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Blessed with prime weather, Perth’s Good Vibrations experience began at Heirisson Island, a dust and dirt fiend’s paradise. There was always going to be cues, crowds, erratic behaviour by fluro clad youths, fried food and overpriced drinks. But it’s the music we were there for, right?

Perth electro-pop outfit Electric Limousine played early in the day. Fronted by petite Mia Sonos, whose voice, evocative of Portishead, filled the air with funky yet haunting melodies, welcoming to the mass crowds streaming onto the Island. Even from the early hours of the festival, the Laundry Stage, complete with bird cages suspended from the roof top, was packed. This was not a place for the claustrophobic. Nonetheless, punters continued to fill the floor, sampling beats from local DJ Micah to Finland’s Rico Tubbs.

You would think considering the ample helping of loose earth floating about the venue, it would not be the ideal place for a picnic. Yet many, shielding from the sun and conserving valuable raving energy found solace under trees and tents, proving it takes more than a bit of filth to prevent people from chilling out. Grammy nominated artist Sam Sparrow strutted his stuff back on the main stage with a cover of Cut Copy’s Lights and Music, which was a definite crowd pleaser, and also sung his hit Black and Gold.

For those needing a break from throbbing electro beats, The Pharcyde provided plenty of relief after an introduction by none other than MC freestyle sensation Supernatural, opening with a superb rendition of the classic tune Runnin.

A huge drawcard, Sydney based duo The Presets, jam-packed the main stage at around 7 pm. At this point I know all the shorties in the crowd were thankful for the large screens flanking both sides of the stage – either that, or the many willing, strong-shouldered men dotted around the grounds – as attempting to make your way to the front for a better view was festival suicide. Presets played a string of hits from albums Beams and 2008’s ARIA acclaimed Apocalypso, their selections included Talk Like That, My People, This Boy’s in Love and Anywhere.

Those of us lucky enough to be at the Roots stage around 8.00 were serenaded by the legendary Q-Tip. The Q got the crowd jumping, swaying, and even singing ‘happy birthday’ to his manager at the end of his set.

If you listened to the hype from previous Vibes shows this year you would have known there were really only two places to be towards the end of the night – the Laundry Stage, to see dance music master Deadmau5 and breaks duo Stanton Warriors, or Roots Stage, to get an ample dose of quality live drum and bass from Roni Size Reprazent. Neither stage disappointed keeping the party cranking right to the end. On the other hand, reports from the main stage at this time told me that ‘Trainwreck 101’ was in session, and was to be avoided at all costs. No surprises there.

The absence of police and sniffer dogs was surprising, however understandable, and difficult as it is to gauge what effect the ill outcome of Perth’s recent Big Day Out festival had on these punters, the atmosphere was pleasant and crowd was generally well behaved. As the sun set on the last Good Vibrations festival for 2009, our ears throbbed and our wallets were empty, those who didn’t have Monday morning commitments partied on, but I suspect for most it was about time for a good scrub and sleep.

Happy Good Vibrations, see you all next year.