With a weather report that looked ominous, the lead up to Good Vibrations was filled with trepidation- would it really be cloudy with a chance of a shower?! As if Good Vibrations Day would really disappoint! The day dawned sunny, warm and full of promise!

Without attending Good Vibes last year, the giant main stage was certainly not expected with historically all Vibed festivals showing their main acts off in the atmospheric amphitheatre with only a couple of other stages to choose from. Another big change was the legions of punters making their way steadily through the gates; a typically funkier crowd had stretched to include first-timers, old-timers and fans from every sub-genre of hip-hop and dance.

This year, Good Vibrations was stretched out over a large temporary main stage structure, the amphitheatre and two smaller tents, the Chinese Laundry and the BLive Tent. Full marks must go here to organizers for temporary flooring to the two smaller tents but the lack of ventilation did make the Chinese Laundry tent an inferno for most of the day!

As the afternoon amped up Diamond D took to the Chinese Laundry tent with some tunes that got the crowd pumping and jumping to an early start with a handful of DnB favourites. While Diamond D was busting out the DnB, Micah was showing that Perth’s breaks dj’s are some of the best in the world.

Soon after, Washington based artist, Ursula 1000 took to the BLive stage. Ursula 1000 is under the wing of the Thievery Corporation label, and on Sunday secured himself a tent full of new fans with what became one of the most talked-about and impressive performance of the day.

Following Ursula 1000 were Fort Knox Five and Thunderball, though some could be mistaken for thinking Wolfmother had taken to the decks with the presence of one hell of a giant orange ‘fro! FKF played an impressive set of funky summer breaks with some fresh sounds to an appreciative and enthusiastic crowd.

JS-1 was another great highlight for the day, scratching and beat juggling in the afternoon sun. JS-1 really is a master behind the decks. Rahzel the human music machine showed his massive amounts of skills behind the MIC, singing and beat boxing at the same time. Dropping tunes from “Sexy back” and even some Iron Maiden.

Over at the Blive stage, Kraak and Smaak were giving an incredibly disappointing performance of disjointed genre selections from opening with DNB, switching (not mixing) to hip hop and again switching (not mixing) to Groove Amarda. Kraak and Smaak proving only their ability to cold cut records on the decks and to empty a tent full of dancers, leaving behind the easily pleased and aurally challenged.

Luckily over at the Good Vibrations stage Cut Copy arrived with the energy and fun that this band have taught their growing fan base to expect. The three lads from Melbourne showed just why their name is appearing in festival lineups globally, giving a very funky performance of their dance floor classics such as “Going Nowhere”.

Jurassic 5 took over from Rahzel to a massive crowd. There wasn’t much movement possible in or out of the amphitheatre for the duration of the set, as what felt like every Good Vibrations punter wanted to take in their performance. As per usual, the positive faces of American hip hop put on one hell of a good show. They showed off their new album playing hits such as “Coast”. Though it was the classics that had the whole crowd singing along such as “What’s Golden” with what may be everyone and anyone’s favourite line out of any song in history “I’ve got the verbal Herman Munster”, J5 showed that their linguistic skills are not to be rivaled in hip hop. Another little highlight of the day was one punter climbing up (and falling out of) a tree.

London Elektricity closed the night in the Amphitheatre and the crowd willingly proved that Perth is indeed the home of Drum and Bass in Australia with their enthusiasm for the Hospital records styled set. The amphitheatre was dimly lit but packed to the rafters, especially due to the general punters consensus that the Beastie Boys were performing an embarrassingly bland set and had them heading back to London Elektricity in droves.
London Elektricity was supported by MC Wrec and between the repore between the two of them and the crowd was nothing short of…. Electric! They were busting out some pretty amusing dance moves themselves and playing tracks of the moment such as Skyscraper by Matrix and Futurebound that sent the crowd wild. Perhaps the best received track of the night would be London Elektricities revelation that he indeed had one of the only 500 pressed vinyl releases of Panda Style by LAOS, a track that can be heard on the Hospital Podcast or found at www.myspace.com/pandastyle.

After one encore and another, Good Vibrations was over for another year, with some amazing performances, a very much more commercial venture than in recent years. Punters left with empty purses due to the exorbitant drink prices and with gates shut firmly behind them and organisers refusing responsibility of the mayhem that ensued outside. Buses, cars and people were lost, confused and behaving dangerously as everyone just tried to get home. Perhaps a little profit from the oversold event this year might go towards a little bit of traffic control next year.

Just as long as there is a next year, because Good Vibrations is the one event that remains solidly in calendars year after year, never failing to disappoint in its fun, vibrant atmosphere and bringing Perth the best hip hop and dance artists to the most beautiful of settings.