Having been living overseas for the previous three years, I’d never ventured to a Future Music Festival before. Previously, the March Labour Day long weekend was home to Melbourne’s Two Tribes event which I actively frequented numerous times. I had heard positive reviews of past FMF events from friends and was aware that the event scored #1 placing last year as ITM’s favourite festival. With the autumn days of March seeming to get warmer and warmer every year, it seems to only make sense to revamp the long weekend by having a dance music event held during the day, and at one of Melbourne’s most loved outdoor venues – the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. And with a first class line up with some of the most renowned and respected acts in the dance music scene, my expectations for the event were set high. So how did my first FMF experience pan out?

It was another scorcher of a day in Melbourne, with a top of 35 degrees predicted; the sun was well and truly in force by the midmorning. Making my way through Melbourne it was great to see how alive the city was whilst it embraced the Moomba festivities. Walking down Swanston Street I followed the tribe of obvious FMF punters through the grounds of the Botanical Gardens, towards the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. I made my way through the VIP entrance and after a fifteen minute wait I entered the venue – much to my surprise that my general admission friends had entered about ten minutes quicker. Kicking off around 2pm, I did a quick lap of the venue and noticed that all the stages were well and truly warmed up. Although I didn’t make it into the Silent Disco I was amused by the concept: those on the silent dancefloor seemed to be enjoying themselves, a lot of smiles were seen and laughter heard from the crowd at the ‘silent’ stage. Not sure if I’m convinced that this is the shape of things to come!

First stop was the Mischief? stage where Pepperoni was taking to the decks. I had not heard of Pepperoni before and although there was a large crowd around the stage he didn’t really seem to be engaging his audience. I felt that he didn’t really care if he was there or not, he looked somewhat bored and unenthused as he stood motionless behind the decks, smoking cigarettes and chatting to people on the stage. He lost of my attention quickly and I made my way over the main stage where Eddie Halliwell was playing. I’d heard a lot about Halliwell and although his style of music is not my cup of tea, I did enjoy his energetic stage presence. Initially, when I saw the set times for the day, I was a bit weary of such energetic music being featured in an early afternoon timeslot, despite this I think Halliwell did well to capture the crowd. His music selection for the day was slightly toned down from his signature harder style: I’m unsure if this was a direction from the promoters or a personal choice. Either way, Halliwell was smiling and dancing behind the decks like a madman throughout his set and seemed to genuinely be enjoying him. His choice punchy dance tunes featured a remix of Daft Punk’s Faster, Harder, Stronger and Jay Dee Plastic Dreams .

Back at the Mischief area, Norwegian rockers Datarock were taking to the stage. I had heard a few of their songs and was highly anticipating their performance. Sure enough the five of them delivered a performance that was energetic, wild and wacky and very entertaining. All five band members were dressed in red tack suits, or should I say dance suits, and kept the crowd entertained with their aerobics antics, drum stick throwing and juggling, topless bongo drumming and renditions of scenes from Grease. Tracks during their set included Computer Love Camp and FaFaFa with both seeing the crowd singing along to the humorous lyrics. Datarock’s set was one of my highlights for the day, it was great to see a band that can laugh at themselves and doesn’t take themselves too seriously. I hope to see much more of these guys in the city.

Back at the main stage was Roger Sanchez who was keeping the young crowd happy with his selection of cheese and remixes of tracks from Green Velvet, Daft Punk and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I didn’t expect a lot from Sanchez and he basically delivered what I expected. During his set I made my way down the VIP balcony, the lines to get down the front of the arena were lengthy and I was lucky to not have to wait. Overlooking the main stage I was now in prime position to watch the last of the acts. Up next was legendary progressive don John Digweed, whose set consisted of epic progressive house. Building layer upon layer, Digweed’s selection of dark energetic beats and rolling basslines got the crowd warmed up for the next acts to take the main stage. It was good to see that Digweed has stayed true to his style, and didn’t feel the need to change and conform to the ever present cheese that it being delivered by so many of the big name DJs. Overall, great music for the timeslot and a great warm up to Sven Vath.

With the crowd well and truly warmed up it was time for Germany’s Vath to take to the main stage. Vath eagerly hit the decks, donning a white singlet and glitter jeans; he was obviously well up for a party. Vath’s selection of music consisted of tracks such as The Amazing – Qu’est-ce que vous voulez, Supermayer – Two of Us, Alter Ego – Why Not? and Argy – Unreliable Virgin. Vath’s selection of edgy techno along with his on stage presence got the crowd going wild by this stage the atmosphere at the main stage was absolutely fantastic. James Holroyd was up next with the warm up set for Chemical Brothers. His set consisted of breaks and drum n’ bass enthused music. I am unsure if the thirty-minute set did Holroyd much justice, personally I think thirty minutes more of Sven Vath would have been better.

Up next was the Chemical Brothers themsevles – the act that everyone had been waiting for. The infamous duo from the UK got a massive roar from the crowd as they took to the main stage. Tracks included Galvanise, Saturate, Do it Again, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Out of Control, Golden Path, Believe and We are the Night. The sound was incredible throughout the set with bass lines relentlessly driving through the crowds. The in-synch light show was extraordinary and tightly complemented the sound perfectly. Meanwhile, freakishly giant clown faces featured on large screens throughout the set whilst a number of green lasers punctuated the sky. Although, I really enjoyed their set I was disappointed at how abruptly it ended without any kind of build up or encore.

Meanwhile, over at the Famous stage, trance enthusiast Markus Schultz was pumping out his finest selection of trance. Although, I was unable to catch Schultz, friends who did see him rated his performance respectfully and were lucky enough to catch the fireworks show from the Moomba festival. Overall, my first FMF experience lived up to my expectations. The music was great, the weather was sublime and overall the crowd was fairly friendly. It was good to see water stalls separate to the main bars, free access to water from the taps and more shaded areas at the venues. It was also good to see that the event organisers are taking responsibility for ensuring the well-being of their punters. I haver grown accustomed to the drink card format and thought that getting drinks on the day was a quick and easy process (which can be highly unusual for such big events). I’m growing more and more sceptical of the whole VIP arrangements at these events, it seems as though VIP has lost its lustre and that everyone these days is a VIP.

Highlights for the day were Datarock, Sven Vath and those two giant gnomes either side of the main stage! Thanks to the crew at Future Entertainment for delivering a very successful day. The overall sounds and vibe of the festival was spot on, it was good to see all the major acts on the main stage, meaning that punters weren’t constantly swapping and changing from stage to stage. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for FMF, I suspect that it will become another Summadayze styled event – so popular with the punters that they’ll gather there just as much to be seen as to enjoy the performances! Either way, I’ll be looking forward to the ‘09 installment