once again, really only knew the Aus radio hits but they all sounded good.

Between AA and SC, Simple Minds played a different stage.  I didn't see them (saw them at ADotG years ago) but the buzz after was they were the best of the day.  

Blondie next.  First time for me.  Wish I'd seen them years ago.  Her voice doesn't have it anymore but she does turn 79 next month so taking that into account it was pretty good.  Played a heap of hits.  Band was great - especially 'Elvis Ramone' on drums 😉

And to finish the night for me was Duran Duran.  Still going strong.  Could ease up on the visuals though - a little distracting for mine.  Apart from that they were great.

Left a little before the end to beat the crowd home.  By now reception was at its worst and I couldn't organise a ride.  Walked home.

I think there's quite a bit of the festival up on YouTube if you're interested.  I did find a page in FB that listed it all but couldn't find it again once I navigated away.