Last Sunday the Melbourne weather was kind enough to let the sun shine all day (that is until it became night time, obviously), and give punters a chance to soak up the rays, sounds and vibes of Sidetracked 2009, the official music festival/event which coincides with the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.

Slightly different from previous years, the 2009 event featured only the one main stage, most-likely to curb the crosstown traffic of competing stages and music. But not even the loud sounds of electro house could match the force and intensity of not only the formula 1 race cars (which sounded like hyperactive mosquitoes on steroids), but a pre-race aerial show featuring jet planes presumably breaking the sound barrier, and also my eardrums (stupid me without my earplugs).

Among Sunday’s lineup were locals Nick Foley and Generik, Hook N’ Sling, John Course and Goodwill, who all started and sustained a thumpin’ house vibe from set to set, so much so they were practically indistinguishable from each other. Instead of criticising, I’m choosing to spin this in the positive direction and say uniformity at an event like this is key. It keeps everyone’s aural palette in check without jarring differences in sound or style to snap people out of the steady head and finger-nodding vibe that was slowly, but surely, creeping up. The only downside is that I often heard the same songs being repeated at different times of the day by different DJs (a house remix of Fatboy Slim’s Rockafeller Skank was played at least two or three times). Personal musical highlights that made me cheesy smile from ear-to-ear? House remixes of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game and Foo Fighters’ Best Of You (the Foo are my favourite band of all time).

Second-to-last DJ to hit the stage was the one and only international guest for the day, legendary English DJ Seb Fontaine. For a man who has had residencies at some of the biggest clubs in London and Ibiza, having him spin a set at the Melbourne Grand Prix of all places was a neat surprise, especially considering he was a last minute addition. Seb kept in line with the dominant sound of the day and pumped out nothin’ but house, crankin’ it up a few notches as the crowd finally swelled in front of the stage (the race was over at this point). Seb also served as a potent warm-up act to Oz’s own Sneaky Sound System, who came out and owned the day with a steady and blistering live performance, punctuated by the mint vocals of Connie Mitchell (AKA “Feyonce”, I love that name).

Despite vendors once again fleecing well-to-do punters with exorbitant drink prices (the beer prices were reasonable, but the spirits…? Not so much), a beautiful loungey day turned into a beautiful energetic night with a steady and consistent soundtrack courtesy of some of Oz’s finest (and Mr. Fontaine). To illustrate how nice of an event it was, it’s almost 5 days after the fact and I still have no idea who won the race. I didn’t manage to get…SIDETRACKED and distracted by the cars and fanfare (Oh! Journalistic excellence is still alive and well, my friends!). Tho I know the Melbourne crowd won overall for being treated to an awesome day of tunes, booze and grooves.