Saturday the 7th of January saw Queensland’s favourite dance music festival Summafieldayze, return to Doug Jennings Park here on the Gold Coast. Getting bigger and better each and every year, 2006 saw Fuzzy & Future Entertainment bring us one of, if not, the biggest line-up ever to grace Doug Jennings park. Headlined by superstars Carl Cox & Roger Sanchez, they were supported by a wealth of both mainstream and more ‘underground’ international artists. With the growing success of Summafieldayze each and every year, there were rumours of the event selling out it’s 15,000 tickets, and on final count I think they got close, if not, did sell out on the day.

So where to start on reviewing the biggest day of the year for most Queenslander’s? At the beginning I guess. We arrived at the Spit around 1pm to see a magnitude of people both driving and walking on the road up to Doug Jennings Park. Driving along at less than walking speed until the parking payment round-about I was taken aback at the amount of people already around the venue. Parking on the day was $15, and I still cannot realise why people do not pay it. Surely having the comfort of your car so close to the event is worth a mere $2 or $3 each if you carpool, it certainly came in handy for us and many cars around us. Driving up to our final parking destination behind the event itself, it was notably that a lot of the event was bigger in size and scale this year. The fences were pushed back, the middle ‘locals’ tent seemed visibly bigger as promised by the promoters, and the general number of punters ensured that this day would be a lot bigger event than in the past.

1:30pm and running fine, a friend has said he is dropping my favourite track of the moment around 2pm, plenty of time to get inside. A red bull out of the esky in the back of the car and it’s down to the front gate. Phone reads 1:32pm. Then tragedy strikes. Upon saying my name and who I am reviewing the event for the door girl’s first spend 15mins looking for my ticket and then give up and call in other help. Time is ticking but still 15mins to get inside the event and hear one of my favourite songs, at my favourite party location, by one of my favourite DJ’s. 1:55pm and things are starting to get tense, I may not even make it inside the festival at all. 2 O’clock has passed and I’m greeted by Mrs Cross, one of the promoters, who promptly tells me that she has already given out two reviewer’s tickets earlier in the day. Cue: Heart attack. I may not even be getting into the event! 10 minutes pass and luckily common sense prevails and Mrs Cross hands me a ticket and I’m on my way. Many thanks to Mrs Cross for organising it all otherwise this reviewer’s day might’ve been over before it even started.

Inside the event and I run like the wind to the middle tent, the Family Arena, commonly known as the ‘locals tent’ but this year with some international flavour. Cosmo & Ian Nearhos, two of Brisbane’s finest are playing and have a strong crowd dancing away to a fantastic set. Am I too late? Have I missed my song? I start dancing away, praying that I haven’t been too late, HITW informs me 5 minutes later that yes in fact I have missed ‘my’ song. Cue: Strop/Tantrum/Red Face/High Blood Pressure. My big day has already hit a snag, and I must say I’m still not happy about what has happened. There must be a lot of Jake McCauley’s in the world, but to be at the same event in the same location and know I’m doing the ITM Event Review is just not possible. Lucky the passouts aren’t till 4pm or this reviewer may have given the people responsible a spray.

Time to cool off, let it go and get on with enjoying the day. Speaking of cool off, there’s a new contraption at SFD this year, the Smirnoff Experience Ice Tunnel. Basically it’s a tunnel with air-conditioning and came in very, very handy during the heat of the day.

A little bit after 2 o’clock and Guy Ornadel is finishing a storming progressive trance set in the Summadayze Future Stage. Some lush, lush trance sounds are coming out the speakers and I only wish I had gotten into the event earlier to be able to see more of his set. Would love to see him play in a club environment on the back of what I heard at SFD.

2:30 and a lot of punters have gotten into the event ‘early’ this year to see Benny Benassi play. I must admit I was a sceptic of his but after dancing away for around 40 minutes I could see what all the fuss was about. Dropping Coldplay – Clocks and an AC/DC song went down a treat, as did Moby – It’s Raining Again (Steve Angello Remix) his own single Satisfaction.

A little bit after 3 o’clock and i’m late. Late to see the favourite sons of the Gold Coast, the Stafford Brothers hit the stage along with bongo boy and two camera men. Kicking off their set in the only way they know how, the brothers rammed it up to a small but quickly growing crowd. With Matt on the decks, Chris on the Microphone and Bongo Boy working those bongos their performance surely did have a lot more ‘live’ feel to it than others throughout the day. Standout tracks were Chris Lake – Changes, Elio Riso & Raffunk – To Be Or Not To Be, Tiga – You Gunna Want Me and Royksopp – What Else Is There (Trentmoller Mix). It wasn’t all just big hits, the boys have been busy in the studio producing tracks and remixing favourites of theirs. Their re-edit of Bob Sinclar – Love Generation was a personal highlight for me as was their first single ‘Palace City’. But it was the last half hour of the performance that things really got loose. With the crowd packing out the Family arena and the intensity through the roof, it was hard to believe it was only 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Chris Stafford was going off on the Mic and taunting the crowd that he was going to crowd surf, it was only a matter of time one thought. Steve Angello’s remix of Eurythmic – Sweet Dreams absolutely brought the house down and was perfect cannon fodder for the finally of the set. With the cameramen recording each and every action for the Brothers videoclip for their new single More Than A Feeling it was time indeed for that song to bring closure on one of the best sets of the day. With the first few riffs and beats of the song kicking in everyone exploded at the first kick-in and Chris Stafford made history by becoming the first act ever at a SFD to crowd surf, and didn’t we love it. With Mic still in hand and camera’s still rolling this was near peak of the day for me.

Love them or hate them, you cannot deny their effort into each and every gig. Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious, these boys could play Serbian Folk Music and you’d still be dancing. To get the Family Arena packed out while virtually the whole festival was over watching Australia’s favourite DJ, Kid Kenobi, was a feat in itself. 10/10 yet again from the brothers as they showed why they are Queensland’s most travelled DJ’s and chosen to mix the Wild Summer CD Complitation, which is out now at all good retailers.

4 o’clock and it’s time for the passouts to open till 7pm. I find it amusing looking at the amount of people lining up to go out, they outnumber the ones trying to come in. I am one of those people, and head back to the car to change my shoes as the boots are a bit too heavy to dance in and to skull 2 Red Bulls and have two banana’s, $15 for parking is well spent in my eyes. Running back to the event and it’s straight to the Future stage for bosh master Eddie Halliwell. A crowd favourite the world over he is renowned for not only mashing together techno/trance/hard dance/hard house but for utilising his turntable skills through scratching and effects during his set, something that in the hard dance circles you would not be accustomed to seeing. Playing till 5:30 and giving us a storming set of hard tekkers through to hard trance it is hard to realise why somebody like him was put on so early in the night. He would have been PERFECT to put after Carl Cox later in the evening but unfortunately it was not to be. One of the biggest tunes at the moment Valentino Kanzyani – Nueva York, was a highlight of his set, as was Randy Katana – Play It Louder and Marcel Woods – Advanced. But it was Nu Nrg’s massive trance anthem ‘Casino’ which really pushed all the right buttons for this reviewer. Finishing off his set to a near deafening roar, it is no wonder he is so beloved the world over. One only could of hoped that he had played later in the night, maybe swapping for Tiefschwarz’s later set in the Family arena would’ve been suitable? 

5:30 and after nearly 3 straight hours of dancing and going hard it’s time for a break. Crowd favourites the Bodyrockers take center stage on the Future stage while over on the Fuzzy stage Evil 9 is nearly finishing a tasty breaks set. Family’s house maestro Chris Wilson is wrapping up a tasty house set to a handful of punters. As 6 o’clock hits and Evil 9 & Chris Wilson say goodbye to the Gold Coast crowd, I find myself on the seat of my pants at the back of the Family arena with no idea really who is on and just some rest in mind. Rest I didn’t get. The Glimmers, formerly known as The Glimmer Twins, have taken the stage and only a handful of punters are there to hear it. One of the lesser known internationals appearing on the day I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of the punters at SFD did in fact think that they were a local outfit, such is the scale of their popularity. Those that stayed away, missed out. Simple as that. Throwing out a funky electro house fuelled set, it was a pity only a small amount of people were there to hear them play. After hearing what I heard from them I’d love to see them in a nightclub with a full house. A good solid fun set that was one of the surprises of the day for me.  

Heading back past the Future stage I was lucky enough to hear the Bodyrocker’s drop their mega-hit ‘I Like The Way You Move’ which certainly sent all present into a state of ecstacy. Having to meet friends I headed over to the Fuzzy stage for the first time of the day. Soul of Man is playing and the crowd is loving it. This reviewer can’t really get into it though. As you can tell from the lack of breaks reviewing in this thread, breaks is not one of my favourite genre’s of music and hence I restricted myself to the Family and Future stages for most of the day. 6:45 and a quick run back to the car to polish off the remaining banana’s, Protein Revival’s and Red Bull’s and it’s back in with 10 minutes to spare. Thank-god we parked so close and payed the $15. 

7 o’clock and the crew decide it’s over to the Future stage for one of the true superstars of dance music, the ‘S-Man’, mr Roger Sanchez. His first song immediately lets the crowd knows whose boss, with the Axwell Remix of his dance-floor destroyer ‘Turn On The Music’. The crowd goes absolute ape-shit, pardon the French, but really any other adjective I don’t think can some up that moment of the day. The S-Man did what any superstar does, and played one of the best sets you’ll go away ever hearing. Another highlight of the set by crowd reaction was Joey Negro’s ‘Make A Move On Me’. The true highlight of the set though, I think I will use a piece from another punter (thanx Buey) “But the highlight of his set was when he slowed it right down and played the acapella of Marc et Claude – I Need Your Lovin (Like the sunshine) while also singing it to the crowd.. there were girls up the front screaming at him telling him they loved him like he was a rock star.” I can’t really sum up his set any better than that. Being a trance fan and hearing 1000 remixes of I Need Your Lovin, to hear that played in a house set to 8,000 adoring fans was a special, special moment. Through the S-Man’s set the rain that was forecast and had held off all-day finally came. This made everybody basically go underneath a tent for protection while some soaked it up and danced merrily in it. This made both the Future and Fuzzy stages extremely packed and squashy, no matter if you were at the back, front, left or right of the tent, you were shoulder to shoulder, very unpleasant but nothing the promoters could’ve done about it.

Heading to the Family tent around 8:30 for some more space if anything I was met by this chugging, charging electro sound. It was Tiefschwarz, it was good, and I stayed for what happened to be nearly the set of the day. Because of the rain the Family tent was more packed than it might’ve been at this stage in the day and the music and atmosphere was top shelf material. The hour in there for Tiefschwarz was definitely a highlight for the day, and an unexpected one at that!

A little bit after 9 and its back to the Future stage to get some big black Cox, Carl that is. Probably one of the biggest names in the world of dance music, the next couple of hours was always going to be good, we just didn’t know it’d be THAT good. Chugging, ramming techno for 2 hours was just what the doctor ordered as Coxy chugged it out to an overflowing arena. Hearing Valentino Kanzyani – Nueva York for the second time in the day was yet another highlight on a long growing list. Alloy Mental – Alloy Mental also sent the kiddies crazy as the big man took control of the 3 decks, cdj’s and mic. A real performer with huge stage presence, nobody went home disappointed from the big man and immediately following the finish of his set basically everyone in ear shot was talking about his upcoming Family appearance on Friday February 3rd.

Whilst being so into the big man’s set I’d managed to miss both Krafty Kuts and Bob Sinclar’s sets over in the Fuzzy stage, which by both accounts were both highlights for a lot of people. Mr Sinclar dropping his anthem Love Generation as his last track brought out possible the loudest roar of approval from the crowd for the day, if not the history of the event.

11pm and the international’s are finished for the day and it’s the job of Hakka (Future Stage), Vinyl Slingers (Fuzzy Stage) and Auden (Family Stage) to finish the last hour of the festival for the punters. A mass exodus from the event saw numbers in all three arena’s drop significantly. Seeing parts of Hakka and Vinyl Slingers, both impressed me massively. Hakka never fails to disappoint but it was the Vinyl Slingers who I was witnessing for the first time that really impressed me. A lot of punters hung around to witness the group finish the day off in style.

So to the end, and reflection time on Queensland’s favourite festival. Get the bad out of the way first. In my eyes I don’t think there was much bad this year. The only gripe, which was both pre, during and post-event was the scheduling of acts. Eddie Halliwell would’ve been a PERFECT act late in the night after Carl Cox, or in another tent on his own. I think this year not having the big trance or hard dance DJ at the end of the night certainly put a different feel to the end of the event. Most people I spoke to wished they had a trance or hard dance DJ at the end of the night to finish things off, ala Lisa Lashes, Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto in the past.

To the good. The progression of the Family tent was certainly a big, big plus. It was made bigger, as promised by the promoters and was used and near full for the majority of the day.

To the future. Not a lot to change if I was the promoters, all the punters seemed extremely, extremely happy with this year and the call is that it’s been the best Summafieldayze ever. Maybe it is time with the size of the event for a trance/hard dance tent ala Summadayze in Melbourne. Even if it’s the size of the locals arena Two Tribes 2003 which fitted about 50 people in/out of it and is played by local DJ’s, I think it’s something that punters would definitely attend, especially later in the day. Maybe start it at 5pm? One thing is for sure, this year nearly sold out, next year WILL sell out. Summafieldayze is here for good, and the size of the crowd will only reflect in the size of the line-ups we get, which can only be good signs for the local punters.

A great day, 9.5/10, here’s to next year J

If you liked Summafieldayze then you’ll love Two Tribes brought to you by the same promoters and winner of Australian Dance Event of The Year. Two Tribes is Friday 24th February at RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane with Armin Van Buuren, David Guetta, Max Graham, Steve Angello, Erick Morillo, Markus Schulz, Kai Tracid, Tocadisco, Blackstrobe (Live), Dylan Rhymes, Lee Coombs, Javes Lavelle (Unkle), Technasia Live, Coburn, Ali B over 5 Arena’s. See you there!!!