Future Music Festival @ Randwick Racecourse, Sydney (08/03/09)
Over the past few years, the Future Music Festival has transformed itself from its humble beginnings to an event of gargantuan proportions. While other festival events have sidelined some of the better known names in dance in search of ‘different directions’, Future Entertainment have done the direct opposite by assembling a bevy of the best DJs to ever grace the earth. This year’s offering featured seminal dance heroes The Chemical Brothers, who were ably supported by house legend Roger Sanchez, progressive house guru John Digweed and trance dancefloor destroyers Eddie Halliwell and Markus Schulz; all coming together within the fabled bounds of Sydney’s biggest racecourse. With tens of thousands of tickets sold, the summer weather returning for just one day and a party populace that was ready to rock, last weekend’s festival contained all the ingredients to deliver a day for the ages.
With so much quality music on offer during the day, dissecting and devouring this beast was always going to prove a task. Having poured over the often complained about set times during the preceding week, I decided the best thing to do so was arrive early, take in the general vibe and then once the big names had kicked off, stick to a pre-set duration at each of the stages. With this in mind, we arrived around 3pm and applied festival rule #1: check your music preferences at the door. After a quick beer with friends at one of the many well-staffed Randwick watering troughs, it was time to witness what each of the many stages had on offer.
First big cab off the rank, Roger Sanchez at the Future Music stage, which we noted was some way off over in the back corner of the thoroughbred colosseum. With time to kill, the initial pilgrimage provided ample opportunity to take in parts of the festival that you might otherwise not enjoy. The impromptu tour took us from the entrance through any number of well appointed food outlets, a lolly stall doing a stack of business, and around the back of the grandstand there where a myriad of rides including a roller-disco were already well in motion. Next stop, the Future Funk stage where Elite Force was igniting a small but select crowd of loyal followers, then out into the wider expanses of Randwick where the troupe of brightly-coloured flags scattered about reminded of a medieval jousting meet. Eventually we did make it to the main stage, and within seconds of arriving under a hot beating sun, the legendary (and now beardless) ‘S-Man’ had taken over. His first hour was classic Sanchez; endless snippets of house anthems from time remembered, including Sweet Dreams, Star 69 and Born Slippy, tribal basslines (although at sound levels that were too low to appreciate), all set amidst a crowd dominated by far too much fluoro, short denim shorts, roid boys frying in the sun and fake tans oozing down many a freshly shaven leg.
5pm rolled around, and it was time to push through the now heaving throng and trot on down to the Fanklub stage to check out Germany’s number one gurner, Sven Vath. Over the next hour, the Deutsch leviathan showed why he’s rightfully considered one of the real ‘showmen’ of the dance arena. Vath, decked out in white singlet, cascading blonde locks and perennial tan, looked more like a deck hand on a Mediterranean yacht than a world class DJ. He rattled out a series of broody tech house tunes, with sounds ranging from ray guns, pops, squizzles and spooky shrieks, all surrounded by a bass line that best resembled the muffled heartbeat of a Future punter. Best of all though was Vath’s continual crowd interaction; with his stock standard formula for success: mix, gurn, celebrate and preen, driving the punters crazy in the process. Vath did it all so seamlessly that with every new track came with it a new trick, be it fanning down the security guards with vinyl, climbing amongst the fans with drum stick and cymbal, or my highlight for the day – skulling a bottle of champagne and spitting it back out over the crowd.
After cackling myself silly for an hour, it was time to canter back to the Future arena for an earful of Bedrock giant John Digweed. En route I took another opportunity to take in the wider Future populace. Fumbling through a packed racecourse infield, I soon discovered an unlisted Pump Water mini stage crammed with a sextet of African looking Adonis’s banging out epic tribal beats on some seriously big drums. Other highlights of the micro-tour included a large group of women all dressed identically, their backs adorned by the title ‘Pussy Posse’, blokes in top hats, safari suits, a myriad of porkpie hats which wouldn’t have been out of place in the Randwick stewards room, and best of all, a shirtless bloke looking not unlike Rambo: eyes rolling in the back of his head, covered in mud, armed and dangerous with tomato sauce in his left hand, American mustard in his right. Gold!
By the time I returned to our crew’s vantage point, the much vaunted ‘Diggers’ had appeared in turf coloured t-shirt, bouffant rock star hairdo and aviator sunglasses, and had kicked things off in a classic, stalking, driving progressive mode. It was at this point I realised that progressive is simply not the genre for festivals, least not for a reviewer: you need to be able to witness the set in its entirety, and with so much else to see this just isn’t possible. In any case, within the next 60 minutes he began a progressive destruction of epic proportions, searing off Cirez D’s Teaser, Plastikman’s universally adored Spastik, Koglin & Grant’s Sequential, and best of all, a track which one of our clan incredulously claimed was from 1982, Age of Love’s Age of Love. Sadly, the hour passed only too quickly, and it was time to make the Herculean trip back over to the Godskitchen domain to get a daily fix of trance.
After a 15 minute battle amongst thousands of others, I’d put the 600m journey behind me – but not before taking in the hysterical scenes at the Roller Disco where a myriad of offchops visitors were madly struggling to come to grips with the complexities of the silly 80s past-time. Soon after, I’d made my way into the betting ring to join two of Leeds’ best: one of my good mates direct from the Northern English city and secondly, BBC radio trance hero Eddie Halliwell. By the time I’d arrived Halliwell was mid set, and given the progressive lesson I’d just left behind, what was on offer could best be described as ‘banging’. Shortly after, Halliwell returned to classic trance mode (albeit with a massive amount of scratching), delivering a glut of contemporary trance bombs including Kyo & Gil’s Ultima, Thomas Bronzwaer’s Resound and Ernesto & Bastian’s Thrill. If that wasn’t enough, with the sun setting gloriously through the rear windows of the auditorium and among prismatic argons, Halliwell incinerated us all by dropping the timeless Greece 2000, then stage diving into the sweaty masses. With 8pm upon us, and Halliwell’s set sounding every bit as good as I wanted, it was hard to leave. But with the festival’s main show just 30 minutes away, it was time to once again trek over to the main arena.
This trip back was nothing short of an odyssey because of the sheer enormity of the event, with an estimated 40, 000 people attempting to do exactly the same thing. As a result, a planned trip to see Kid Koala for 30 minutes failed miserable, as did the intended visit to the Silent Disco, with things hitting a low point for the day as we were refused entry to the Chemical Brothers at the main gate. After a short wait, we finally made our way into the crush and with the assistance of the useful directions of a table tennis bat that was being waved frantically in the air, and we were soon back amongst our own crew. From a musical perspective, the Chemical Brothers provided the tracks most people wanted; Hey Boy Hey Girl, Out of Control and Block Rockin’ Beats all making a worthy appearance. Conversely, without having seen the Chemical Brothers before, and in line with the comparative on stage mayhem of Vath and Halliwell, it all seemed too ‘produced’ and effortless. On the flip side, the amazing visuals were well worth the wait, with the huge screen behind the duo lit up initially with images of animals: red prancing horses, elephants, flies and doves to name but a few. Next up, people suspended in space and flipping about Tetris style, exploding orange and turquoise pong balls, multiplying robots, and finally, a very evil looking clown. Best of all was the stone cathedral, complete with an airborne 3D tour, followed by a Blair Witch-esque trip through an eerie looking forest. Both of which, had I have been in the same condition as some of my closer pals that were by my side, would have proved even more interesting.
As soon as the Chemical Brothers had disappeared from view, with the battle-weary hordes heading chaotically (and unsuccessfully) towards the exit, I was left with a bit of time to ponder the success of this year’s Future Music Festival. Granted the big names had delivered performances that were in line with their reputations, but I had to ask myself: could Future have done better? Foremost in my mind was the appalling sound quality at three of the stages I visited, where Vath, Halliwell, Schulz and the Chemical Brothers delivered their music at a level that was barely louder than that of an old transistor radio. Likewise, the journey from one side of the event to the other was simply too much, especially considering the duration of the festival and the comparative short nature of each set, not to mention the sheer volume of people all attempting to make the same voyage. That said, on a day like last Saturday, the music often becomes incidental, with the eclectic array of attendees making the day as successful as it is. Future Entertainment are well on the way to delivering dance music lovers with an event to treasure; the venue, crowd, and entertainment are correct. It’s now up to Future’s management to work out how best to pull it all together.
Check out the photos from the event here.
Fewsion says...
did anyone notice energizer advertisements flashing up on the screen during Roger Sanchez's set, looked like the worst form of marketing ever, a terrible assault on the visuals!
Anastasia20 says...
John Digweed was punishing, he played the worst set of the day especially after someone as awesome as Roger Sanchez, he had the crowd going crazy!! John Digweed SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FortuneCat says...
The last paragraph sums it up - terrible sound quality = a terrible gig IMO. Thank god I went to Maitreya festival.
lachainsworth says...
did anyone notice energizer advertisements flashing up on the screen during Roger Sanchez's set, looked like the worst form of marketing ever, a terrible assault on the visuals! and sven vaths
Andrew Wowk says...
Anastasia20 - are you serious?!?! If you liked the rubbish Sanchez was pumpin out I'm not surprised you didn't enjoy Digweed. Frankly I thought he was amazing. Vath was good too. Kid Koala rocked and so did Aesop Rock. But overall a pretty forgettable day.
kittykat83 says...
oh i hope the roller disco is back next year!! its awesome! Schulz was fantsatic, pity about the sound.. The black ghosts were Good too, should of been put on earlier.
jamiegrenenger says...
u obviously do not know what your talking about anastasia, i think your fluro clothes are cutting the circulation to your brain
nat_pio says...
Way too overcrowded. Had the best time last year. This year was a big disappointment.
matzta73 says...
matzta73 says...
Looked like the future organisers went for the big money grab and compromised on the sound quality (it was terrible all over) and too many people, Marcus Shculz was very angry when the sound system gave up only 15 minutes into his set. If Future want a the Future of this event to succeed they may want to fine tune the sound and patronage. Ask the Dj's what they thought?
funky_nathan80 says...
FMF was a load of bollocks... the only thing that saved the day was Diggers' set... Pheonix - Rise up was a magical moment. everything else about the day was shite.
Angel speaking says...
Anastasia20, if you didnt like Digweed's set, then either... it was because the sound was so poor that it didnt grab you. OR, you are a young fluro wearing sheep who wants to hear the same old tunes year after year. "Damn, why couldnt digweed play 'Love Generation', or 'Call on me'?
konstantinos says...
SVEN VATH was the SHOWMAN....about the sound was just AWFUL in all stages!!John digweed disappointed me!! Chemical brothers i can say there were really good as always!!
thekingsofsundaymorning says...
Nobody has mentioned the set of the day put in by shapeshifters... they don't take themselves seriously and really got the crowd on their side... when you're putting on a festival of this size you really need crowd pleasers and they certainly did that... some great memories too put the sound definitely needs some work on
twanga says...
the music playing in my head was better.....couldnt get my people by the presets out of it....future was ok i guess nahnahnah...who played there again!! haha..harbourlife betta hurry up..
singstar says...
couldnt have been more spot on. great review of the day in full.
horrie says...
has anybody got a number as to how many people were there.twice as many as last year 4 sure.
horrie says...
does any body have a number on how any patrons were there this year,i would say double on last year,or should i say a fucking lot.
to hayley says...
All I can say is.. thank god for that paddle....
nataliagarrido says...
i loved it. went by too quickly though, mainly due to the trek between stages. last year's size and layout was better.less treking. i agree with the quote above "the venue, crowd, and entertainment are correct. It’s now up to Future’s management to work out how best to pull it all together." but hey it's a learning thing, hopefully next year will be bit smaller but still have the great talent on show.
aimz_870 says...
I heard on the day that last year there were roughly 20,000 and this year there was close to 40,000!! Seems to me that Future Entertainment got a bit greedy... There were wayyy too many ppl there to enjoy it properly like last year!! Despite the rain of last year, it was easy to get around and people could see woteva they wanted withourt making a 20min trek to the next stage!
Kazzy T says...
thekingsofsundaymorning - I totally agree, Shapeshifters were awesome, easily one of the best sets of the day! I was extremely disappointed with the VERY poor quality sound. I didn't really notice it until i was forced up the back of the main stage and could barley hear the Chemical Brothers.. Pfft pathetic if you ask me! Sound def needs to be improved on next year! As for Digweed, Anastacia, wtf are you talking about? He was one of the highlights and i personally think Sanchez was pretty ordinary!
horrie says...
ken says great event, but to many people on last year .sound appalling ,maybe over 2days? good venue.
horrie says...
ken says great event, but to many people on last year .sound appalling ,maybe over 2days? good venue.
DLS89 says...
I had been looking forward to future for awhile but was somewhat let down, the sound quality was poor, the stages were to small and in general hated the lay-out. But good work with the silent disco idea
ambermorriss says...
I'd have to agree with the last part, it took too damn long to get anywhere, and you couldn't hear it! And what was with all the barricades making it even longer?????Especialy the fence around future stage, should have been opened up like every other main stage at every other event! I've been 2 years now, but not thinking of a third. :(
dennez says...
very,very average in my opinion. last year was the greatest. this year no where near that level. its getting too big.
housetrippin says...
anastasia go back to listenin to bang gang and the latest shit that comes out of the radio that they label "house music" you obviousli dont know wat you are talkin about....John Digweed was the bomb if it wasnt for his set i reckon i wouldve asked for a refund on my ticket!!!its very laughable "john digweed sucked" GO HOME and stick to holdin a party wif the latest ministry of sound crankin out your speakers!!!!!!DUMBASS
varden1986 says...
Anastasia20 you obviously don't know anything about the evolution of house music. You don't know anything about REAL music. John Digweed is the godfather of house. He is one of the most respected and admired dj's in Europe and America. Your favourite lil bang-gang
Jaycutcliffe says...
Yeah personally i loved Digweeds set i wish it was longer. Hearing him play 'heaven scent' to a really appreciative crowd made my day if not my year.
housetrippin says...
varden1986 i love digweed but to say hes the godfather of house i think you are a little mistaken there champ it all started wif larry levan and frankie knuckles my friend THEY are the godfather of house.............
GFARRELL says...
Venue was very ordinary. Sound qaulity pathetic with everythign seemed to be mashed into one sound. Chemical Brothers were very wasteful, played one or two good tracks and the other hour and a bit was dreadful. Mostly the crowd just standing around saying " what the f????" and when it finnally ended people were left scratching there head saying " is this really over?" Change of venue for sure. Better Sound qaulity. And you always gamble in big International DJ's comming into town. Very Dissapointing