Sidetracked Day One @ Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne (28/03/09)

Two years ago I had the pleasure of playing on turn four at the Grand Prix at Albert Park. Things were different back then, the crowd probably only numbered around a hundred and the food and drink was free, as were the manicures, pedicures and facials. The sound system was so small that it was pointless playing music when the Formula One cars were on the track. This time around things were a little different.

At Sidetracked the sound system was big enough to drown out the F1 cars, the crowd was much, much bigger, and the food and drinks were certainly not free! The big difference from your usual dance event, of course, was that this one was situated right on turn four of the Australian Grand Prix. The music was commercial, vacillating between pop dance bands and DJs playing mash-ups of Top 40 tracks. The crowd was a lot more diverse than the average Future dance event crowd as well, in fact I’d hazard a guess that a lot of the punters had probably never heard of Future Entertainment, let-alone been to one of their parties before.

For what it’s worth, though, Sidetracked was pretty good value. For only $10 more than the cost of a general admission ticket to the Grand Prix you got a prime viewing point of the track, easy access to bars and toilets, a big screen, and non-stop bands and DJs all day long. The cheesy music was understandable, as the assembled crowd weren’t there to be educated, they were there to watch the race and maybe have a bit of a dance afterwards. Apart from the occasional scuffle from riled up punters, the atmosphere was generally pleasant, and there were certain moments in the day where the pumping beats, coupled with the roar of the engines, was somewhat of a heady mix.

Sidetracked is what it is. If you are looking for a dance music festival and you don’t like Formula 1 cars all that much, then don’t bother. If you are partial to the Grand Prix and want to spend a little extra cash to have a guaranteed view of the track, access to a big screen and relatively short waits for the bar, then you can’t fault this one for value for money.