It was easy to wake up the morning of Boxing Day, even after Christmas eating and drinking shenanigans left me feeling tired and very sun burnt. I knew I was in for a day filled with music, sun and within great presence of some very fine DJs and live acts.

As I approached the Beach Palace Hotel in Coogee I had noticed a crowded bottom floor and many more people entering, there was definitely a welcoming vibe and I had a great feeling about the day to come. As we entered the venue approximately 4pm we ventured onto the top floor, it looked as if for one day everyone had escaped reality and went into holiday mode looking relaxed, laughing and enjoying the glorious view that made the Palace a great venue choice for the Summer Sol Festival. The crowd tendered to flock to the top deck overlooking the beach where Son of the Sea was spinning some tunes with a feel of Latino Lounge allowing light tribal influences to creep in and out of his set. His set reminded me of a Caf� del Mar compilation chilled yet sexy and setting the mood for a hot summer’s day.

At this stage the dance floor was vacant due to the sundeck drawing the attention of the crowd. That was until Bob Frisky jumped on the decks. I had to vacate the lounge and show Bob he could make anyone move with his uplifting and funky grooves, introducing sexy vocals and flourishing deep beats. As his set went on a few more people joined me sharing their liking for his tune selection. The crowd tendered to move more indoors as his set grew deeper and gave us a tease with “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer – what a remix!

Moving to mid level seemed like a good idea as I was interested in seeing what King Tide was all about. A seven piece reggae band with strong vocals accompanying slow dub reggae sounds, the band was involved with their music and had great character. There must of only been around thirty other people in the room though, with only a small group shakin’ it to their tunes. The downfall of playing in mid level was that the lighting was poor with no additional staging light at that time and as the room had dark features and furniture it wasn’t as appealing to enter as the top level. The room also had a lingering scent of beer which might have put some people off coming in to see a top reggae band.

Mark Dynamix had started his set upstairs and I was keen to see what style he would deliver to us today. Considering I had only seen him mix electro house or take us beyond with his trance journeys, today seemed to be all about sitting back and enjoying the music and that’s exactly the place where Mark wanted us to be. Along with funky breakbeats with an occasional deep edge a few well known tracks were thrown in such as “Everybody” by Martin Solveig, “Hard to Beat” by Hard-Fi and “Let’s Get Down” by Supafly vs. Fishbowl got a bigger movement on the dance floor. By this stage it was 7.30pm and as night slowly came about a gorgeous sunset created a picture perfect backdrop, the crowd still enjoying the outdoors mostly sitting and having a chat, the crowd was sociable, varied in age and more laidback than other crowds at past festivals that I had attended.

It was nearing the moment we all came here today for, so I raced downstairs to get a prime position front stage and found myself involved in a state of trance as I danced alone to sounds I hadn’t heard in a while. It was Poxymusic, playing dark, deep electro, I liked it, even though it was on a different wave length from today’s summers feel. Their set went on for another hour and as I turned around I had noticed Kosheen walk through the doors.

Sian Evans, lead singer of Kosheen, made time for her fans and I had the opportunity to give her a hug and had a few snap shots with my new found friends. Markee Substance (Kosheen member) took us off on a journey to start with doing a solo DJ set that similarly related to Poxymusic’s, however Markee kept it lighter and as he was on stage alone you could feel the anticipation building in the crowd as more and more people were gathering around making it more like a sweat box, they were ready to break out.

The set became more alive with drums giving depth and heavier beats as Sian took to the stage and broke out with the chart topper “Catch U”. Her vocals can be described as intoxicating as Sian sounds even better live than on CD. The crowd was jumping and singing along and the dark room had turned into an explosion unleashing all inner dance wild child’s through the set the vibe grew as “Hide U” and “Hungry” kept the crowd excited. Markee went solo again as Sian messed around with the drums, “In My Head” was the next track and never did the crowd stop moving. Tonight, Kosheen were an immaculate display of true raw talent.

Overall it was a great day, quality talent over quantity crowd. Summer Sol was a festival you came to chill out at and have a good time with your friends. The benefit of a venue like the Beach Palace is that you had room to dance, you didn’t have to line up at the bar and the crowd was more relaxed due to location. Kosheen remain to be on that pedestal that I place them on and I have also found new talent in other acts such as Bob Frisky and Poxymusic. I recommend if you don’t own “Resist” and “Kokopelli” you buy them now!