Future Music Festival @ Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne (09/03/08)
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
Stefan_001 says...
Had an awesome day only problem was the music wasn't loud enough on the hill! One shouldn't b able to have a conversation with their friend who is a meter away with out having to yell!!!! also an 11pm finish would have been nice!
charliebrookes says...
not a bad rap up of the festival, but to be honest, even though the chemical brothers were my most anticipated act of the day, for me they were by far the worst. Their set seemed to be segmented and didnt seem to have much flow at all. i enjoyed parts of it, but near the end i left the hill and was not really suprised to see what looked like half the crowd coming off the hill and leaving the festival. in hindsight, i enjoyed my friends company more than i did the festival, Sven Vath was my highlight, and the Chemical Brothers were just a massive downer
Tennessee says...
overall a good day out...could have gone for longer but i have to agree the chemical brothers left alot of fans dissapointed and unsatisfied by the way they ended abruptly. to qoute a friend of mine it was worse than the way the sopranos ended. plus the fact that they ended 10 minutes before they were scheduled to left alot of punters including myself waiting for what should have been a rousing and well recieved encore. dont know who was to blame here but future needs to do more to make sure their patrons get what they paid for as the last few events of theirs that ive been to have been heavily dissapointing in the way they ended...groove armada were a massive dissapointment.
Medea312 says...
I was kinda dissapointed. Why didnt the promoters leave some seats and more put up more shading - it was freaking hot and it was beyond exhausting to be standing the entire time. I disagree with Eddie Halliwell being good. Although he did a great job working the crowd he was spending most of the time running around or flipping through his cds. It was kinda annoying after a while - lay off the speed Eddie! I agree the music was not loud enough - had trouble hearing the chemical brothers at times.. I went to see Markus but the new king of trance was sounding a bit electric for me - but i guess the times they are a changing. BTW i LOVED the sopranos ending!
Kat_in_Japan says...
Markus Schulz nailed it! "All that you can give, all that you can give..." OMG so awesome to hear him play that!!
missturtz says...
Had an awesome day, but like a few others have mentioned Chemical Brothers very average, i actually thought that something had happened to the sound equipment towards the end untill one of my mates told me it was all over. laser light show was amazing but honestly the music didn't really get me.. My highlight of the day was Eddie Halliwell's set, i managed to make my way to the front of the stage and that's where i remained, i also had the pleasure of meeting him and having my pic taken with him, he's my number 1 dj as well as mixing up great beats he also showed the crowd how much he loves it.. EDDIE!! EDDIE!!!
missturtz says...
Had an awesome day, but have to agree with other people, CHEMICAL BROTHERS were very dissapointing. i actually thought that something had happened to the sound untill my mates told me they had finished.. my highlight of the day was EDDIE HALLIWELL he is my number 1 DJ and i managed to make my way to the front of the stage and that's where i stayed for his set, he rocked the myer music bowl.. I then had the pleasure of meeting him and having my pic taken with him.. EDDIE! EDDIE!
nectaria says...
Honestly, I love this festival but the last few hours left little to be desired. Roger Sanchez and John Digweed pumped me and the crowd up but once Sven Vath came on my mood began to drop. His music was weird and it felt like no one was dancing and enjoying themselves as much. I no i wasn't anyway. I think future made a massive mistake putting chemical brothers in this festival. I wanted to end my day on a high and they certainly didn't achieve that. Ending abruptly and stopping for a few minutes in between their set. The music was flat and boring. I left at 9!! Well future ppl please do better next year. Have a forum where we can choose who plays and where. I agree with Stefan,finish later since it was pushed forward an hr earlier this yr. Now that would be awesome :)
Mikey-mike says...
Future Music are to blame for everyones thoughts on the chemical brothers. They just did their thing which is why they are famous world wide..... the festival wasn't suited to them...Future should have arranged a more commercial act to headline.... The crowd response to the chemicals is probably why there was no encore...I got to take my hat off towards the lighting during the set was pretty unreal.... I have seen and heard many of the chemical brothers sets and i think it was great...
Mikey-mike says...
The chemicals rocked it... They kept it real playing their signiture electronic sound which they are FAMOUS for and didnt play all their cheesy chart toppper ie"salmon dance" and the lighting was truley amazing.....Any other chemical brothers fan who have listened to their music over the past decade would agree...
Tennessee says...
sorry i think there has been a case of mistaken identity
Tennessee says...
theres no doubt the chemicals stayed true to their sound but you have to admit mikey that they could have ended better...after all it was your soprano comment
Mikey 684 says...
Great Day!! Too many lines everywhere though (and not the good kind)... And thanks for mentioning my Sopranos comment!! Not bad at the time for a little space cadet Chemical Brothers were pretty good - maybe could've been louder up on the hill - but that would've probably pissed off the locals even more!! Marcus Schulz should've closed on main stage.. But it's all in hindsight.. I'll still go next year!
benkezilas says...
Did anyone happen to catch Laidback Luke on the Famous stage...the guy is a legend, certainly my highlight!! Disagree with putting most of the main acts on the main stage, the lines were ridiculous...otherwise you had to be in there well early and miss all the festivities on the other stages..
trancejunkii says...
the festival was ok, nothing as spectacular or as rocking as last year. last year we got to finish the festival off in super high with sander van doorn doing his thing on the global underground stage, then ferry corsten totally crushing all the other dj's before him on the main stage.... this was always going to happen. if u wanted to finish the festival on a high then u shoulda gone and seen markus schulz... as i've said by the nighttime ppl want to rock harder and harder not be bored to death and fall asleep... future bungled the order by putting eddie "the king" halliwell on at 2pm. if he closed the event playing his signature hard tech trance, the whole crowd woulda gone ballistix!!! learn from this next time future.... close with Trance, that is the only way to go!!! Everyone that got to see Markus Schulz in melb would def agree, so much better than boring chemical brothers crap!!! and thank god for the godskitchen stage, that was my saviour for the day.... and going to pharmacy afterwards was even better!!! Agnelli and Nelson followed by Mark Sherry, now that is music u can properly rock hard to!!!
Elliot G says...
i did FMF in Sydney on the Sat, then backed it up with the Melb version ... loved them both, but gave me a chance to see a bit more of those i'd enjoyed, and those i'd totally missed.... Shapeshifters and Mark Knight on the Famous stage in Melbourne - back to back - pure brilliance... plenty of room.. great crowd.. and great tunes, loaded with crowd favourites.. one of the highlights of my weekend... raaaaaaaaaa
sammyhop says...
i had an average day. too many tickets sold. in comparison to last year, it felt like there were a million more people there this year, could hardly move while watching chemical brothers, even far back on the hill where it is usually spacious! the sound during chemical was crap. i couldnt even make out was their first song was until about 30 seconds in. why did they stop during their set? i wish i had seen someone else play during chemical, big mistake. i agree with trancejunkii, sander van doorn and ferry corsten were insanneeee last year, best music and best vibe. this year seemed to have left everyone fairly flat. i think that future should be at a different venue. the music bowl sucks these days, everything is there and its getting boring.