The wait was worth it though and after hurriedly setting up tents in the dark and trying not to get stuck in the mud it was off to the main stage to catch aKing and the Dirty Skirts. Both did their thing successfully kicking the night into gear.
There was much to see and do on Saturday for those not too hung-over; many hippie crafty stalls, delicious food, bands from 10:00 am and a comedy hour kept us all entertained. Hot Water were up on the stage mid dayish. The band and those there were spreading the love vibes, this is my third time seeing them and I can't help but feel that most of their songs sound pretty similar. That said they were lots of fun and lead Donovan Copley entertained between the songs with antedotes and even invited a pirate-hat-wearing guy on stage to sing and dance in exchange for some gum boots (which would certainly come in handy at the muddy wine estate).
The comedy hour hosted by Brendan Murry was most enjoyable all the comedians were great and kept the laughs rolling. What a great idea to have comedy events at music festivals for those of us who like to take a break from the music now and again.
Saturday evening saw international act Eagle Eye Cherry, Bed on Bricks, Taxi Violence and Gold fish hit the stage amongst others. Eagle Eye Cherry was pretty boring to be honest, far to mellow and laid back for the Rocking the Daisies crowd the only song that got a good response was the only one I and evidently most others knew being Save Tonight. Unfortunately we were just heading back to the tent for a refill at that time.
Bed on Bricks brought the energy back, and what nice guys to, we had a short and un-serious interview with Dave and Schalk backstage just before they performed. A choice between death or a night of passion with Nolene (from 3 talk), Nelson Mandela or Homer Simpson revealed that Schalk would prefer to spoon Nelson and Dave would spend the night with Homer. Interesting, so no love for Nolene then, not that I can blame them.
The Taxies were as raucous as ever, George put on the sexy moves as usual announcing that they would be performing a brand spanking new song and then asking if anybody would liked to be spanked. I'm sure there would be some takers judging by the groupies in the front row. Goldfish ended the main stage action off in style and chants from one of their tracks “This is how it goes” could be heard throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning.
Despite the serious wind, ridiculous queues (including shower queue), mud and rather disgusting toilets Rocking the Daisies 2008 was well worth it, we shall see you next year.
