Good Vibrations Festival 2008 @ Heirisson Island, Perth (17/02/08)
Good Vibrations Festival 2008 was an outdoor summer event held at Heirisson Island – the first time that the venue has been used here in Perth. With major international and Australian acts like Grammy Award winner Kanye West, old school hip hop act Cypress Hill as well as Calvin Harris, The Rapture, Thievery Corporation, James Zabiela, Pharoahe Monch, A-Trak, Sinden, Katalyst, K-OS, High Contrast& MC Wrec, The Nextmen, Titsworth, The Beat Vandals, The Stafford Brothers and many more – Perth was in for a huge treat of musical mayhem.
First of all before reviewing the actual event, let me say that the organisers did a rather good job of making sure amenities for all of the punters were in good supply. Toilets, fresh water refills, food and drink stalls and the bars were all managed very well, unlike some other large festivals I’ve been to – so a big props to the promoters Jam Music and all others involved in making it such an enjoyable event for everyone. Heirisson Island was also an exciting new venue, and made a great change from the usual festivals held at Belvior Amphitheatre. The weather was scheduled to be an extremely hot 39 degrees, but after a cool change came through ,we were able to enjoy the good vibes at a wonderful temperature of 27 degrees.
We got there at about 3pm after going through a well managed passage of ticket and ID checks that let us onto the venue grounds, where I managed to catch some of Thievery Corporation. They were amazing with their 20-piece band, and had everyone dancing early in the day. After mingling and getting ourselves settled we thought we’d explore the stage areas and caught a bit of Perth’s 2007 DMC champion Zeke on the decks at the Roots Stage. Great scratching, great hip hop and an all around exciting set – pity he only had two 20 minute intervals. Staying at the Roots stage we watched Fdel and then K-OS – such great hip-hop acts. I hope to see a lot more of this kind of genre being exposed at festivals as the skill factor involved is incredible.
Heading to the B-Live stage, and managing to catch A-Trak on the decks. What can I say? This man knows his stuff. Clean cuts, scratching, juggling and DJing – all looking so relaxed behind the decks as well. He had a mad crowd going and was probably one of the highlights of the day. It was about 7:20pm and we proceeded to head to the main Good Vibrations stage which was packing up rapidly due to Cypress Hill performing. They put on a good show – however I’ve seen them before and even though they performed really well, they were much better at some of the other festivals I had been to in the past. They did however get the crowd going, with a large Buddha up on stage with them – and they did perform some awesome older tracks. Heading back to the Roots Stage, we managed to catch hip-hop sensation Pharoahe Monch and his backup vocalists. What an amazing show of rhymes, vocals and just a pure class act.
By then it was getting dark and dusty – I felt sorry for anyone that was wearing white as everyone was covered in dirt. Sticking around till about 9 – we decided to check out the highlight Grammy award winning act, Kanye West. Flash stage, flash clothes, flashy lights and some mediocre songs came through. It wasn’t that special, but hey – I can now say that I’ve seen Kanye, Grammy Award winning artist. After about 25 minutes of checking him out, we’d had enough and departed to the Roots Stage to catch the main act I wanted to see – High Contrast & MC Wrec.
High Contrast – what can I say?! He played such an amazing set filled with some new and old drum n’ bass tracks. One of the highlights for me was his drop of Return to Forever – a classic track that will always stand the test of time in the drum n’ bass world. It was such a happy vibe and in a way, I was glad Kanye was performing at the same time, as it separated the undesirable usual muscle bound meathead and high heel crew. With everyone around us fully into it, the only bad thing about High Contrast’s set was that it wasn’t long enough. The man definitely needs 2 hours instead of 1, something to remember for next time perhaps? The stage was left with a whole load of smiles of their faces – everyone looked like they had got their money’s worth.
Good Vibes 2008 was an amazing event – run and managed properly and with a stellar lineup of artists, it was definitely a day to remember. The only disappointments were the line-up clashes where some of the big artists I wanted to see were playing at the same time. James Zabiela for example – we only managed to catch a tiny bit of him from the huge sea of crowd he had, and it sounded pretty amazing as well. A great job by all involved, Jam Music and the punters who all seemed on their best behaviour.
AAIIMMZZ says...
when are photos going to be up =]
i_have_ADD says...
http://www.inthemix.com.au/photos20/080217-goodvibes
hewick85 says...
Micah and Zabiela were amazing!!! Pity about all the black dirt that had me choking for a few days afterwards ...
navskore says...
Man jazza, how good was high contrast!! Definitely the set of the day followed closely by Pharoah. Wish I could do it all again!
cholman says...
I loved the venue and the setup, but, if there is another event there anytime soon and there is still no grass, I won't be attedning. Grow some nice green grass there to eliminate all the dust and dirt!! - Corey
Dan_484 says...
Venue was good.. But was i the only one stuck with the other 20,000 people trying to leave the venue through a door 3 ppl wide? We had to scale fences to get out.. not the best way to end the day
dazmedia says...
K-OS was my highlight, followed closely by High Contrast and Pharoahe Monch. Dan - You HAD to scale a fence to get out?? O..K..
mad_scott says...
Good venue apart from trying to get out at the end and it needed more toilets. Kanye was good but he needed to play a few of his older tunes. Thievery Corporation was the best that I saw and don't forget Pigeon John, he always puts on a good show.