When a huge production company like Powerhouse decides to move their massive rave/dance parties out of the colossal stadiums and warehouse-like entertainment complexes (see Superdome etc) into the open air under the stars and amongst the trees boasting six stages, nine big name internationals, countless local/interstate djs and live acts, powerful sound systems, colour-fantastic laser light spectacles, rides, stalls, and other assorted attractions set against the beautiful Glenworth Valley backdrop, the average glow-stick waving, dummy-chewing, fluffy-legged, beaded-up-to-the-elbow regressing-back -to-candy-blissful childhood punter (gurner) would be expected to expect a lot…and with the long tradition of outdoor raves/festivals/doofs dating way back in Sydney’s party history, there were certainly some large dancing boots to be filled….

What attracted me to this particular Utopia was PH promoting the event as an outdoor Electronic Music Festival where there was a variety of eclectic electronic styles genres and sub-genres on offer – all at the same party – a party where one has the freedom to submerse themselves in the myriad of dance beats and sounds. Personally what I love about this kind of party is the chance to move outside one’s preferred sub-cultural and musical comfort zones and mixing with people from other scenes and mixing with the music from those scenes – in essence this kind of event provides for exactly what I believe to be (and has been) at the heart of the greater dance scene during its relatively short history – diversity (all shapes and sizes).

So what were Powerhouse attempting with their electronic music festival? Were they trying to move out of their own comfort zones and try something different? Were they trying to create a safe and professional event where people from all genres can come together and share in their common love for dance music? Or was Utopia EMF another money-making venture?

For me, the Happy Valley parties (pre 2001) define what outdoor electronic music festivals can be – a variety of choice music/artists/people combined with vibe and a communal atmosphere. On a smaller (but no lesser) scale, outdoor parties like Liquid Labyrinth, Earthdance etc have left a huge impression on my party-going life – this is not to ignore the many other outdoor doofs and techno parties (esp. see Swarm NYfree 2002/2003) – there is something special about dancing in the open air having driven some distance to find that unknown elusive destination. So when production company Powerhouse decided to put on their version of an outdoor party, I guess my anticipation was a mixture of what-are-they-going-to-do expectation and I-hope-they-get-it-right trepidation. I was not sure what I was expecting to find nestled in amphitheatre-like Glenworth Valley – some unrivalled unmatched wondrous magical musical oasis perhaps….or a tasteless uninspired lacking vibe dance party….

Powerhouse definitely got it right with venue choice – Glenworth Valley proved an appropriately massive outdoor venue for the size and scale of a Powerhouse party – a picaresque valley backdrop, lots of flat land, parking, camping – the place has it all (especially loved when the sun came up in the morning to reveal the natural beauty of the surrounds) However, the problem with such a large venue is that it is difficult to fill the space – and this is where Powerhouse I think fell short – my impressions of the site from the perspective of walking into (and around) the space, was that it seemed to be a number of large tents arranged around the valley – it lacked that certain “festive” feel that a festival should have – there did not seem to be any effort to create party atmosphere outside music and stages (this may perhaps be due as well to the cold and lower numbers) – an aspect that could have been easily solved with some more thought given to décor, outdoor lighting etc – where was the “lighting and laser effects to make perfect use of the outdoor environment” – this would have given the party much needed festival atmosphere (see psy trance stage)

There were a number of other things promised that would have helped in this manner, but that were not there; a huge amusement rides park (a couple of local carny-run old carnival rides that left in the middle of the night), visual art displays (only saw a few fire breathers/dancers), food (hmmmm….), community bon fire (cancelled due to fire ban – unfortunate but what can you do), foam party dance floor (couldn’t find it if there was one) – these things don’t make a party per se, but if you are going to make statements like “we pride ourselves on creating parties unparalleled in atmosphere and quality” you have to deliver – especially when you are a huge and financially strong production company like Powerhouse – I wanted my mind blown – lucky there was Mark N’s set in the hardcore room….

What follows is an attempt to get down in some chronological way all the acts and DJs I managed to see/hear in my long night and next morning of dancing-to-different beats genre-crossing stage-hopping musical-wanderings – which is what it is all really about anyway….

Main Stage
The Utopia Stage was an enormous jaw-dropping tent that once inside was like being in a stadium – with sound and all-the-colours-of-the-rainbow-spectrum light and laser show unrivalled by anything I have seen. Basically all production in the main stage was your typical mammoth Powerhouse stuff geared to make thousands of young and easily impressionable dilated eyes go oooohhhh with wonder and jaws clench with delight…. The line-up in the main stage was absolutely massive in terms of international big-names (along with all the popular Utopia old timers – Pee Wee, Nik Fish, Jumping Jack et al) I caught a glimpse of Lab4’s set – a live dreadlocked duo who are popular amongst Sydney’s Hard House clubber fraternity having played Frantic on a number of occasions – their set – hard bangin’ beats with melodic drives throughout kept the large crowd more than happy. They were impressive to say the least – a great live show. Darude on the other hand – fluffy commercial uninspiring mainstream trance played on DAT* – not my idea of a live set and not my idea of good dance music – too easily ear pleasing too easily accessible and not nearly confronting enough. This is simple and basic dance made for easily impressed youngsters whose only access to electronic music is through Video Smash Hts on a Saturday morning. During the time I spent listening to his unbearable contribution to dance music, he played his number one hit “Sandstorm” – the crowd went wild. But – this is what his music is meant to be – he makes no excuses for it – though personally, that does not excuse his music. I was glad to hear him Finish (pardon the pun) So much did I want to get out of that room that I totally forgot to see Binary Finary who were on after him. From all reports, a definite highlight of the main stage. Though the half hour I saw of Slipmatt’s Old School Set made up for it – shivers-up-the-spine euphoric yesteryear trance – with just enough of a hard beat.

(*Since this review was put up on ITM, Darude has emailed me re: what he was playing on the night – Darude was “playing from cds, hardware sequencer, software sequencer and some live keys and sample trigging” – so i apologise for getting it wrong – but my view of his music still stays the same.)

Hardcore Room
The line-up in this tent was one of the things I was looking forward to – a chance to indulge myself in some unashamed blatant in-you-face hardcore action! And whilst the sets I saw left my brain battered and bruised and my ears bleeding – I had the satisfied smile of a masochist on my face by the end of it. The second largest stage at the festival – basically a circular big-top tent with wonderfully powerful and clear sound that managed the thunderous bass that beat its way out of the speakers. I arrived at the party at around 9:00 and after getting my bearings, made my way straight over to the hardcore tent to catch DJ Silver form the UK (the man behind the web-site responsible for today’s renewed interest in the hardcore sound – happyhardcore.com) I only caught the last ten minutes of his set – uplifting hardcore (a generic oxymoron?) – more UK sounding hardcore than European. Following Silver was Hardcore legend Buzz Fuzz of BZRK records and part of the Dream Team who played a set of the gabba sound made famous by those Rotterdam lunatics. It was a highlight to see one of the earlier purveyors of this in-you-face sound. But that was nothing compared to Novocastrian Mark N (of Bloody First Records and Nasenbluten infamy) – his set was the highlight of the entire event – dark brooding intense serious hardcore. The man is a genius and left all internationals in his wake. The riot footage on the two large screens on the stage was an appropriate backdrop – definitely not for the fainthearted. This man has his hands in many generic baskets – no two sets of his are the same. If I was never to hear a hardcore set again, I would die a happy man. Dutchman Chosen Few followed with an impressive set of hardcore gabba – finishing off with the classic “Six Million Ways to Die” Local Australian hardcore DJ and producer Crisis followed, opening his set with “Hardcore to tha’ Bone” – as energetic a set as ever with all the trademark Crisis styles – waving records in the air, waving arms about etc – he even played the old George Vagas classic “Hyperdome” (not sure what that dude was doing standing behind the decks during his set…hmmmm….trying to MC….didn’t really have much to say…anyway) An hour break was not nearly enough respite for the thunderous industrial hardcore of Geoff da Chef whose style nowadays is more of a stripped back minimal sound, slightly lower on the bpms than of old, but with an anger and ferocity unmatched. I knew I had enough when he played one of his own tracks off his Violent Records label. Nuff said.

UFO ZONE
In stark contrast to the hardcore room – but equally intense – was the psy-trance stage, nestled amongst the trees on a hill – probably more where I am at of late musically in an outdoor setting – the psy stage drew a strong crowd throughout the night, with many Utopia goers discovering the sounds of doof. The sound was crystal clear – in the middle of the dance floor, there was a surround sound effect. This stage was perfect example of how outdoor parties should be done. Wicked sound, awesome décor, vibe and party atmosphere though on a somewhat smaller scale that a full-blown doof. Highlights – Tract, Adam T, Raptor and Ming D.

Hardware
This is probably the stage I was most looking forward to (being a devoted tech-head) which (sadly) left me pretty disappointed throughout the night. I headed straight to Hardware as soon as I arrived, wanting to catch Vic’s set, but being disappointed to see that he had re-swapped sets with Biz. From reports – Vic had the room as full as it got throughout the entire night with a number of little raver-types dancing with glow-sticks to a set of hard tribal techno – that would have been an interesting sight to see indeed. I was also looking forward to seeing the Hardware guys from Melbourne play (having heard excellent things about our southern techno comrades) – all I have to say is give me Sydney Techno any day. Will E Tell’s set was slow and uninspiring (and mixed rather badly), Richie Rich played the softest set of what can only be described as Progressive Techno (ugh…how I hate that term…leaves a bad taste in your mouth) and finally Ben Cromack, who I specifically rushed back to the techno tent to see after hearing his praises sung by a friend – and whilst he is a (very obviously) talented DJ, his musical selection was in a word, boring. Perhaps the guys were having a bad night which was understandable cause (as per usual) the techno stage always gets the worst set up at pretty much most every multi-roomed party I have been and the general lack of people in there throughout the night. I returned to see Tom Wax play and was starting to get my hopes up for a great techno set finally – that is until Nik Fish decided to come in and play. (Post-party I now learn that they announced a special appearance by Fish in the hardware stage to get numbers in there to see international Tom Wax – which is fine) But methinks someone forgot to tell Nik that it was a TECHNO stage, cause he got up there, played the softest trancey shite whilst posing behind the decks with sunglasses sucking on a cigarette with his entourage dancing behind the decks….which was damn disappointing cause I really wanted to hear Tom Wax. All I have to say is thank Fuck for the Tampered crews Kemik who played next and who pretty much made up for all the disappointment. If I hadn’t seen Mark N earlier, this would have been easily set of the night (and now comes in at second place). Since first seeing him at the Bat and Ball a couple of years back, when he was still a hardcore DJ playing various raves, Kemik has matured into a seriously good (and entertaining) DJ – and musically – fucking brilliant tracks! A damn shame that there were only me and a couple of my friends dancing to his set – couldn’t the crowd there earlier have hung around for a least a minute or two rather than leaving as soon as Mr Fish left – if they did they would have heard some great techno. Anyway, whatever. Deft followed with a skilfully mixed Booty set with some nice scratching. Fellow Tampered boys G-MO and RIP stepped it up a notch and tried to get the crowd in with some lovely emceeing (heh heh) – but by this stage there weren’t many people around interested in listening to music.

Summary
Musically I think EMF was a success – which is what is essentially at the heart of any party – the bringing together of different sections of the wider dance community. For me personally EMF was the chance to go and see a variety of acts in the one night – it allowed me to satisfy all my musical cravings. However, though there may have been others like me that attended the party for these reasons, the majority of the crowd (it is pretty much safe to say) were loyal Utopia fans who were there for the Main Stage bangin’ trance action. This resulted in a number of problems; not many people in other stages (people are vibe) and Powerhouse knowing that these are the people who are coming to their events so therefore they spend all their money and focus on the main stage because this is their target audience – which is fine – for a normal Utopia – if you are going to hold a huge festival like this one with a variety of stages with international/interstate acts you HAVE to spend as much focus on each and every area as the next – otherwise don’t bother.

To the many people who complained and came unprepared (shorts skirts no ti-shirts etc) that it was too cold too dirty too dusty – it’s an outdoor party – it’s not meant to be that comfortable – its about getting away from the city to be free to party in a free open space.

Having said all that, I had a fuckin’ ball – and that’s what’s it all about in the end.