It starts when the air gets warmer for the first time. You begin to remember how good sunlight on the skin actually feels. The streets are busier. People take their time getting from A to B. The anticipation of summer becomes contagious. Hand in hand with the weather comes the first of the out-of-town festivals, the multi-day outback extravaganzas, the lost weekends. And while it may not have been typically roasting last weekend, the last ever Earthcore Global Carnival still managed to set the tone for a summer of outdoor antics.

Forty minutes away from Ballarat, out past the last gas station and the rest of civilisation, you trundle down a dirt road and through a number of nondescript paddocks; only to be confronted by the calamity that is the crater. A basin large enough to house 5000 odd campers, sloping in at least a few hundred meters from its lips that are still strewn with the remains of what we can only assume to be a substantial meteor. A geological mishap that someone is lucky enough to call their own backyard. Arriving early Friday evening, a substantial number of camps had already been set up all around the sides of the bowl, tending towards the flat edges of the centre, with the stages and the market area that would comprise Earthcoreville for the next few days falling closest to the dirt track that leads into the crater. A lot more effort had been put into the production than the previous year, with three large stages – main, market, and a large sheltered dome tent. The market area was also considerably larger, and the amount and level of facilities had improved.

After a long day of work and a long drive, our camp was eventually established, our neighbors were greeted and our legs were stretched. The overcast weather never gave way to cold temperatures, and after first nightfall the sky resembled a back-lit canopy with holes punched in it, allowing a glimpse at the stars you only see in the middle of nowhere. A good start to a long weekend. Heading down to the stages, I found it hard to get into the music that night, with the revised set times taking their toll. Nonetheless there was an amiable vibe in the air, and I met more than one eager camper ready to exchange tales. Among them were a fire twirler, a remedial masseur, and a half-German half-Israeli hippie backpacker named Marcus whose depth of knowledge on the history of electronic music was no mean feat.

A million decent conversations later, the beats grabbed me by the neck and slapped me promptly on the right side of the face around 6am, when Heath Myers took to the decks on the Market stage. The crowd had thinned rapidly as people began to call it quits, but the sunlight beginning to creep through the clouds and the deep beats permeating from the decks were encouragement enough for me to start a new day. Hmmm, progressive… Another coffee, and the chunky beats of Tony Lucas and Andy Can fed the fire of a melodic Market morning. I managed to stay awake for the beginning of Christian Vance’s midday set, appreciating the up and comers tech-know-how before increasing cloud cover and drooping eyelids sent me back to camp to recuperate.

Late Saturday afternoon the sun finally stopped teasing and took centre stage, and I though it would be a good time to walk to the top of the crater and wander 360 degrees around its perimeter, taking in the view. And what a view it was. Horizon visible in all directions, mountains in some, the waves of sound oscillating out of the bouncing heart of the basin, as yet more late arrivals continued to flood in, the fluorescent shine of thousands of cars and tents making the crater look like a gargantuan surrealist candy bowl. The sunset dipped back over the hills and took with it the mild weather, as the temperature dropped and wind came in droves. It was time to head back to the heat inducing grind and synths of the psychedelica already pulsing out from the stages.

Droves of dancers swarmed main stage, light and sound combining to move like ripples of physical stimulation through the crowd. From Peter Gunn to Xavier Morel, to the much celebrated D.A.V.E the Drummer, main stage thrived incessantly for a number of hours. The audiovisual set up was formidable, the Funktion One sound deep and tangible from any position (apart from a few moments throughout the weekend where the sound seemed to cut out entirely). While lasers may have been in short supply, huge spotlights spun patterns as they were projected out into the night, emitting beams strong enough to signal any other intelligent life in this solar system – or at least those in the next town. Flowing patterns were projected over the main stage tent and the towers either side off, snapping suddenly from one color scheme to the next, inducing hallucinatory experiences through technological trickery.

As the sky lightened, the main act Juno Reactor took to the stage. Though their contribution to the scene can be admired, their performance didn’t seem appreciated by all. A large factor may have been the fact that it was indeed more a performance than a rendition of the heart racing beats that the crowd was craving, melding ethnic MCing and opera-esque vocals with live drumming and beats that seemed to come out of the speakers flat. Needless to say a lot of people moved towards the chunkier progressive beats of mainstage, while I chose to ascend to the lip of the crater again to partake of one of the most incredible sunrises I’ve ever witnessed. Ochre, orange and magenta tinged the fragments of the grey clouds that were left overhead, as perfectly defined shafts of light crept through the trees and began to drip slowly across the bowl of the crater, the driving verve of S.U.N Project on mainstage spun a perfect soundtrack to the start of my Sunday.

Most of that morning and early afternoon was spent bouncing around, enjoying the first full day of summer weather we had had all weekend, eating watermelon slices and generally sun worshipping. Robert Babicz’ afternoon performance on mainstage breathed new life into the dancefloor diehards yet to take a rest, the bass of Dark Flower blossoming into a new definition of the term bounce, while warm synths and undeniable melodies wafted throughout the floor along with a fierce wind. The theme of deep and unrelenting tech was continued perfectly by Jerome Isma-Ae, whose set put the proverbial icing on the cake for a weekend many will never forget.

Indeed, weekends like this don’t come too often. Many people spend months planning for them, setting aside the money, getting time off work, organizing equipment. Some travel considerable distances. It is for this reason that so much controversy has arisen from the fact that the majority of this year’s international lineup failed to come to fruition, despite being avidly advertised for months. It should be remembered that Visual Paradox, James Monro, Insomnia, Gataka, Bog, Lish, Protoculture, Vibrasphere, Ticon, Electric Universe, Sesto Sento and Brisker & Magitman, among others, did not perform. This goes beyond the extremes of ‘management reserves the right’ and ‘due to circumstances beyond our control’. Whether the cause of these cancellations was managerial mistake, promoter rivalry, artists themselves pulling out – it doesn’t matter. The point is that no official effort was made to communicate the truth of the situation until people had already arrived at the gate. 98 per cent of the people who went probably enjoyed their weekend considerably, but it’s also certain that many people were also thoroughly disappointed by certain aspects. It’s a disappointing blight on the reported last ever Earthcore Global Carnival, and an event that was otherwise a spectacular experience for everyone involved.