Shame on all of you who thought anything but the best for this quirky concept of a festival. The best of weather, a bubbly crowd, fantastic music, and promoters who clearly had the punter’s best interests at heart. The name Days Like This couldn’t have been more appropriate and quite frankly, a few more like this wouldn’t hurt. The best of acts across all types of hip hop, funk, soul, jazz and house got love. Even the Fay Chan, all the way from Hong Kong, was in attendance.

One could easily get into the ‘first festival paranoia’ that was gripping people around these parts. In the lead up, ticket sales have been constantly discussed for the wrong reasons. Bogus acts have been ‘confirmed’ and advertised acts canned. Even the hope of a jumping castle was falsely thrown out there. Fugg that. Niche Productions and all the other savvy heads associated with this festival had a ridiculous lineup in place. They knew it, and judging by the turnout, so did the fans.

The Moore Park Showground has some colour to it after a few Smirnoffs. Alongside us are people going to the cricket, and I can’t help but feel I know something they don’t. Walking into the festival you see a very healthy queue of people still trying to buy tickets, you see plenty of smiles, and you feel the burn. It’s bloody hot.

On the Lawn Stage Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek are getting dub heavy. What a sweet little area this is tucked away at the back. Cosy stage, soft grass on the feet and lots of people content to just lie down for now. It’s early days. Let the beer hit them. Anyhow, such a quality, underrated duo but with the sub-sounds they sound more suited to a Cave Stage at this time of day. Sweet vibes, just a little early. Oh, and speaking of beer, there’s a bar with too many staff everywhere. It’s truly wonderful on such a hot day, and just in general, to wait no more than two minutes for a drink at the bar. When you’re surrounded by a good 7000 people that’s quite a feat. The downside? My wallet’s much, much lighter today. Food waits for later.

All over it’s a little thin. The Main Stage is hosting Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & the Trueloves, and this guy has a voice. Drawing comparisons to Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, he is undeniably soulful. Lacking that recognisable audience song, his performance was still well accomplished. He must have been awfully hot in that suit though. It also gained plenty of exposure once Katalyst’s gig next door on the Forum Stage had ended, a man whose name alone was a good reason to arrive early.

So here I realise how easily I’ve gone from this stage to that. No hassles. And thank god. Thanks to the amount of good music on offer, Days Like This was just one big lineup clash, one big beautiful lineup clash, with people catching a little of one act before getting a peek of someone else and finally settling on a third great performance. All in the one hour. For hour after hour.

Detroit stalwart Waajeed had an indifferent day in the Forum. Strictly Detroit sounds during his DJ set, it tarted with some Dilla, mixed in his own crowd mover ‘Tron and crept towards tech, but lacked punch for mine. Returning later with the live version of his group Platinum Pied Pipers, the highlight was clearly lead singer Coultrain. A showman with an incredible voice, he should soon be touring in his own right. Dressed splendidly in all white, their newer material went down surprisingly well. Their new album drops real soon and judging by this set, should be an absolute treat.

Waajeed’s was like many DJ sets during the day. On the larger Forum and Main stages these felt more like an interim performance than an artist showcase. The legendary Gilles Peterson would surely have been a better fit on the intimate Lawn. His quality mixed bag was lost on a vast, half-empty concrete Main Stage, having to compete with Atmosphere and A Guy Called Gerald. His side show at Sugarmill promised to be a better spectacle.

Unheralded African/Australian hiphop duo Killaqueenz completely outperformed the much hyped Morcheeba in the mid-afternoon. Their energetic set was one of the best of the day, with their song selection on point and the blessing of South Rakkas Crew to keep rocking a good 20 minutes after they were scheduled to finish. They turned it out in a big way.

Amidst plenty of sweet smoke, a constant all day, and a suddenly quite full crowd, Morcheeba kicked off about half an hour late on the Main Stage. From all reports this was one of the few lowlights of the day, and the way the Lawn stage was rocking we didn’t need to stick around. Canadian crew South Rakkas Crew have had a big couple of years and brought their sizable rep to the Lawn for some afternoon dancehall. Given a warmed-up dancefloor courtesy of the Queenz they hit the mark early with some of their own tracks and MIA’s Boyz before settling into a club hip hop mix.

A crowd had built in the Forum for DJ Vadim and Yarah Bravo, who are known for putting on an ill show. However, the numbers really swelled by the time the almighty Flying Lotus hit the stage. Believe the hype – this guy dropped a nasty set. So many big tunes. Of course, his own got a look in, with 1983 and Parisian Goldfish, which may be my song of ’08. His Mr Oizo/Madvillian mashup was warmly received, as were his Lil Wayne and Three 6 Mafia remixes. It was wonderful to hear Harmonic 313’s insane Dirtbox and in general, just great to see a heaving crowd loving such bizarre sounds.

Morcheeba put everyone on the Main behind time, Fat Freddy’s Drop included, so unfortunately we decided to check the food instead. Now, at no time do we wait for drinks, but the food stalls balance out our obligatory festival waiting time for us. The inclusion of Spanish cuisine is forward thinking, so typical of this festival. The 40 minute queue is quite at odds however, so we try our hand at the Chinese. Lo and behold, the girl at the front of queue is sick of waiting, so quite calmly walks up to the side of the tent where the fresh spring rolls are being kept, takes one and brings it back to us. Of course, she’s then immediately asked to order and does so with stolen spring roll in hand, even using it to point at what she’d like to eat. Days like this indeed.

The little we catch of that fine New Zealander Recloose is all cool, funky house and a nice warmup for the techier sounds that were to follow later on the Lawn. On our way to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings we come across the only miserable person in the place. I’m wondering if anyone else saw the guy on the icecream stand who worked alone for the whole day? He looked like the world was going to end, and my only guess is he was a cricket fan.

It’s amazing to look at my notes and rattle off quality name after name. Amongst this, Ms Jones really stood out. The woman is a great performer. With an amazing voice and relentless energy it feels like we’re being treated to a Marva Whitney show. With the Dap Kings and her working off basically no tune up, we get Sharon showing off her ‘Tina Turner strut’ before moving into a James Brown tribute and her classy How Do I Let A Good Man Down. When we aren’t dancing, we’re laughing. It feels staged, but this batty old man, a bit of a mover it must be said, is called on stage to dance a number with Jones, and he’s throwing change out of his pockets to the crowd. Cop that.

Night time is the right time. The big question looms: who do we see in the finishing slot? Public Enemy perhaps? It Takes A Nation… is the most classic of hiphop albums, but it’s just a little before our time. Still, legendary group. Carl Craig? The Lawn is the perfect setting and it’s now dark in the sky, perfect for his sound. Or Mr Scruff? Famous for his extended sets and eclectic selections, he could be worth a look too. Unsuprisingly, we have a peek at all of them.

Opinions have been mixed on Carl Craig’s appearances in Sydney but his placement on the Lawn Stage was wonderful, and the perfect way to end the night. After A Guy Called Gerald had got people going, Craig brought a pumping set that felt all too short. This was the largest dancefloor on the Lawn all day and the vibe was fantastic. Mr Scruff played an entertaining, fun set in the Forum. His projector side show was the definition of silly, playing instructions on how to make the perfect cup of tea and rolling some odd sandwich combinations for us to consider. Cucumber and seaweed anyone? The jazz tunes he was playing were definitely the most chilled of the three options to finish the night, and so we head outside to catch the end of Public Enemy.

To be honest, I’d questioned the headline pull of these guys, considering they had performed a sideshow only a week earlier. However, this extra show is just a testament to the popularity of the group after all these years. Fans were spotted throughout the day and the majority of the crowd piled into the Main stage. Word had got around that they were performing It Takes A Nation… in its entirety so anticipation was fairly high. Sound is a little quiet at the back but these things happen. Good news – Flava Flav still has it. Chuck D, ha, he’ll always have it. The stage is filled with a commotion of guys in khaki military gear and Don’t Believe the Hype is still slamming. All doubts about these guys have been obliterated.

The whole day has gone way too quick, but this was a fitting close to what was a tremendous day. Next year’s festival? Get your tickets, because when word spreads they’ll be no doubt about it going ahead. The perfect way to start the New Year, one wonders if there will be another day quite like this for the rest of 2009.