The long awaited day of Parklife dawned on Adeliade with a promising glimmer of sunshine peaking through the clouds and a ripple of enthusiasm evident from one million (not exaggerating) Facebook statuses and tweets. The brilliant line-up made up for the fact that as usual Adelaide got short changed with the festival scheduled on a Monday, and the excitement was tangible as thousands of youths spilled through the Botanic Gardens to the first festival of the party season.

Unfortunately the day started off with a disappointment, as signs posted outside and around the festival informed us that La Roux would not be performing due to Illness. There were audible tantrums as people lining up heard about the late withdrawal, which I hope was justified because it left a lot of people upset and angry and might have lost the duo a few fans.

But as for acts that did show up, there was no doubt that Art vs Science had captured the early crowd at the Air Stage, with a huge mass of people using their flippers to get down to the indie rock sounds belted out by the Sydney trio including their hit Parlez Vous Francais.

Next I wandered over to the fire stage to watch Bertie Blackman’s Sneaker Set. I still don’t know what a Sneaker Set is, but you couldn’t help but appreciate Blackman’s ability to tug the heart strings, translating moving lyrics of songs such as Thump with powerful vocals whilst jumping around stage with a guitar like a true rock star.

I fought my way to the front of the air stage to catch Busy P, whose charisma made everything he played or said a hit. His mere presence seemed to attract the crowd, dancing around onstage with a security vest and bottle of champagne during Erol Alkan’s set. If that’s how you play host at a festival, sign me up!

My first foray into the water stage’s tent for the day brought me up close and personal with British songstress Little Boots, I was literally glued to the front of the stage for her entire set. There seemed to be some issues with her earpiece during Stuck On Repeat as she tried to adjust it and was slightly out of time at first, but the problem was soon resolved and was a minor issue in an otherwise flawless set.

One disappointment on the day was Crystal Castles. Lead singer Alice Glass looked the part, with thick eyeliner and black hair contrasting against her pale skin, but the set basically consisted of her screaming over a backing vocal track and a synth.

Choosing between Tiga and A-Trak for the closing set of the festival was impossible, so I divided my time equally between the two acts. Tiga started his set on the Air stage with his original track What You Need, capturing the attention of a fairly large crowd immediately; however there were sound issues and screeching feedback from the speakers made the audience and the artist cringe.

In the tent of the Water stage A-Trak played a fairly commercial set, but his skill on the decks was evident, especially as (according to his twitter) he was playing with a broken mixer. Highlight was the Jack Beats remix of Mars by Fake Blood, mostly because I’d never heard it before. As it was now dark, the visual side of the water stage took its full effect, with the dazzling lights playing off the roof of the tent and framing the stage.

If I wrote about every good act I’d have to publish a series of short novels, so we’ll wrap this up with some honourable mentions. First one goes to Yacht Club DJs, for ripping off their tops, dancing on the decks and crowd surfing in a rubber dinghy. Next goes to Metric for causing a girl at the front of the crowd to scream the lyrics to Monster Hospital so loud I thought she was going to pass out. And finally, Erol Alkan, for playing an amazing electro set, made all the better with Tiga, A-Trak, Busy P and numerous other artists standing behind him like a veritable dance music mafia.

Parklife 2009’s success lay in its beautiful Botanic Gardens setting, mix of musical genres and the enthusiasm of its patrons. It’s clear that Fuzzy have put a lot of work into its organization and I look forward to them bringing the festival back to Adelaide in the years to come.