It was October, the New Year was fast approaching and I was yet to plan my annual celebrations. Having done the dash with big festivals I was not willing to fork out money for a day of queues, bad music and massive crowds. That was until Future Entertainment announced the Hot Barbeque – a modern Australian party.

Another year over, another festival to welcome the year and what an absolute scorcher of a day it was! New Years Day 2008 saw Melbourne’s Birrarung Marr, situated on the scenic banks of the Yarra River, transformed into the inaugural Hot Barbeque. A new breed of open-aired event for Melbourne, the Hot Barbeque played host to a realm of music from indie, pop, electro, funk and everything in between. With stages named Sweet Chicken Maryland, Prime Aussie Beef, Baked Vegetable and Thin Pork Sausage, it really did live up to the barbeque theme.

I awoke on New Years Day feeling a little bit rough: it was stinking hot and I was feeling very dehydrated from the previous night’s festivities. After downing copious amounts of water and a big hearty breakfast I was ready to get back into the action. Stepping outside at Flinders Street Station I was struck by the heat and headed into the air-conditioned confines of Young & Jackson’s for a few pre-party beverages. Leaving the pub at around 2pm, I was glad to notice that the cool change had already started to take affect. The sun was still beating down however it was a pleasantly cooler than the sweltering 40 degree heat felt a few hours earlier.

Heading along the banks of the Yarra, I made my way to the Hot Barbeque, after waiting in the entrance line for a meagre three minutes or so I entered the venue and was welcomed by the sounds of Zinc & Dynamite . At the Sweet Chicken Maryland stage, the drum n bass duo was performing to an energetic crowd of already well established numbers; the Hot Barbeque seemed to be well into full swing! It was great to start the day with some quality drum and bass. I was impressed to see that the organisers had set up outdoor settings of tables, chairs and umbrellas around the perimeter of the crowd – what a great idea, perfect for providing shade and place to chill out in the extreme weather conditions.

Next up on stage was Q Bert , the legendary scratch DJ. Having been told that he would be playing a funk set I was impressed to see that he still incorporated his signature scratches over his fusion of breaks and beats. The big screen behind him helped us to see exactly what dexterous actions he was applying up there. Unfortunately, at the beginning of his set, he was having some trouble with his needles being knocked about with the force of wind, which didn’t sound the best on the ears. Nonetheless, I thought this was a great set, was great to hear some old retro oldies.

Up next was the Stanton Warriors, one of the most popular break beat outfits around, who impressed the crowd with their funky bass lines. They dropped remixes of crowd favourites by the likes of Digitalism , Green Velvet and Chemical Brothers throughout their performance. I really enjoyed their set, even if it was a little cheesy at times.

After the Stanton Warriors I made my way for the obligatory Ferris Wheel ride, where great aerial views of the festival and Melbourne were seen. I then made my way over to the Baked Vegetable Stage where Mark Romboy was playing to a packed out arena. I wasn’t really sure about the music I was hearing and thought that his intro dragged on too long, which kind of lost my attention. Meanwhile, the sound in the tent wasn’t of optimal quality unless you got right up close the front.

Not being overly impressed with what I was hearing I went to the Prime Aussie Beef stage where Sydney band Van She was playing. I had not heard of this act before and it was a fresh change to hear their music. I then cruised back to the Baked Vegetable stage where Jesse Rose was playing. I was looking forward to seeing this talent as I had heard a lot about him. I am unfortunate to say that I was not overly impressed with the set, it lacked the originality I was hoping for.

By this time the sun was setting and hip-hop outfit De La Soul was about to take to the stage. I grabbed myself a drink and found myself a spot on the hill overlooking the Sweet Chicken Maryland stage. From here, the view of the stage looked pretty amazing. De La Soul’s performance was full of energy and this rubbed off on the crowd, there was not a single person standing still. I then ventured to catch a glimpse of the Plump DJs who were dishing out their selection of hard and energetic breaks to a packed out house. The crowd was absolutely going off and the vibe during this set was amazing.

I then quickly rushed over the Prime Aussie Beef stage to catch the last of The Divinyls . I was fortunate to catch their last song and Chrissy Amphlett, donning bright red hair and a little black number, looked to be in fantastic shape. The crowd was getting right into their music, everyone raising their hands in the air as they sung along to the lyrics, ‘You ain’t gonna eat out my heart anymore, you ain’t gonna eat out my heart anymore!’ A bit of classic Aussie rock was definitely the way to end such a great day.

Overall, I had a fantastic day and I felt that Future Entertainment delivered what they promised. I really liked the barbeque theme and thought it worked really well it even smelt like a barbeque in some places! The day started off incredibly hot, however the cool change in the afternoon was an absolute god send and made dancing actually bearable. I had absolutely no trouble lining up for drinks, drink cards or toilets (think there was only one time when I had to wait more than a couple of minutes for the loo). The bar staff were all really friendly and I was impressed that you could hand cash over at the bar if you didn’t have enough tokens for a drink, resulting in me leaving the event with no left over tokens.

The crowd at the event was more mature and musically educated than at events I have previously attended over the past few months. The vibe was great everyone seemed really relaxed, up for a good time and in my opinion was generally well-behaved. I thought the event was very well organised and definitely has a lot of potential for future years. The selection of acts on the day was top-notch, the varied selection of music was a great treat. Having been my first time to Birrarung Marr I was impressed with the venue and felt that it suited the event really well. Only negatives would be the overpriced water, which is expected and has become the norm at such events, the lack of vegetarian options at the barbeque and the sound during some of the performances. Having Plump DJs, The Divinyls and De La Soul on at the same time also caused me some logistical problems with trying to catch all acts.

A great day to bring in the year, many thanks to all those involved I look forward to the Hot Barbeque 2009 (it is scary to think how quickly that may just come around!).