Once word of the mainstage had gotten out a few months ago , many were ready to cue up in snow, sleet and asteroids in order to get their hands on an early bird ticket to what was on paper, one of the best line ups for a 2 Tribes in recent memory. Grandmaster flash – the King of Hip Hop, Dj Zinc- the man known for his rolling breaks and drum and bass, LTJ Bukem and MC Conrad – the smooth journeymen in the world of liquid drum and bass and last and certainly not least – The Prodigy , one of the bands that got many into electronic music back in the mid 90’s. One word could describe this line up – LARGE. However, this didn’t stop some leaving getting their tickets at the last minute and found out the hard way that this was indeed a sell out event.

As I arrived at the venue, there were some of these late stragglers begging those parking their vehicles on the Lilac Hill Cricket Oval to spare them an extra ticket. Delirium had promised that there would be smarter parking arrangements, and while they were better than last time, there is still no easy access in terms of parking for Mulberry on Swan.

Greg Packer and MC Assassin were busting out an old skool hip hop and breaks set for some of the earlier boogier’s in the day – a very hot one I might add , who would have thought it was coming up to the colder months. I took the time to sit down and soak up the atomosphere under the shaded tent area before the first headliner of the mainstage Grandmaster Flash and his ‘posse’ made an entrance. I was unlucky to miss the Flash man last time he was here for his Metro City gig, but perhaps it was a good thing as some who had seen him there said it was a very similar performance. Giving the crowd a vocal introduction into the origins of Hip hop and old skool breaks, Flash got going with ACDC’s Back in Black, before going into some really old beats and breaks. Mixing between tracks very fast, Flash kept the energy high and the booty’s shakin with a healthy crowd getting down front and centre despite the heat of the day. One could be forgiven for thinking “hey I can hear all this shit at RISE on a Saturday Night giggle, why is he playing all this?”. Well as one punter pointed out to me, sure you CAN tune into NOVA or 92.9 and hear all these classics, or even park your ass outside a school social and hear the same tunes being rinsed. But there is something special about the way Grandmaster Flash craft’s his sets. Its like going through your entire CD collection from back in highschool and saying “I wanna here this” BANG its on , then “no actually I’d like to hear this now” BANG , its on. And so on and so forth. The energy and vibe that GM was able to maintain throughout his set was high and the crowd lapped it up. It was the perfect time spot for this type of music and set the scene for the mayhem that was to follow later in the night.

DJ Zinc was up next after a short interlude of Packer and Assassin again. Zinc, the man behind the Bingo Beats Breaks/DnB label got things going at full steam ahead from the word go with a DnB remix of Uptalking, and to be honest was probably going a little wee bit too hard so early in his set, to his credit however, he pulled it back and played some smooth rolling drum and bass which didn’t tire the punters out too early. Slowly Zinc built it up to the darker stuff as MC J-Rippa amped the crowd up from time to time not over doing it. Zinc’s mixing was flawless through out and as he ended his set , the masses from the other tents in the venue were making their way for what was to follow – leaving some of the internationals in the other tents playing to massive crowds of about 5 to 10 people. 7:30 came and with the Prodigy due to make an appearance, Zinc finished up his set with some breaks. Expecting him to bust out some of the more energetic breaks tracks from the Bingo Label, I was surprised when he played Jason Sparks – I’m In You (Chris Carter remix) which is quite a laidback tune. Nonetheless this was probably a good move as the act that probably majority of the 7000 or so people that were there to see was due to come on , The Prodigy.

An eerie voice “Wake up” could be heard over a deep bassline as the volume was noticeably turned up compared to the other acts (more on that later). Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim all made grand entrances to an absolutely mental crowd which was something to behold from the hill I was sitting on . Immediately taking the level up a notch, The Prodigy went straight into some well known tunes, Their Law and the massive Fat of the Land single “Breath” , before playing some of their new material, “Spitfire” and “Girls” . Howlett darted and weaved around the stage like a headless chook. 45 minutes of the most intense anger fuelled shizzle had passed and as they made their exit, the crowd started chanting for more. The band returned for an encore and played Music from the Jilted Generations “Poison” and Fat of the Lands “Smack my Bitch Up”. What an end. They only played all up for probably an hour but still put on an outstanding performance. The crowd going nutz at every break. How could an act possibly follow what had just been witnessed. Masses of crowd were leaving before LTJ Bukem even stepped up to the Decks.

Bukem – a personal favourite of mine and one of the pioneers of the liquid funk sound, was probably pushing shit uphill right from the start. 1) with The Prodigy on before hand playing such an aggressive set 2) with a depleting crowd either leaving for another tent or going home or 3) the volume that had to adhere to regulations. Bukem put in a solid performance as always with MC Conrad on the mike doing his best to amp up a dwindling crowd but even he was a bit frustrated at the crowd leaving in masses saying “Comon guys where is the vibe in here”. The set was outstanding but it seemed it was a little bit lost in the open air fields of Mulberry on Swan unless you were right up close to the stage.

Overall this 2 Tribes was a success from my point of view, however had mixed feelings and reactions from others as to whether it should be a day or night gig. There are positives and negatives both for and against the latter. Obviously a big talking point amongst all was the levels of volume. Unfortunately this is out of the control of Delirium but in the hands of the lawmakers and if we are wanting to continue to be privileged enough to have these events then a drop in volume is what we will have to contend with if we want the surroundings such as Mulberry on Swan. Some whinged about the line up times with Prodigy being seen as the best to finish the day, but at what price? If they finished the day then the volume would have been dropped for that particular timeslot. Its unfortunate that Bukem was unable to have an increased volume for his set, but again, that is how the cookie crumbles. Props must go to the staff who ran the event on the day. Leaving the venue was a slight improvement on Sunshine People, however it still had its niggles, I’m resigned to the fact that there is no easy way to arrange parking at Mulberry, and I think the arrangement on the weekend was probably the best that could be done. 8 out of 10 from me overall.