Earthcore Queensland @ Landcruiser Park, Jimna (02-04/12/05)
Years of travelling down south to the infamous party ‘Earthcore’ for many Sunshine State punters, had left many wondering if they would ever experience such a party on our own soil. Small whispers in the earlier months of this year confirmed that the chance of such an experience could be happening closer than we had ever thought. Thanks to the hard work of Brisbane Psytrance DJ and promoter – Funkyspaceelf, Queensland was lucky enough to play host to the first ever Earthcore held outside of home state Victoria.
For a Queensland event of any scale, the hype and excitement in the week leading up to this event was quite unbelievable. Tents and tarps were bought, eskys were stocked, batteries were put in torches and many had organised to finish their working weeks early just for the preparation of this event. Even a continuous trail of storms throughout the week didn’t dampen the spirits of those planning on attending the event.
Friday arrived with dark clouds covering the sky and eventually a storm that followed added an extra hour or so to most punter’s travel time to the site. Arriving unplanned in complete darkness, meant that not only was the beauty of Landcrusier Park hidden to our eyes, but choosing a suitable campsite was like playing pin the tail on the donkey. After setting up our camp and having a few well earned beers, we decided to trek towards the thumping sound and lights that were coming from the neighbouring hill. Unfortunately, the trek across to the other hill was a lot longer then it had first appeared in the dark.
After finally making it to the top of the hill and realising that thongs really aren’t the best attire for walking up a 45 degree muddy and grassy knoll, we were greeted by an abundance of life. Market stalls, lights and flashing projections in and out of the trees, butterfly dancers and the hounding thump of psytrance and more funky beats in the distance. Walking closer to the thumping music, the air became muffled with the smell of kerosene. All of a sudden our path was lit completely by a fire twirler dancing through the trees. Correct me if I am wrong, but before leaving Brisbane, I was informed of a total fire ban in the camping area, so it seemed that a few people had completely ignored this rule. Despite that, the fire twirling show was quite breathtaking. Though many people wishing to dance in the same space were starting to look a little frustrated after a while and eventually just started dancing in their way.
It wasn’t long before both Hexadecimal and Kaneda put on brilliant live shows, entertaining the crowd with their twisted psytrance and it was a great feeling being able to listen to them in such beautiful surroundings. I also managed to catch a small piece of Orinoko’s set which was the perfect build up to international extraordinaire DJ Misjah. Like many I was feeling a little tired from the big drive up from Brisbane and only managed to hear the first few tracks of Misjah’s set, which started off with a major bang on the harder side of techno that he is now known for.
I awoke in the early hours of Saturday morning, not only feeling a cool breeze circling about, but to the gorgeous view of the hillside scarcely covered with colourful campsites that looked like confetti from a distance. Soon more groups of people started to arrive claiming their own piece of heaven, while those with their fortresses already erect, enjoyed their snacks, BBQs, and one too many beers!
When the sun finally went down, many decided to take the trek back up to the other hill where the stages were situated (except for those already camping up there). Unlike the Friday night, the main stage was now completely set up and was in full swing. Playing on stage at the time were Amorphous Androgynous (otherwise known as Future Sounds Of London), looking like something out of Woodstock. As what could best be described as prog rock with a dash of sitar and weird and wonderful beeps, Garry Cobain and Brian Dougan’s wonder child didn’t seem to be exciting the audience like I thought they may have. A cover of a Jeff Buckley track they performed also left a few very not impressed faces in the crowd. Overall though I thought they were quite impressive and that the end of their set finished on quite a high note.
Next up was a quick trip to the Freefall vs Rudebwoyz stage. Brazen and Mr Gaunt were pumping out some heavy jungle amongst some of the biggest visual projections I have ever seen, that spanned across the trees, DJ box and the entire dance floor. Wanting to hear something a little more chilled to I ventured over to the Liquidbass Vs Drop stage where I caught the end of Scott Walker’s set. It was there that I noticed that some thoughtful person had hired a cool room which was strategically placed next to the stage. This could possibly have been the reason why so many of the DJs were so merry for the rest of the night. Following Mr Walker, was Brisbane live act Statler and Waldorf who I had last caught at BBQ Breaks earlier this year. They performed many tracks off of their new album AndoNovaVirus, including Bass Buffer, which is actually one of my least favourite tracks, but it seemed to excite the small crowd that still remained at the stage. It was their performance of the dark tech/trance track Reality Hijack that definitely was the highlight towards the end of their set if the crowd reaction was anything to go by.
Heading back to the main stage I was surprised to see Will White from the Propellerheads still on stage and was quickly informed that he had only just started. Apparently due to certain circumstances out of Earthcore’s control, there was a two hour delay on all sets being played on the main stage. Not too impressed by White’s set I went back to the middle stage to catch Brisbane DJ and Promoter Aniki, who promptly played one of my favourite tracks Le Rock by Vitalic. Aniki’s ability to mould himself to any event he is playing at is truly understated. His Earthcore performance was no different and definitely showed why he is one of Brisbane’s most versatile DJs around.
After jumping between the two smaller stages for a couple of hours, I ventured back to the main stage to see Perry Farrell. What a complete waste of listening space that man was, I felt sorry for Earthcore for actually having to pay him for the performance. His set consisted of a continuous flow of train wrecks, which might have been funny at first, but soon became painful. The man may be known in the rock world as a musical genius, but when it comes to DJing he shouldn’t give up his day job. It was quite a big disappointment for many to be listening to train wreck, after train wreck as the sun came up, instead of the amazing sounds of System 7 and Luke Psywalker. Farrell was definitely responsible for sending half of the audience back to their tents for a quick nap.
At approximately 6:30am System 7 finally came on the stage, and what a great relief that was. Their live take of Psytrance sounded brilliant on the main stage’s sound system and slowly they drew back the crowd that Farrell had scared away. I managed to stay on for the remainder of their set, but unfortunately Farrell had dampened my spirits a little too much and my energy levels had dwindled too low to stay on for Luke Psywalker’s set. This also meant that because of the set delays, I also missed out on Hallucinogen/Simon Posford and Beka, acts I was really keen to see again. Feedback from those who did emerge back from their tents later in the day to catch those acts said that both did not disappoint and that many anti- Psytrance supporters have now been surprisingly converted.
A very big thanks must be given to FunkySpaceElf and the Earthcore team for putting on such an amazing event in Queensland, the hype towards the next one has already begun. I am sure those who missed out this time will definitely be putting in the effort to make it to the next one.
