Adelaide’s first taste of the Parklife festival saw a scintillating line up, located in the serene and lush Botanic Gardens. The forecast was good tunes and good times, and boy was it right.

My day started arriving a little after midday and lining up behind none other than local icon Johnny, of Hindley street hula-hoop fame, and basking in the fine weather. My initial lap of the festival showed that it was smaller than expected, but the set-up seemed quite well set out. The three contrasting stages consisted of the Water Stage – snug and to the side but still with plenty of room to move, the Air Stage – open and expansive with a fantastic backdrop, and the Fire Stage – the enclosed stage with the most ‘club like’ feeling. The Fire Stage did seem a little close to the Air Stage, but potential sound interference issues did not eventuate.

The crowd was diverse and good spirited, and while it took a while to fill up there was a great turnout, without being overly crowded. This meant that drink and toilet queues, while busy at times, were never ridiculous. The VIP area wasn’t quite as VIP as hoped but still provided a small benefit when I was nearby.

On to the music, and man there was a ton of good music played. I started of the day with John Doe playing a chilled out party set filled with hip hop classics and party jams. The aforementioned Johnny displayed some innovative dancing techniques to onlookers, while a small group of early starters got down with him. A quick trip over to the Fire Stage saw local lads Bark Bang (live) pumping out some funk to a small but energetic early audience.

Back at the Water Stage, Triple J unearthed competition winners The Levitators (another homegrown favourite) stepped up the pace with their instrumental live act. Grimey synths mixed with guitar and drums made for a delectable combination. The crowd at this stage had begun to grow and the lure of the sounds of the water stage were too great for many.

Over at the Air Stage, laid back local spinners Japeye and Troy J Bean were mixing up chilled out funky sounds. The Air Stage was the slowest to fill up, perhaps due to its distance from the entrance but equally likely due to its daunting size. Meanwhile, Adelaide drum and bass stalwart MPK stepped in for the absent Greg Packer at the Water Stage and treated the crowd to some summery DnB rollers, with In Love proving a favourite with the crowd.

Continuing my back and forth dash the Fire Stage saw Chicago’s The Greenskeepers playing a fun and funky live set, with some quirky dance moves to boot. This proved to be an early highlight for many who’d seen this group at Rocket Bar on previous visits.

One of the gems of the day was Shapeshifter who got the crowd at the Water Stage moving and grooving to their great live show. This spelled the real beginning to the day for me and many others as the floor filled and moved to their soulful, upbeat, DnB sprinkled tunes. A sax was even pulled out at one stage to great effect. I later spoke to people who people who weren’t even into DnB who thoroughly enjoyed what Shapeshifter had to offer… another sign of DnB’s broadening appeal since the Pendulum blow-up of recent years.

The UK’s seasoned Stereo MCs played a cool set at the Air Stage but unfortunately the still barren dance floor didn’t match the great tunes being played. Back at the Fire Stage I was greeted by an almost packed house for the first time. Australia’s number one DJ Ajax (as per ITM50 poll) was doing his thing, with the highlight being a cool electro-ish remix of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name.

The Air Stage finally started to fill out when three-time world DMC champion DJ Craze stepped up to deliver a somewhat eclectic set ranging from Miami bass and classic hip hop to party anthems, Daft Punk and finally to drum and bass. Even Van Halen’s Jump made the mix provoking mixed responses!

On days like this, song repeats are inevitable. I know there are some songs that everyone knows and are proven crowd pleasers, but I do wish that performers on this day had used them more sparingly. House of Pain’s Jump Around, Dr Dre’s Next Episode, Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name, and an abundance of Daft Punk were only a selection of tracks which seemed to make it onto just about everyone’s playlist.

Riot In Belgium played to a now rammed Fire Stage and were a lot harder and intense than I had expected, and the crowd were lapping it up. The program stated that they were to play live but from what I could see this did not seem the case, which may have been disappointing for some. The Water Stage was heating up for the evening with MSTRKRFT showing off their disco, punk and electro style with great mixing and a great attitude. They weren’t mucking about and it showed.

The Herd provided a welcome downtempo change at the Air Stage and for some it provided a chance to sit down and conserve some energy. There was a good following of people going off to the set though with Unpredictable a crowd favourite.

A quick stop over at the Fire Stage saw Adam Freeland dishing out some breakbeat goodness to the crowd who seemed to be enjoying the change of style from the majority of artists on that stage- though the influence of electro on his sound was clearly evident.

Scratch Perverts were another highlight, playing one of the sets of the day. Excellent mixing and a great track selection, the set featured Nirvana, Roots Manuva, Beastie Boys, and the obligatory Daft Punk song just to name a few. They really got the party started down their end as the sun slowly set over the Air Stage. While the temperature dropped a little after sunset, the music didn’t cool down at all and dancing was the obvious remedy for those caught in shorts or hotpants!

Back at the Water Stage the German duo Digitalism were pumping out some fine tracks from their recent Idealism album, and with darkness finally arriving the lighting and music combo was working a treat. Lyrics Born pleased the hiphop heads and more with a great set at the Air Stage, with full live band in tow. LB really worked the crowd and all the band members more than pulled their weight.

The Air Stage was now set for M.I.A, probably the act I was looking forward to catching the most. Getting straight into it, her stage presence and raw emotion was clearly evident as she blasted out some great tracks from her recent LP, Kala. She took her performance one step further as she proceeded to burn her Australian VISA in protest. Unfortunately her set was hindered by technical issues which meant that her voice didn’t quite have the impact I had been hoping for.

Finally to the lauded French twosome Justice, who were graced with closing honours at the Water Stage. Again, despite being advertised as performing live this did not appear to be the case. They played some good tunes, but for some reason I felt they weren’t quite as good as the hype had suggested. They capped their set off with House of Pain’s Jump Around followed by Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name which I felt was an easy way out and by that stage, somewhat overdone.

With too many acts to possible catch and savour in one day, Adelaide’s first experience of Parklife was a fantastic one. Ignoring the few minor issues, the fantastic music, good weather, great turnout and positively-charged vibe created a day that many, many people enjoyed. Adelaide needs more of these types of festivals and if Parklife 2007 is anything to go by we are ready to embrace them!