Summer was well and truly in preview with Parklife’s inaugural showing in Perth and an A list and diverse range of Acts made up the Boomtick room inside the “Deen”. In a first for Perth events, Aberdeen street was completely closed off to allow for a massive outdoor stage along with two indoor stages, the stage was set for 4000 party goers a massive weekend of beats and breaks.

It was clear that this weekend was going to be a massive task considering the AFL grand final on the day before – and a lot of weary, but up for it  heads made their way to the Deen for a nice mix of hip hop, party breaks and the techier flavour to end the night. I arrived with the line stretching down the road about 200 metres and it was clear that it was going to be a sardine can once inside. However, despite the main room being heavily populated, it was mis conceived however as there were plenty of patches of space inside – you just had to look for them. Myself and my crew camped ourselves front left of stage, had plenty of room to boogy and didn’t move for the next 5 or 6 hours.

Skelly was finishing up to a packed room and after a few hick ups in getting his equipment ready , A Skillz was ready to fire things up to a surprisingly jam packed room for so early in the day. Starting with a good mix of party tunes and down tempo beats. Teasing in with “These are the breaks” A Skillz. Kicked straight off with Blur Parklife, Superstition, Tricka Technology, then moved into the more up tempo party breaks with Plump Dj’s “The Rub” and “Acid Hustle”. Skillz showed just way he was snapped up by Krafty Kuts a couple of years ago as he showed some mad skillz scratching and cutting. He played the perfect warm up set to a well up for it room building nicely from hip hop to party breaks with ease. Drummatic Twins must have been very appreciative as the crowd was raring to go as these two lads needed no introduction with their reputation preceding them for the last two sets they have played in Perth have been absolute rippers – it was a hard act to match but these guys seem to raise the bar every time they step onto our shores. To make sure the vibe wasn’t lost while the duo set up their equipment, a group of drummers entertained the crowd for the next 10 minutes or so , marching and jumping around the entire room – literally.

Drummatic Twins wasted no time getting straight into it. Teasing the crowd with their trademark “Feelin kinda strange” accapella before going into the Nick Tayer and Basskleph remix of the same tune. The “Twins” kept things moving with Lanx on sampling dutys teasing in accapellas throughout the set while Nick Slater kept the tunes flowing. Going through their recent releases, Twister and Rocksteady, Slater “roughed” things up a bit with the Autobots and Deep Impacts “Bomba Latino” , a cruisey but grimey latin affair that is sure to be on huge rotation this coming summer. Lanx and Slater finished to HUGE applause as MC Chickaboo took to the mic to introduce the “Godfather” of breakbeat – Rennie Pilgrem.

When Rennie Pilgrem was here last, it was in a small tent at the back of a major festival – and the crowd was hardly deserving for a lad that has been a pioneering figurehead in the breakbeat world. This time the crowd he deserved was here , along with the much famed MC Chickaboo (of Two Freaks fame) joining him for the first time on Australian soil. Starting on more of a four to the floor flavour, Pilgrem built up his set nicely going through new favourites “Celebrity” as well as old favourites “Black Widow” – his huge collaboration with Uberzone as well as new additions to the TCR family (the label he runs) Diverted – Tholid and Australia’s own Dopamine – Hold You.

Upon going outside to check out the Freestylers, I was no longer allowed back into the boomtick room to cover Ugly Duckling and local favourite Micah. From all reports, Ugly Duckling ripped the room up with stomping fine hip hop while Micah played a techier set than usual with tunes from Breakfastaz, Aquasky and General Midi.

Overall I was well impressed with this event as a whole. Despite after complaints of it being too crowded, I found that this was due to many people congregating to the entrance of the main room. If you actually moved around the room, there was plenty of space around the edges and near the front. The line up was well programmed for the day with A Skillz playing a nice lead up party set , to Drummatics playing a nice party breaks set to Rennie Pilgrem bringing things home on the techy front. Two thumbs and big toes up for this event. Can’t wait for next years. Could this rival breakfast? Lets wait and see.