The 2008 edition of Foreshore was no mere music festival – it was a musical banquet. There were so many artists with such a variety of skills and stylings that it was a struggle to figure out where I should direct my feet, and I’m sure I was not the only one.

The first act I caught was Kazu Kimura whose experience created a simple but oh-so effective style, utilising heavy basslines with an almost hypnotic effect. The crowd still had room to dance, with most of us punters bunched as close to the speakers and Kazu as the barriers would permit. The sun was out and a beach ball bounced happily around the grassy grounds. I was already anticipating sundown, and this was certainly set to be an awesome day and night.

While Kazu was still playing I headed to the Lake stage to see Jeff Drake dominating the decks. He laid out some awesome tech house and progressive to bridge the set from the Stafford Brothers, and the view from the top of the hill was stunning. Jeff had MC Forey on the mic and they were working the crowd hard. With Jeff dressed in black and Forey in white, the pair looked great on stage and were loving it almost as much as the smiling faces around me. People were still filtering in and they seemed as torn as I as to weather to stay there or stage hop… It was a decision that proved consistently tough.

Plugs were unplugged and re-plugged again with impressive speed, and dials were hurriedly twisted and turned as Jeff Drake handed the stage over to Sasha. The change of DJs brought with it a change of mood; people stopped dancing and started pulsing to Sasha’s hypnotic progressive/minimal sounds. Sasha picked up the pace half way through his set moving to heavier beats with a minimal tech overlay and Sasha’s remix of Ladytron’s Destroy Everything You Touch went down a treat. The crowd felt every thump of his bassline, creating a sea of punters all bobbing as one.

Next I saw local DJ Scottie Fisher at the lawn stage. The crowd in here was smaller than those before Sasha, but enjoying themselves no less. Scottie played a minimal tech set with a solid beat and great builds. The wind picked up and clouds were coming over. Perhaps a repeat of last year was in order after all? Making my way over to the Sun Stage, I was confronted by some awesome hip hop from Axe Aklins, MC Carts2Deadly and DJ Baghdad. The variety of music that was on offer today hit me at that point; there were people dancing for Scottie, pulsing for Sasha and jumping around for Axe. The vibe across the whole Foreshore setup was infectious.

Holland’s 16 Bit Lolitas were a must see international act, and though only one half of the duo made it to Foreshore, Aad Olieroock was more than enough! He laid down subtle minimal/tech beats that built to wards some melodic progressive towards then end, and Aad proved himself to be a crowd pleaser, frequently raising his head to make sure he was hitting the right notes.I don’t think he was ever disappointed, merging Dark Flower into Enjoy The Silence which impressed the entire crowd. His enthusiasm coupled with his immense technical skill and variety of mixing tactics had every face in the tent constantly grinning.

Thoroughly entranced by set I’d just heard from 16 Bit Lolitas, I only caught the last song from The Galvatrons, and band that brought another diverse element to Foreshore. Decks were ditched in favour of an electric guitar, a bass, a keyboard and a drum kit, and even the smoke machine was in action. The Galvatrons even left the stage in rock star fashion; with Jonny throwing his guitar side stage. Honestly, I wasn’t such a fan of the band on the day and feel that they were better suited to Trackside the previous weekend, but full points to the Friction and Lexington crews for mixing things up.

Doom & Hoodrat instantly caught my ear with The Crookers remix of Day n Night by Kid Cudi. The crowd was madly responsive to these guys as they belted out some awesome electro intros between house tracks. They used Call On Me as an awesome techno overlay and you could see the smiles plastered to their faces. Another crowd favourite was Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics, and it wouldn’t be an Australian dance music event with out someone busting out this overplayed, yet strangely popular track.

As soon as people entered the vicinity of the Bass Kleph tent they started dancing. I strolled in to the all-Aussie dance collaboration; Kleph’s remix of Infusion’s Dog Town. A firing track to open with! Kleph created fantastic house tunes with some perfectly fitted electro. Kleph’s always energetic onstage, but this time in particular, he was absolutely going nuts. He sung to the music and even jumped up on top of the decks, all the while his fists pumping the air as hard and as frequently as the sea of green wristbands in front of him.

Pnau were welcomed to the stage by MC Forey as the lake area reached capacity. The numbers were emphasised by the sea of mobile phones popping up and down, snapping photos of the costumed characters on stage, the first of which which were two massive hands. The hands were replaced by a green skull, an octopus and the infamous sun, followed by cubes that spelled out ‘Pnau’ as well as those famous wild strawberries. They inexplicably left the stage during their set (possibly over whelmed by the crowd’s enthusiasm) and returned with the rain. As the skies opened the crowd only cheered louder. Nothing could dampen their high and I think the rain brought back happy memories of last year’s (extremely wet) event. Baby and Wild Strawberries were obvious crowdpleasers, but No More Violence had everybody screaming the lyrics with fists in the air.

I bounced to the Lawn stage to see Above & Beyond, well that’s who I was expecting at least. Due to a host of flight delays, they were replaced by their protégé Jaytech. Any disappointment at the act change didn’t show as the lawn stage’s capacity peaked. He laid down some great progressive house with tight mixing that had the entire place moving.

I missed the start of The Presets due to the massive backlog of punters trying to get closer to the action. The Lake stage had reached it’s apparent 6,000 strong capacity and security fearing a crush, dribbled punters through the gate, if at all. The Presets’ sound was awesome with the vocals carrying all the way to the eager ears at the back of the crowd, which was a decidedly mixed bunch of people. In front of me stood a large, long-haired boofy man clad in black, thrashing his glowsticks and sweaty head around like it was Metallica’s final or something. When The Presets threatened to leave the stage, the crowd called desperately for an encore. The duo obliged and with Go Hard, Go Home, and at that point the rain began again. The sight of hundreds of water droplets falling on the green lasers shooting out over the crowd mad the show look even more spectacular. Please Don’t Go came over the speakers and we headed for the exit.

Foreshore 2008 ended as Foreshore 2007 begun – wet and wicked. The nicest feeling about finishing such an amazing festival was the fact that I didn’t have to get in a car and drive three hours back from Sydney. Canberra’s festival lineup is getting bigger and better every year, bring on 2009!