(Pic: Pete Ottery) If a fork of lightning doesn't cleave the stage in two leaving Warren Ellis playing suspended in front of a full moon I'll be very disappointed.
People talk about the Dirty Three's set at Meredith 2004 in the same breath as the birth of their first child, that really good laksa one time and clocking Halo, ie: quite high. What history doesn't reflect on is the the sodden pants, the sweet tingle of Pink Flamingos eroding the gums and the second layer of dirt seeping into ones pores at the time. Yes, yes there were forks of lightning arcing over the stage as the looming threat of another storm of biblical proportions threatened to thunder down on the gathered, yes there was a full moon rising in the sky bringing the promise of clear skies and yes the Dirty Three sounded pretty good. Ok, I guess it was really good. Unless you went to the festival that year to see that new band Wolfmother, in which case you were probably asleep in the panel van not giving a fuck.
It's official: Warren Ellis, Jim White and Mick Turner will return to the Meredith Stage this December to help celebrate the festivals 20th anniversary. I hear Jim White's apartment in Brooklyn has nothing but a single swinging light bulb over a mattress on the floor and a pile of dirty white shirts. I'm not even joking.
Here's a hint of what it was like in 2004:
The Dirty Three 'Everything's Fucked' live at Meredith And a bit of the band playing at Meredith in 1994:
And here's Warren speaking to TheVine at the Melbourne Laneway Festival earlier this year:
As previously mentioned, The Meredith Music Festival happens on the 10, 11 & 12 of December 2010 at the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre on the Nolan Farm in regional Victoria. The Subscriber Ticket Ballot is open from 9am August 3. Old subscribers should check their email. New and yet-to-be-subs head to
www.mmf.com.au to get with the program. More acts to be announced soon.