Sydney has Field Day, Melbourne has Summadayze and Adelaide has the Shores… or so it has been for the last four years. Shores is the biggest party you’ll find in this town on New Year’s Day, running for a whopping sixteen hours, and celebrating local DJ’s and musicians at every turn. While the coveted International headline spot was originally set to go to Richie Hawtin, his cancellation let the local talent shine even brighter, with the HMC live show debut.

New Year’s Eve is synonymous with partying for most music lovers, and that most certainly has an effect on the vibe the following day. Arriving quite early (around 2pm) the crowd was mostly a sit down one, with two stages up and running. The first indoor stage featured T-Bone and Dave C playing deep House tracks, while the majority of people were in the outdoor ‘Garden’ area, chilling out to a variety of lazy beats from De La Soul to the occasional cruisey d’n’b track. This vibe was set by Chelvis & the Gardeners, and followed through by Troy J Been.

The early part of the day was a low-key, sociable one for most, with many groups of party-goers struggling as they followed through from the night before. For those looking for alternative entertainment, the games room provided table tennis, air-hockey, eight-ball, pinball and arcade games. Despite limited jukebox in this space, it proved a popular addition to the DJ driven spaces.

In the front room, Brad Coles took the controls, while on the front porch the crowd continued to flow in past the pseudo-gourmet food stand and colourful merchandise desk. When the doors to the main room were cast open after three, the crowd surged through, eager to check out the remaining spaces. The first room on the right provided table and chairs and moody red lighting, while the next (behind dark curtains) provided bean bags to recline on and abstract silent projections to tease the eyes. While Mal Chia and Lachy Pender got stuck into the breaks, the vibe remained one of recovery. Suffering from it a little myself, I decided to slip away for a few hours to pep up for the home stretch. The verandah showed a significant line-up of punters still arriving and true enough, the best was yet to come.

On returning after sunset, the vibe was totally different. The three stages were all belting out the party tunes, with Young Einstein (of Ugly Duckling fame) pleasing the hip hop lovers no end. He played for over two hours at the garden stage, throwing back to back classics from Pharcyde to Cypress Hill. Regrettably, I missed Delta’s set with Japeye on decks, after being thoroughly impressed with his MC show at Blackalicious in December.

It was clear to me all day that this event is about the party, not the DJ’s or performers- perhaps one of the reasons it proved so boomingly popular. Jorge Watts was pleasing lovers of the Electric Circus vibe with some choice Tech House in the front room, while in the big room, one of the day’s live acts scored a few laughs. The bizarre faux-German cabaret act wrapped up its show with a bizarre rendition of Children of the Revolution, complete with wigs and live accordion! This was followed by soulful, vocal House courtesy of Ben James as the ladies filled the massive floor. Just like the others, it showed no signs of fading.

Luke Lombe, known by many for his regular gigs at Garage and Moskva pleased the crowd no end, turning Ben’s ‘big room’ House sounds into more of a disco/tech house party. The formula worked, and his set also brought to the stage a live drummer, sax player and female guest vocalist. His set saw the huge floor fill completely, setting the perfect scene for the talents of long term veteran, HMC. After twenty odd years on the scene, this was HMC’s live show debut. Performing with his brother, the show involved laptops, keyboards and knobs a-plenty. HMC took the floor back to his own roots in Techno, always with a very dance floor friendly angle. The set had a great sense of locomotion, and as the live action drew to a close, HMC took his familiar position at the turntables for more dance floor techno. I’ve heard HMC play everything from dark, acid techno to cheesy disco sets, and his years of experience and broad knowledge of music always shine through. Leaving a little before two with HMC still spinning, there were still loads of shaking booties and smiling faces to be seen.

From its grey, wet morning to it’s packed and crazy dance floors, it was great to see NYD in Adelaide build and peak with the headlining acts. With so many other spots that I wasn’t able to catch (Smiley, The Swiss, Simon Caldwell, Madcap, Mik S & Kirt, Delux, Sanjii, Kristian & GTB) and great planning from the promoters, Shores on a New Year’s Day consolidated its place on the Adelaide party calendar with a terrific show all round.

Click here for photos from the gig…