Good Vibrations Festival 2008 @ Centennial Park, Sydney (16/02/08)
After some of the debacles involved in last year’s Good Vibrations Festival, I was hoping that the Jam Music team had sorted out their issues and would bring the festival back to the way it was a few years ago. Of all the dance music festivals, Good Vibes has always been my favourite, generally boasting some of the most diverse collection of artists from across the music spectrums. Having hosted the likes of James Brown, Beastie Boys, Scissor Sisters and Moloko over the past number of years, this year’s line up was no exception, with the festival having secured one of the biggest acts in the world at the moment, Kanye West. But more on that later.
One thing that bugged me about the festival’s organisation last year was the masses of people. Around 35,000 people crammed into the one space meant poor mobile phone reception, little room to dance and long lines. This year, however, there were reports of the capacity being raised to over 40,000 people, but surprisingly, it seemed to be an improvement on last year. When I got to Sydney’s Centennial Park, it was a very short wait to get in, and the weather was bright and sunny, something of an anomaly given the mercurial weather we had been experiencing all summer. Drink lines this year weren’t too bad, and the container recycling scheme I first saw at Field Day was also in operation here. I applaud those people who were raiding bins and picking up cans off the ground the whole day, but can’t imagine that would have been the most fun way to spend their festival. The crowd was its usual mix of people, and seemed generally well behaved. However, getting from the Roots Stage over to the other side was a bit of a hike, especially with thousands of people there. But I guess that’s part and parcel with an event of this magnitude.
My day started off a little later than I’d hoped, with the traffic on the way to the festival causing me to miss most of Pigeon John. What I caught of him though in the Roots Stage was his usual laidback and quirky style. At this point of the day, the sound in the tent was decent, but this was to deteriorate as the day progressed. I then headed over to the Chinese Laundry tent to check out some local talent. Sydney’s Bass Kleph was playing his popular breakbeat stylings to an appreciative crowd.
Heading over to the B-Live tent to catch the Beat Vandals was a good move on my part, with Tim Utah from the Utah Saints playing a set chock full of party tunes. From The O’Jays’ For The Love of Money, to some Chili Peppers, with a bit of breaks and electro house thrown in for good measure. Having not seen the Beat Vandals before, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and for the most part I enjoyed it. It was almost like a mash up set, with The Beatles’Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds leading into the Chemical Brothers’ Block Rocking Beats, Aretha Franklin’s Respect, Daft Punk’s Da Funk, the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams and Hot Chip’s Over and Over to name a few. Quite the eclectic mix, but not surprising given the history of the Utah Saints and their penchant for sampling.
I was on my way through the crowd back to the Roots tent and caught a little bit of Muscles on the main stage. How this guy has a recording contract is beyond me. As a performer, it didn’t seem like he cared how bad he sounded on the microphone. His voice sounded strained and hoarse, but it didn’t seem like anyone cared as the crowd lapped it up. Canada’s K-OS brought his original sounds to the fore as the Roots tent quickly filled up. From hip hop and a cover of Naughty By Nature’s OPP to the reggae beats of Sunday Morning and a cover of Rihanna’s chart topping single Umbrella, the energy in the crowd shifted up a notch. Kevin Brereton’s presence on stage was uplifting and positive, with the crowd getting into his reggae and rock infused hip hop. He and his band even broke out into covers of Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning and Men At Work’s Down Under. One of the surprise packets of the day.
Out in the sunshine, Thievery Corporation took to the main stage. Rob Garza and Eric Hilton complete with 20-piece band, went about their business to deliver their downtempo mix of dub, trip hop and lounge (with a smattering of Indian grooves). The chilled out beats went down perfectly in the afternoon, the rotating roster of vocalists seemingly adding a new dimension to the group with each song. From the sitar, to the horn section and the bongos, their performance reminded me of the performance of Arrested Development from a few years back. The melodic and funky grooves on The Heart’s A Lonely Hunter were missing the vocals of David Byrne, but it was still one of the highlights of their set.
Back over at the Laundry tent, the 16 Bit Lolitas were busting out some progressive tech and electro house. The eerie and unsettling chords on the remix of Radiohead’s Street Spirit sent the crowd into a frenzy, as did the remix of Thom Yorke’s The Eraser, although this was played amidst some cheesy crowd-pleasing tunes. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed their set. Over in the B-Live tent, Radioclit’s party loving style seemed to rub everyone the right way. Their fast and furious brand of music was played to a packed out crowd, as they closed with The Streets’ Fit But You Know It. I stayed around for the start of A-Trak along with Kid Sister. A-Trak showed some of the mastery on the decks that saw him become the youngest ever DMC World Champion at the age of 15. More than ten years later and he is still ripping it up, scratching, juggling and mixing up a bit of hip hop, electro and house, as his girlfriend Kid Sister took to the mic.
Once again I made the trek to the Roots Stage for Pharoahe Monch, the owner of the second best afro in hip hop (behind ?uestlove of course). This was the first time I’d caught master of ceremonies Lyrics Born warming up the crowd, who had gathered in droves to see the former Organized Konfusion member. One of the most talented lyricists out there right now, he opened with a cover of Public Enemy’s Welcome to the Terrordome and kept the energy and flow throughout his set. He was supported by two fantastic backup singers, whose smooth vocals complimented his hard hitting delivery. The crowd erupted as Monch closed with his biggest hit to date, Simon Says. However, the sound in the tent by this stage was pretty poor, Monch’s rhymes sounding barely coherent at times.
I caught the last few minutes of A-Trak again before Tittsworth took to the stage in the B-Live tent. Blending everything from rock to hip hop, breaks, he had the crowd pumping for the first half an hour of his set. I was all set to go check out Cypress Hill back at the Roots tent, but after hearing reports from numerous people that it was impossible to get in, and remembering the shambles of trying to get into the tent for Jurassic 5 at last year’s festival, I decided to stay where I was. Why Jam didn’t learn from last year and simply place Cypress Hill on the main stage will remain a mystery to me. I suppose the good thing about missing Cypress Hill was being treated to more of Tittsworth’s party mash up set that included Daft Punk’s Around The World, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, House of Pain’s Jump Around, Switch’s A Bit Patchy, Basement Jaxx’s Where’s Your Head At, Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger, AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long & Thunderstruck, DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat, Blur’s Song 2, Van Halen’s Jump, the Beastie Boys’ Fight For Your Right, The Prodigy’s Breathe and Wu Tang Clan’s Gravel Pit. Tittsworth also dropped an awesome remix of Metallica’s Enter Sandman thrown together with Run DMC’s It’s Tricky. Like the Beat Vandals earlier on and Girl Talk, another recent visitor to our shores, Tittsworth juxtaposed many tracks and styles together and won himself a new legion of fans. Could mashup be going through a renaissance? Definitely one of the highlights of the day.
By this time, most people had made their way over to the main stage, where Kanye West was performing. Even the Laundry stage, where the high profile James Zabiela was playing, was nowhere near full capacity. Some say it was the pulling power of Kanye, but perhaps it had something to do with the sound at that stage being at a noticeably lower level than earlier in the day, and which ultimately shaped my decision to leave the tent earlier than I’d planned to. I then followed the masses to the main stage, where I was to see the headline act, the Louis Vuitton Don, arguably the man with the biggest ego in music today, Kanye West. But a few tracks into his set and I was already losing my interest. Despite the lighting setup and backdrops that were more elaborate than any other act on the day, I found myself underwhelmed. Like the Beastie Boys and their mid-set instrumental jam a year earlier, Kanye played a lot of his slower album tracks for a good forty minutes or so. It all seemed a little self indulgent; Kanye playing for himself and not for the crowd.
Thankfully, after sticking it out just that little bit longer, the hits started rolling in. From Addiction to Touch The Sky, Get ‘Em High, All Falls Down, Through The Wire, Gold Digger, Good Life, Diamonds From Sierra Leone and Jesus Walks, Kanye picked up his performance levels. He even performed a stirring rendition of Dear Mama, the song he wrote about his mother Donda West who passed away late last year. Because it was written before she died, the song was more of a celebration rather than a tribute. It’s obvious that his mother played an important role in his life, and you could tell just how much she really meant to him.
What I found a bit ridiculous, however, is the number of costume changes he went through. From casual to sporty, and even a tuxedo, Kanye briefly went offstage between selected songs to change his attire. I doubt the crowd would have minded if he had only had one outfit, but I guess it’s testament to his showmanship. Kanye West is a performer through and through, and when he’s on, he’s on and he lets everyone around him know it, there’s no denying that. But why it took him so long to get the show going in the first place is beyond me. It was the sort of thing I’d expect from a solo concert, and not necessarily in a festival surrounding. Having said that, Kanye seems the type to do things his own way, his outspokenness often polarising his audience. You either love him or you hate him.
And alas, the rumours of Common possibly joining Kanye onstage proved to be false, so I left the hordes of people a little early to check out the Welsh wunderkind High Contrast and MC Wrec in the Roots tent. It’s been a sort of tradition for me to close out the day with some D n’ B, having done so in previous years with DJ Marky and London Elektricity. High Contrast’s set was chock full of his own tunes, such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and If We Ever from his latest album, Tough Guys Don’t Dance as well as past hits Twilight’s Last Gleaming, the Stevie Nicks sampling Days Go By and the seminal Return of Forever; while on the remix tip he dropped Axwell’s I Found You, The White Stripes’ Blue Orchid and even his remix of Kanye West’s Gold Digger. He also played the sci-fi funk of Nu:Tone’s Missing Link and Beliefs, the latter being a huge house cross over tune with a wicked vocal from Pat Fulgoni. Overall, the set was an excellent snapshot of the big d’n’b dancefloor hits of the last year or so. After seeing the Roots tent at near full, full and even over capacity throughout the day, it seemed a bit of a ghost town in there, but the drum and bass massive showed their support. Props must go to MC Wrec, who has grown in confidence and ability since his last outing with London Elektricity the previous year. Wrec has learned when to shut up and his rhymes are more intelligent and complex than they were a year ago. He even thanked the crowd for choosing them over Kanye on the main stage. Their combined performance was spot on with energy and rhythm the whole way through.
And finally the festival drew to a close for another year. Sydneysiders were treated to warm weather, a fantastic venue and the most diverse line up of artists. A few things that Jam needs to address are the sound levels, and the logistics of which artists go on which stage, something that should have been improved on from last year. While it certainly wasn’t on par to previous festivals, it definitely wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Check out the amazing photo gallery from the event!
funboi says...
cool review hansel
Spekman says...
once again a let down
Marshy says...
Nice review mate.
pinkitten says...
Dude, nice review. Helped jog my memory a bit too ;)
ianwil1976 says...
Best festival of the last couple of years. High Contrast absolutely SMASHED it and Tittsworth was spot on, too. Nice review, dude :)
niallmurphy1979 says...
16 bit lolitas is one person, plus, "cheesy crowd pleasing tunes", were you at the same gig mate?
shaggdoggz says...
it was a good day but as a festival it was poorly organized and a disapointment. after a few songs cypress hill was fairly easy to move around because so many people left. Kanye was not a finally act and a let down. He was good and enjoyable but did not cut it as a finale. great day but outdone by other festivals this year easily.
Middy1986 says...
best review ever....one of the only people that understood what KanYe is all about. Yes he may have had many outfit changes, but thats his showmanship and anyway we got to hear A-Trak scratch it up. People just don't understand KanYe and his music, he sings from the heart not about bad bi#$es and guns.....he is Hip-Hop, listen to his words and his story, then u'll understand him...
Bling Bling says...
Shame you didnt catch Katalyst - that was an awesome set ;)
funky_nathan80 says...
16 bit lolitas.... cheesy croud pleasing tunes??? you either don't know what you're talking about or wasn't there and are just making this stuff up.
tine says...
Very good review
ben otago says...
kanye won a grammy for a wrap over a daft punk tune how pathetic he should be playin at a gig put on buy the kyle and jackie o show with the veronicas a head line
natty91 says...
kanye west........boo.
mattos000 says...
it was the standard good vibes mong out.. every year the main act is dud.. apparently kanye lacked (thank god i saw zabiela instead cause i hate kanye).. cypress hill was ridiculously good and they should have been mainstage.. sinden surkin radioclit and bass kleph were also very good
mastaofhardcore says...
Good review, I was disappointed I didn't see muscles but you kinda made me feel better...although it seemed a bit biased. The lines for drinks weren't too bad but I think you were wrong about the crowds you could definately notice there were too many people, I have never been shoved and pushed infront of or verbally abused like that in my life. But considering how many people there were, the mood wasn't entirely aggressive, even occasionally friendly.
GoRgEoUs GaL says...
KANYE ROCKED !!! oh cypress hill were crazyyy too!!