Given the promoters still had tickets left in their pockets, I was concerned at how well Brisbane would take to Stereosonic among the festival season onslaught. Was it yet another way to blow a few dollars just for the chance to wasted? Or was it a proper reason to spend a Saturday grooving about in grassy RNA fields under the sun (yes, sun… all day!) to some quality local and international artists? Located in showbag central – minus the showbags – it was clear the festival tried to be as much an extension of the Valley as possible.

On the main Stereosonic stage among an intimate and carnival like atmosphere, falsetto electro prince Kaz James and his live band greeted keen fans with We Hold On. His wide repertoire enabled him to cleverly progress the set to his current floor filler Breathe which got the avid club goers stamping holes in the grass.

In a masterstroke, organisers gave commercial heavyweights TV Rock a changeover set which kept the crowd simmering for the first headliner of the day. Knowing I’d hear it at some point during the day, sure enough TV Rock bought Kings of Leon’s sexual hit Sex on Fire to the stacks. With everyone who owns a CD player belting the track out monotonously over the past month, I was surprised to find myself still engaging thoroughly in the crowds sing a long.

Whilst I was initially shocked spread of the set times, I quickly realised that giving the one-finger salute to the usual festival evening crescendo (and allowing Booka Shade and Carl Cox to service their Sydney gigs that night) was genius. Thankfully, it allowed Brisbane music lovers the luxury to make concise decisions about their act of choice throughout the day.

Berlin’s Booka Shade, with the sun belting down onto a full stage, began their set with Arno Kammermeier doing a short electric drum solo before the duo broke into Mandarine Girl. Walter Merziger quickly joined in on synths and cleverly amped the crowd on the mic. Their trademark minimalist bass-filled loops, coupled with distorted catchy melodies, pleased the fans in the crowd. I was impressed with their ability to capture the early afternoon set and reel in new fans to the crowd. Their current hit Charlotte received a massive response, before the boys lapped up the crowd loosing it to their seminal track with MANDY – Body Language of course.

Kieron C’s changeover set saw him pick tracks cleverly in order to blend the Booka Shade sound into the bigger more lively techno, electro and progressive that Melbourne expat Carl Cox is responsible for. Fashionably late, Cox assumed his signature mic using vocal shout outs to grab hold of the crowd and give us the bear hug we all know we’d love to give him; and for the duration of his set, I didn’t let go. He moved from his signature thumping techno before progressing to Deadmau5’s remix of Carl’s own I Want You (Forever) which had the crowd gobbling up every note. I had high expectations of Carl delivering in his late afternoon set, but as it progressed he used weaponry like his cheeky grin and quality track selection to quickly fight off doubt.

I broke from the crowd to make my way to the Family stage through people keen to queue for the show rides, and others appearing as though they were packing up their picnics. DJ Funk who has found fame with the Ed Banger label attracted me to the stage like a moth to the light, as do most of the French label’s products. Although a smaller crowd gathered, I persevered. He moved through a selection of his Booty House Anthems but knowing what I was missing among the other three stages, opted to re-trace my journey.
Back on the Stereosonic stage I chose to let the top 40 followers fill the crowd for Faker and took a distant position. A set consisting of Sleepwalking, Are You Magnetic? and other tracks from their debut album Be The Twilight, it was obvious that their final tune was going to give fans a heart attack. Sure enough, when it began I found myself wishing I’d been a little closer to the action. Milking This Heart Attack for every semitone it had, the band finished off the set with a solid cheer. The inclusion of such an artist on the lineup did well to serve those who needed a moment to hibernate from music faster than 120bpm.

I moved through to the VIP area past the bouncer, whose pink face reflected his dedication to serving the people who (thought they) were privileged. However, when I got to the top of the stairs I began to understand why people hustled for VIP tickets given the wealth of quality local acts on stage from clubs across town. Intimate sets with Danny T, Jimmy Vegas, Chris Wilson, Luki, Rikki Newton and Dominic James were just some of the reasons why you’d consider yourself privileged to get a VIP ticket next year.

Back down to One Love stage where Ajax was greasing his loyal followers with a selection of 09 Annual tracks and remixes suitable for their tastes. But I left in search of something fresher where I heard glimpses of Infusion’s live set around the corner. I quickly engaged with the shoe-gazing frame of mind required for the set. With each development of each track I caught my eyes gazing at my Vans in order to let my ears tune in to the live electronics. Powerful tracks Natural, Dogtown, Girls Can Be Cruel and Better World impressed, and when I did look up my eyes were met with solid lighting and production to match their sound.

Following their Melbourne neighbours in locale and in style were Midnight Juggernauts. Their slightly indie take on live electronica proved popular with tracks such as Shadows and Road to Recovery. Their latest massive psychedelic hit Into the Galaxy had much of the crowd (consisting of fans of multiple musical genres) entering a galaxy of their own as they jumped about to their rocking sound.

The hardest decision of the day came with a clash of times between Pnau and The Crookers. Solid crowds were gathering in front of both the stages, some punters even finding a suitable position to see both stages – although it would have been difficult to enjoy the sounds from the two stages clashing there too.
Italian remix kings The Crookers began earlier than Pnau, which enabled them to capture and secure fans for their sets’ entirety. They entered the stage looking like adolescent skaters and naturally began with Mad Decent, the start of which they held on loop for an eternity before dropping the bass and allowing the crowd to bounce to the distorted psychedelic MSTRKRFT-like electro. Because samples of their tracks are reused in their other releases, it was difficult to predict where they were taking the set next, yet hearing those same samples repeatedly is never tiring. Mad Kidz kept the set moving and passing through various stretched house tracks.

I dashed over quickly to see Pnau with Nick Littlemore donning a Jesus like outfit and belting out immortal hits Wild Strawberries, Baby and No More Violence. They entertained an enthusiastic crowd but with the band performing many phenomenal sets over the past few months I had higher expectations. I found it difficult to groove into after what I’d left next door so I hurried back to the Italians. Don Rimini’s Let Me Back Up has never sounded so good with the Crookers touch and when it dropped just as I returned, the crowd were oiled and grooving like disciples. The dirty and reverberating bass lines underlying the set were so addictive and after their remix of The Bumblebeez Dr. Love and their tribute to our own ACDC’s Thunderstruck they still had one more trick to pull out from underneath their flat fitty’s. When the familiar melody of their remix of Kid Cudi’s hip hop track Day ‘N’ Nite began being mixed through, the crowd quite simply went fucking nuts.

It was certainly a big risk adding another festival to the Brisbane scene, but the intimacy and family-like atmosphere topped with a good line-up of niche artists was refreshing. Brisbane’s music loving community should consider itself lucky to still have at least one festival not overrun by the muscled masses and the promoters will definitely have their pockets emptied of tickets next year.