25,000 loyal fans from Queensland’s music scene, or those who just want to be seen, literally ‘parked’ their life for the day to attend the capital’s biggest festival Parklife. Come October, it seems the New Year’s resolution for some has been pushed aside for the festival resolution where attending the day is more about showing off your appreciation for Fitness First than the festival season’s first. But who can say no to a little bit of eye candy, hey?
Organisers benefited from last years ‘practice run’ at the Botanical Gardens. The combination of two entrances, improved fencing and adequate facilities that sped up entry, made for effortless self-navigating, regardless of state of mind, and allowed for able minds to focus on more important things; boozing, and listening to fab tunes! The first track of the day to reach my ears came from the Stafford Brother’s as they their wrapped up their set with their remix of Arrested Development’s Everyday People, a key feature in their current performances.
Bag Raiders were playing on Air Stage with an early 90s hip hop inspired electro set that included Fun Punch, which got the crowd into a deep groove. At times the set failed to flow which was due to a combination of the guys switching between instruments and a desire to experiment. But credit for doing so, as it showcased original tracks and remixes. However when the crowd became seemingly disinterested with the boy’s digression, they quickly shifted back to reliable Bang Gang type tunes which got the groove back for a strong finish.
Over to the Fire Stage where I was keen to see how many people had finally caught on to the vinyl prodigy that is Sampology. Until now, he’s not received the accolades or airplay of his counterparts so it was incredible to see a near capacity crowd at the stage. He knew precisely what the crowd’s taste buds were craving which included MGMT’s Electric Feel (the first of many versions I would hear during the day) and dished it up with a topping of his modest attitude and a cheeky smile. Mixing with the help of Serato a set of hip hop and disco house sprinkled with electro, Sam drew countless new fans who jived to his tunes for the full 45 minutes.
Heading over to see Ajax, surprisingly I found the Stafford Brothers in his place, juicing up a big crowd. Assuming Ajax was just fashionably late I took the opportunity to survey the surrounding area to discover: a group playing with a large skipping rope, only to have their rhythm destroyed by a random overestimating his ability to do put one foot in front of the other. Add to this a couple of lads who considered themselves the ‘official party pumpers’ and a group who believed they could sustain the 28 degree weather in bunny suits, it all adds up to random festival fun. I was then blinded by the massive orange glow emerging from behind the shade of a tree – that’s right, a lad who’d failed to perfect his fake tan application. Back to the Brothers who had done well to maintain the crowd in Ajax’s absence. Without any apparent reason for his absence (perhaps he’s house hunting in Melbourne) the crowd quickly filled to unprecedented proportions waiting not-so-patiently for Dizzee Rascal who had been shifted forward. After 15 minutes of muscling to protect our position, I decided it was not worth the bullshit; organisers should have predicted this and moved the Rascal to the Riverstage.
So, a swift move to the Riverstage where prime position was secured for Belgium’s self confessed ACDC addicts Soulwax. Defying the heat, the foursome were dressed in trademark full white suits complete with bow ties. These threads did nothing to restrict their performance though. Stripping an electro set bare with live instruments is always impressive, but none do it better than Soulwax. The set put the sun to bed and cued the moon which was definitely the turning point in the day in terms of both light and music! Rapturous cheers continued through a four track tribute to their European neighbours Daft Punk and odes to Nirvana, Justice and naturally, ACDC. Part of the weekend certainly never dies when listening to Soulwax.
There were plenty of temptations on the other stages, but I was keen to see what Diplo had to offer – well at least for the first 10 minutes. An hour later, I was still there. Diplo’s monstrous deck and feedback set up was wheeled on stage before the man followed and quickly started tuning his decks, and preparing the Apple laptop. Then, as if the organisers responded to the rubbish situation at Air an hour earlier, Dizzee Rascal bounced on stage and unveiled himself with a towel and confirmed that he would be MCing the set. I would get to see the pommy 22 year-old after all. But Diplo’s music selection upstaged everything else: it was a master class in DJing and although he played some tracks which had left clubs two years ago, he layered them with such style that I didn’t even care; and nor did anyone else. After each track, I was concerned that he’d left himself little space to progress the set but then he simply shifted the boundaries. By shifting between ‘choruses’ it gave the crowd time to enjoy each track, but not get bored. Each track took the set to a new level with contributions from hip hop, rock, progressive, electro, breaks and upfront house. Although relatively unrehearsed Dizzee expertly rapped through the set which ignited the crowd. As one of my more lubricated companions commented, “if you didn’t like this set, you don’t like music.” How right he was!
Goldfrapp arrived on stage 10 minutes late, with the delay costing them some crowd members who evidently couldn’t sit still. In what was probably the best stage setup of the day, the backdrop and set included palm trees with a somewhat tropical look with Alison, Will and the boys all donning ABBA-like lycra jumpsuits. Musically it would no doubt have been a quality set, but as they launched in to Happiness, my long held concerns were realised when many left, not in the mood to be slowed down. So back to Air to catch the last tracks of Peaches in the hope that she could Fuck the Pain Away. In a rocky-horror style production that included Peaches in a skin jumpsuit with a glow stick dangling in front of her ‘glow spot’, I got there just in time to have her ‘relieve my pain’. It looked as though it would had been a rocking set.
The Dewaele brothers, otherwise known as 2manydjs, then played on Air Stage and were received by a dense crowd who wanted a second helping of the Belgium duo. Beginning the set with a cleverly remixed Chemical Brothers Hey Boy, Hey Girl (2manydjs, here we go…) which got the crowd into a genuine rhythm. With so many (maybe even 2many… sorry can’t help myself) tracks included in only a two hour set, it was difficult to keep up with reporting them. However the set seemed to recap the day with regularly heard tracks from Justice, ACDC, MGMT, Crookers, Daft Punk, Prodigy and even John Paul Young, Eurythmics, Hot Chip and of course Fatboy Slim. But because the Dewaele’s mix them with their unique flair and creativity I didn’t care that I was hearing these tracks again. The brothers’ mash, blend and layer tracks with such ease, using mix effects and loops with precision. The crowd are given the chance to singalong, with many lucky females finding their way onto the stage. In what seems to be almost a signature, if cheesy, finish for the Dewaele Bros. House of Pain’s Jump Around was spun with its’ BPM increased wildly as a finish to the set, and the day.
So all up, we were treated to A-grade performances all day, with a little help from some incredible event organisation. What a way to kick off the festival season! Now, I’m off to the gym. I’ve got some work to do before the next festival!
karlie888 says...
Nice review...agreed too many spots to be in at once. Hate to put a damper on it though but Martin Solveig seriously disappointed, his set was flat as...Given that is was 10pm and most people were sprawled out on the lawn at this point, he really needed to do something to spice it up, but it wasn't there....top marks to Van She Tech who played an unbelievebly awesome set.
manuka says...
yep, was definitely a good day - but too much hip hop on at the same time kinda bored me slyde, stafford bros, boy 8 bit and sampology were the stand-out acts of the festival
hellomynameis says...
dude that was not dizzie rascal MC'ing with DIPLO, come on???
mofo549 says...
can't think who else it would have been. I just figured that since the MC came on stage and said "..i'm Dizzee Rascal", that it would have been him...
manuka says...
it was scribe