As sure as December becomes January, New Years Day in Sydney will always have Field Day. While the event no longer resembles the Fingerlickin’ love-in of its 2002 debut, it still has an easy familiarity. You know the bar with the coldest beer, the corner with the least frightening portaloos, the stage that’s going to be sing-along-friendly, the area where you’ll hear broken beats all day… okay, well, that bit has changed. 2008 marks the exit of the Fuzzy Breaks stage, renamed Buzzy Freaks and given a non-genre-specific music policy. In fact, the festival as a whole has followed Parklife down the melting pot path – upping the live acts and programming the day as a bit of a musical pick ‘n mix.

For a festival well-acquainted with freak weather, Field Day is lucky to be just stinkingly – rather than skin-meltingly – hot this time round. By midday, the Domain is gently bustling with the fresh-faced, the kickers-on and the ingloriously hungover. On the lavishly decorated Concert Stage, Jamie Lloyd and Jimi Polar wrapped up their always engaging two-man show, but it’s not the most forgiving time-slot. Full credit to the boys for even knowing what keys to press the morning after a Mad Racket.

The first international of the day is Chuck Love, who has landed the bleary-eyed 12:30pm honours. A clear highlight of Harbourlife 2006, the virtuoso has again come laden with instruments; among them a guitar, trumpet and mouth organ. Love’s newish debut Bring Enough To Spill Some proved far from ground-breaking, but his DJ/live show is custom-made for outdoor festivals. Layering his own instrumentation and vocals over exuberant, shimmery deep house, the man has the modest crowd, well, feeling the Love. A true original; and a fine way to start the day.

A wander around the site serves as a reminder why verdant fields will always trump sports stadiums. There’s shade for reclining, grass for running amuck and far more green than grey. New this year is the Pleasuredome, set inside Pavilion on the Park and featuring all live local acts. Its up close and sweaty dimensions are perfectly suited to off-kilter artists like Spod and Pivot.

Nestled behind the Concert Stage is the Killer stomping ground, which is currently under the spell of last-minute addition John Tejada. Despite playing early and to an under-populated dancefloor, the techno enigma’s very presence is something of a momentous occasion. His 100%-hardware live set is replete with warm, skittering melodies and sharp edges, all underpinned by an insistent four-four pulse. There aren’t any walls to perspire on, but it doesn’t take the thrill out of a vocal-stripped Sweat on the Walls. He closes with the utterly sublime The End Of It All, smiles warmly and disappears – probably for quite some time.

After those scorching 90 minutes, it’s over to the main floor to catch the remainder of Jesse Rose. 2007 saw fidget flourish, and the Made To Play boss is one of the style’s most consistent proponents. Today, though, he’s in unabashed crowd-pleasing mode, and it doesn’t inspire. There’s fun to be had in his heavy-duty remixes of Hot Chip’s Ready For The Floor and Armand van Helden’s Playmate, but the set is too obvious and can’t find a consistent groove. But for the less house-inclined, Cali’ stalwarts People Under The Stairs are getting down to business on the Buzzy Freaks stage. Thes One and Double K have an easy, infectious rapport onstage, and the mid-afternoon sun is ideal for their upbeat rhymes.

The same can’t really be said for Green Velvet, who is more a 3:30am guy than 3:30pm. However, his session for the Killer faithful is smartly handled, erring more towards house than heads-down techno. There are stretches where he comes off a little same-y, but the crowd is right amongst it and Nathan Fake’s The Sky Was Pink is a rousing closer.

Another artist perhaps more familiar with the steamy climes of an underground club is Girl Talk, whose intimate shows have been known to get pretty unhinged. The happy surprise then is that his shtick really works in the open air. Surrounded by dancing AAA randoms, he tears through cut ‘n paste pastiches of crunk, Baltimore, classic hip hop, rock and haphazard samples. ‘Mash-ups’ often fall short, but this biomedical engineer turned party monster has enough musical clout to make them work. “Live this new year like it’s your last,” he yells in conclusion, shirtless and drenched in sweat. Indeed…

And on the Concert Stage, Chromeo are taking smooth ride through some of their camp-as-a-row-of-tents electro pop. The ridiculous Momma’s Boy and ’80s-mining Bonafide Lovin’ are standouts, and you can’t help but smile when P-Thugg works that voice box. Weirdly, the set is cut short 15 minutes early, making for a fairly fly-by appearance.

By now, the party is in full swing and the punters are well-oiled. Over on the Killer stage, Claude von Stroke is forging towards sunset with perfectly pitched selections. As evidenced by his recent Essential Mix, the dirtybird head is really hitting his stride as a DJ. His penchant for low-slung bass is now cut through by a wonkier deep house strain, making for a distinctive sound. As the sun sinks behind the city buildings, he has the whole floor on-side. It’s a bit of a Claude von Stroke showcase – Chimps, Deep Throat, Who’s Afraid of Detroit and The Whistler all get aired: but there’s a swag of fresh gems too. With Uffie and Feadz running 20 minutes late, the man gets to play on, making for the best near-two hours of the whole festival.

There’s no questioning the rock star appeal of Felix da Housecat, who has the Concert Stage heaving along to his front-room electro. His mixing is slapdash as ever, but no one’s in the mood to nit-pick. The breaks massive get their only consolation prize via the Stanton Warriors, who are playing in Australia as a duo for the first time since 2004. The Buzzy Freaks stage looks a treat with its dangling neon tubes, and the pair set about making the speakers shake. While Dom mans the decks, Mark handles the FX, splicing vocal samples and familiar basslines into the mix. It’s distinctly Stanton Warriors, with plenty of booty-bass and hip hop overlays, but there are a smattering of tired selections. The ‘encore’ is super-tight, though, with the rousing call-to-action of Hope Time sending it out on a high.

After Spank Rock arrived for last year’s Big Day Out sans Naeem Juwan, their return with all members intact, plus Amanda Blank, has been hotly-anticipated. They bring a livewire energy (and some smokin’ dance moves) as the final act on Buzzy Freaks, keeping the weary throng hyped throughout. Juwan, Pace Rock and Blank seem made to share a stage. Meanwhile, Swedish mega-stars Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello are a well-judged closer on the main dancefloor, pumping out the anthemic electro-house for a responsive, loved-up crowd.

Logistically, Field Day was the best it has been in 2008. Moving around the site was painless, drinks queues were speedy, no expense seemed to be spared on stage design and the sound quality rarely faltered. To think that almost every act on the Buzzy Freaks stage played live illustrates how streamlined the organisation is. And that’s exactly why it’s been around since 2002, and will be again to greet 2009.