... Silence…

That’s all you could hear as I walked out the gates of Good Vibrations on Saturday evening. I was literally speechless when I tried to describe to my mates how much I enjoyed acts including Z-Trip, Talib Kweli and Jean Grae, and others I saw on the day.

I had begun by simply saying to my friends the same thing over and over, stuttering my words out, and sounding like a complete moron – and I was completely, one hundred percent straight – just high on the truly phenomenal stuff I had heard over a whole day’s listening! So I gave up and walked in silence with my excitement. And to be perfectly honest, I was surprised to have heard such amazing, eclectic and forward thinking music at a large-scale festival such as Good Vibes. As a brief summary before the story begins, I will just say that the 2006 Good Vibrations Festival was the best festival I have yet been to (from a long list). This was for a variety of reasons including (but not excluding others) quality of set up, variety of acts, and quality of music. Jam Music did an absolutely superb job!

So it’s Saturday morning and I’m getting myself into gear to arrive at Good Vibes for a nice early start. Thankfully for me I got locked out of my house, and when I finally got back in I had to rush everything, so I barely got a chance to think once, let alone twice, about what I was doing/wearing/taking/etc. I arrived on time, and as I moved as skillfully and stealthily through the already bustling crowd at only 1pm to collect my pass and head through the gates, I found myself smiling in anticipation. Thankfully, the day just kept getting better.

First up on the to-do list was the obligatory stroll through the park to make sure we knew where everything was and to generally check out the set up. I was impressed with the sound in each and every arena. During the day those JBL speakers just seemed to get clearer and louder by the minute, but at the same time I didn’t walk away from the event with ear damage. It just proves that quality can coincide with quantity. I think each and every punter who attended the festival this year will agree with me that quality of production and set up was second to none. From the Chinese lanterns along the main walkway, to the gnome garden, ATM and cigarette outlet, every detail was carefully thought out and skillfully executed. My only gripe (as is always the case with festivals) was that I spent far too long waiting for toilets or waiting for mates wait for the toilet. Surely another set of port-a-loos wouldn’t break the bank? But that’s by the by.

The Good Vibrations area was (funnily enough) the main arena, where James Brown was to feature later on. The Laundry area focused on some dirty twisted, breaks, tech and electro. The Roots Stage featured big names in the hip hop and drum & bass scene. The B-Bar focused on the more funky or chilled out sounds with a more relaxed vibe. And finally, the Star Bar had an all-Aussie lineup and seemed to me to hold a more bar-esque mood than the rest of the joint. The acts I wanted to see, excluding a couple, were on at either the Laundry or Roots arenas and I’ll apologise early on for missing some things in other areas. Unfortunately it’s impossible to see everything!

After relaxing on the hill and watching the multitude of people walk past, from trendy girly-boys in their tight jeans and v-neck button-ups and their girlfriends in high heels, to those already off their faces at 2 in the afternoon, and of course, everything in between, it was time to check out my first act of the day – Noodles and Noel Boogie from Byron Bay in the Roots Tent. These two boys definitely have some major skills. The scratching was top notch, and some of the basslines that ran through their tracks were so wobbly and different from “average” hip hop that I was pleasantly shocked. If I had to give a list of “locals” who I was surprised and impressed by, these two would have been on it. Already by 2 o’clock they had some of us bouncing away. From there I decided on checking out the Laundry tent, where Groove Terminator was getting the crowd going very early on. I was astounded at how crammed it was and how many people were loving it.

I stuck around watched the crowd go crazy from the back left, where you could look all the way over the crowd to the front, and it was certainly a sight to see when a big build up occurred as the place went insane! Just after 4pm I managed to catch a little of Datarock, but didn’t stay long as the music didn’t really float my boat, but by all accounts and from the reaction of the crowd their set had a great effect and people were really digging the style. From 4.30pm it was time for my dose of some nasty stuff with Freq Nasty. He followed a superb set from Shaun Ryder and Kav, which set the tone for Freq. As has become his trademark, Mr. Nasty began his set with an air raid siren followed by the pledge of allegiance. I’ve always thought this to be a great way to start a set, and again it was cool to see the crowd react. He started of with a few tracks that had a strong ragga influence with wicked basslines and a definite tech feel. Not being a massive follower, I didn’t really know what to expect, but judging by reactions he really had the Laundry stage bouncing higher than I saw all day, bar perhaps Switch… I only saw the first 20 minutes of Switch and the set seemed all about beeps, bleeps, glitches and head-spinning sounds. I guess the tech and progressive massive out there would have enjoyed it, and I must admit I did find it enticing, although Talib Kweli was at the top of my list of acts to see and I didn’t want to miss out.

I was not disappointed. Talib Kweli, Jean Grae and their DJ were, as described by one of my mates, “off the hook! Definite highlight of the day was hearing Talib play ‘Planet Rock’, I had tingles down my spine for 5 minutes, and hearing his DJ do that amazing trick set… it blew me away!” To a large extent I agreed with his sentiments. The tunes that got a run were from a variety of eras and influences, with particular focus on playing beats from a co-producer and close friend of Kweli’s who had recently passed away. The two MCs worked extremely well with each other and had the crowd in raptures. Not only this but Jean got everyone in the room doing the side-to-side and pumping their fists. At one point she said to the front rows, “if I don’t see some of you motherfuckers dancing I’m gonna come down there myself and make everybody laugh at you!” And the DJ… The DJ. My, oh my, where to begin. The trick set was some of the most masterful deck manipulation I’ve ever come across. From beat juggling single beats, to doing it with one arm behind his back, to the scratching, to the impeccable timing of each and every move… I was stunned. It’s one thing to be able to scratch at all, but it’s something else to be able to pull off some of the stuff this man was doing. Major, major props. The only others I’ve seen come close have been the Scratch Perverts and Z-Trip, who I’ll talk about now!

“Talk” probably isn’t the best way to describe what I’m going to do… I’m now in love with Z-Trip, so what I’m going to do is gush about his set instead. Flabbergasted, speechless, excited, awed, jealous. These are the first five words that come to mind when I think back on his set from 7-8pm. One of the first things he did was play Oasis’ “Wonderwall” in it’s original form, and then scratch in a huge hip hop beat, and let it play through a little longer before skillfully switching backing beats and cutting Wonderwall. Now Wonderwall is one of my favourite tracks, and I know it reasonably well, but I would never have believed it possible to do what he did. From here on in we were given tastes of a massive variety of sounds ranging from Jurassic 5, to Jackson 5, to AC/DC, Fatboy Slim, Naughty By Nature and Men At Work (yeah I know… What the hell?!) At one point he said to us something along the lines of: “I love music. All kinds of music, and music in all its forms. I just want you to remember that you’re hearing this from a hip hop DJ… Now just fucking dance Sydney!” before throwing on, if memory serves me correctly, Fatboy Slim. Despite the fact that Z-Trip played an incredible array of music along a “mash-up” line I couldn’t help but remember that he was indeed a hip hop DJ primarily, and his skills far outweighed any “mash up DJ” on Ableton. He also reminded us, after a particular electronic section of his set, that he was purely using vinyl.

The last part of the set, perhaps 25 minutes worth, we were graced by the presence of MC Supernatural. I’d only heard a little of him prior to Good Vibes, but upon leaving after his and Z’s show I will definitely keep an eye on the local record store. He worked the crowd and really interacted. Freestyling throughout the show he was willing to prove it. He asked the crowd to give him three words, which he would subsequently make the subject of his rhymes. Amazingly he pulled it off… For his second crowd game, which he called the ‘Three MCs’, he would – mid rhyme – turn 360 degrees and begin rapping as a prominent rapper/MC, mimicking their tone and delivery. The first was Slick Rick, the second Busta Rhymes and the third Biggie Smalls. If I had been blind and hadn’t realised Biggie was busting caps in angels’ asses in gangster heaven I could have sworn all three were in the tent with us. It was surreal. The final trick was along similar lines to the first. Supernatural jumped down into the crowd and rapped about anything he touched that the audience gave him. I heard him mention “bra” so I assume his efforts paid off! Now I know why he’s called Supernatural. He is.

If you hadn’t already guessed, Z-Trip and Supernatural were the highlight of my day, and I somehow felt that nothing would even come close. I was, of course, willing to have some other act catch me off guard. The Good Vibrations arena quickly filled up as Norman Jay finished his rather experimental (for want of a better word) house set. He didn’t really seem to have the crowd with him, but there was a definite atmosphere as the MC announced that James Brown would soon be on. I was excited by this because the man is a living legend – God knows how he’s still living, but he is! His band was amazing, and managed to play some extremely funky tunes along with the trademark James Brown brand of vocals. A little later on in the set some of the “bigger” tunes were played, and the crowd enjoyed them, but I couldn’t help but feel there was something missing. I couldn’t place it, but I left a little disappointed with his set. Despite hearing some of the tunes that I loved it just seemed he was going through the motions. I have to admit I was in awe of the Godfather of Soul, who, as the MC pointed out, had more than likely influenced every single musician at the event. I will be proud when I’m and old man and I can tell the grand kids that got to review a James Brown set!

Jumping away from Brown’s set 15 minutes early to see the tail end of Satoshi Tomiie, it seemed that the crowd was really enjoying it. I, on the other hand, was keen as mustard to beat the crowd and head to Chinese Laundry for round two of Z-Trip and Switch at one of the official after parties. So we began to stroll out of Centennial Park, with me absolutely gushing about some of the performances I had just witnessed. I honestly was so impressed by the event, despite the heat, the dust and even the $9 kebab I had eaten only an hour before. The cool breeze that came earlier on and the sweet smell of rain in the air cleared my mind, and I realised I’d just had a great day. The music I saw was really fantastic, and it was great to party with a really friendly and up-for-it crowd. We didn’t just hear one type of music and I know I learned a lot about different styles that I hadn’t fully experienced before.

So after stuttering and gushing for a bit and realising the difficulty of putting my thoughts into words, I walked off to the free buses in silence, deep in thought as to the genius held by some of the musicians, inspired by them more so than I had been at any other festival before. What a day!