Harbourlife @ Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Sydney (21/11/09)
- Martin Solveig
- Stanton Warriors
- Bag Raiders
- Holy Ghost!
- Harbourlife
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Leave it to Bag Raiders and Martin Solveig to save Harbourlife this year – but only just!! Despite temperatures sitting around the 39 degree mark in Sydney on Saturday an excited crowd was flooding Mrs Mac’s Chair for what should have been one of Sydney’s greatest events of the summer. Harbourlife has been renowned for its well chosen line up, fantastic setting and lack of overcrowding in previous years. Unfortunately it fell short this year leaving most punters wondering why they hadn’t stayed at the beach and arrived early evening for the final acts.
I look forward to Harbourlife every year for many reasons. One of them being the location. Set against the back drop of the world’s most beautiful harbour it is a great opportunity to soak in the Sydney atmosphere whilst listening to some of the best music this industry produces. Holding only 6,000 people, Mrs Mac’s Chair in the Botanical Gardens sets the tone for a fantastic day of huge sounds and an atmosphere that is hardly rivalled by any other event. You aren’t battling the 30,000 crowds that storm events like Parklife and Field Day leaving you room to move and hang out in a comfortable space. The line up is usually massive and you can be sure you will have tired legs by the end of the day after a serious dance session. There is a certain flow that goes with the day and I have always had a ball – as have all the other party people who will talk about it for weeks afterwards.
This year however, Harbourlife lost its momentum and I wondered what it was that had sent this usually huge event spiralling into the inconsistent mess it turned out to be. The day had started out fantastic with Illya sending out some great vibes that suited the afternoon’s heat and crowd. Nice easy tunes that we were all willing to put up with the scorching suns rays to have a dance to. He has an amazing energy that transfers from decks to dance floor with grace and infectious groove. Loving his imagination and obvious love of his craft this infectious DJ was a perfect start to the day. In hindsight it would have been great to have him do another set as I am sure most would have loved to have heard him more than once.
I shot up to the Treetop Stage to hear The Alcohotlicks and sit in a purple banana chair with a cool drink & a Three Minute Angel giving me a massage. However, there was no sign of this jazz / rock influenced trio. Checking my program again I new I had the right time and the right area – what happened? Where were they? No matter though, The Swiss were dominating the Main Stage and their disco influence with a funky 80’s backdrop sounded great. We were all happy to hear their set whilst sipping on cocktails in the shade while punters were grooving in the heat below.
Whilst I understand the need to mix things up a bit in terms of set up – moving the Treetops Stage to the top of the hill adjacent to the main stage probably wasn’t the best move Fuzzy have made. As Virna Sanzone grabbed the mike and began her set it clashed terribly with the sounds below and became a mish mash in the airwaves. Soulful sounds mixed with hard disco really did not go well and after a while it just became a clash of noise. I dare say that Ben Fink, Katalyst & Steve Spacek and Uncle Funky would have had the same issues and it would not surprise me if they came away a little disgruntled. Paying $6 for a cold bottle of water was a little rude also. There were water stations where you could refill with warm water that tasted like the plastic hose it came out of was of little consolation.
K.I.M. of The Presets fame was on next and the crowd let out a massive cheer. If anyone thought the same thumping style of music was about to be played they were mistaken. The disco influence was running high this afternoon and K.I.M. was no exception. Now I am not sure if it was the heat or the lack of huge tunes but the crowd started to lose interest about here and things started to get messy. There was no consistency to the set and as the dance became a sway and then stopped altogether while punters tried to find other things to entertain themselves. The “uplifting” moments that really bring a crowd together were few and far between. This rang true for Beni also. This DJ is famously know for his part in Riot In Belgium and has been releasing singles under the Kitsune label for some time. I must say however that the tunes again were few and far between and although cheers were being thrown in his direction I think they were out of sheer desperation for a great sound that lasted longer that a few minutes than anything else.
Unfortunately The Stanton Warriors weren’t much better and were probably the low point of the day. Even die- hard fans were finding it hard to get into them. I am usually an appreciative fan of theirs, but today not so much. I have no idea what direction they thought they were going in or what they were hoping to achieve but to be honest they failed dismally. The shrieking electro sounds and misguided high level bass in the end became not only boring but extremely irritating to say the least. Completely annihilating Riverside didn’t help their cause and neither did the shots of the Good Vibrations. In the end “get off” and “next” could be heard from dissatisfied punters. This in turn sent an already restless crowd into a conundrum of wandering, sweaty bodies looking for something or somewhere to dispel their energy. Ok so I know the majority of you will agree with me – no-one, especially us girls, likes seeing over muscled, shirts off, gold laden beef cakes wandering around intimidating an already unsettled crowd. Get off the roids boys and put your shirts back on!! (insert crowd cheer here). For the first time in the 4 years I have loved Harbourlife I began to watch people leave and even considered it myself for a moment or two.
Party people were looking to the stage for some kind of relief from the inconsistent crud we had been listening to for the past couple of hours. Thank God Bag Raiders came when they did! Their massive tunes Fun Punch and Turbo Love really set the precedent for the rest of their set and the crowd’s curiosity was sparked once again. Leave it to these two to reunite a dance floor, eh! Eventually we all started to bust out once again and enjoy the day for what it should have been. Punters started to come down from the trees to enjoy the day, have a dance and listen to some great performances.
As you can well imagine by now the long awaited Martin Solveig graced the decks right on time and the crowd went nuts. Now here is a DJ worth his weight in gold. Responsible for huge hits like Everybody, Jealousy, Something Better and Rejection this Frenchman had us eating out of the palm of his hand within minutes and from the stairs the dance floor looked like a pumping heartbeat. His set had something for everyone, Funky House, Disco, Electro House, Drum and Base, Breaks – it was a sound extravaganza. N.E.R.D and Beastie Boys were thrown in for good measure and his version of Riverside raised the roof – if there was one! – and was played as it should be. Thank heavens for a DJ who reads a crowd, understands his responsibility as a performer and in the end was worth waiting for. The cheers and whistles of the crowd reiterated my thoughts and I knew he saved the day.
As I made my way home I wondered what it was that had made Harbourlife fall off the shelf? Was it the lack of imagination from most of the artists? In their efforts to become different and engage a crowd they completely lost connection with those who are paying to connect with them? Is it due to the fact that there are so many dance parties these days that the truly great DJs and performers are stretched to capacity and the other acts are just “fillers” until the headliners don the decks? It is an interesting thought I have to say. Sydney’s party people are spoilt for choice when it comes to dance parties but does that mean we are sacrificing quality in an effort to stand out in the overloaded party scene? I am yet to be impressed this year with any of the big festivals this season. After a while they all start to roll into one – I guess we need to lump Harbourlife into the “standard” pile this time. What a shame, but there’s always next year.
BlackCasper says...
I thought it was a tops day with great music. Better than last year when the temperature was only 16 degrees%u2026.
naan bread says...
Too much attention to "Riverside" here... it's a rubbish track, regardless of what version is played.
The3rdPlumpDj says...
what? stantons were crap & ppl were saying 'get off'?? i doubt that very much, can anyone verify?
AbiBrinks says...
From where me and my girls were shaking it, Stanton's dirty bass was doing it for us. and yeh, riod boys: go sweat somewhere else
dolemite says...
Slidingdoors i think your being generous... That was the worst festival i have ever been too. The DJing from about 3pm onwards was very poor. No one showed any consistency. Solveig didnt have a particulary good day on the decks.... he was just the least rotten out of a bad bunch. I must say i fear for the long term success of fuzzy festivals in their current form. Its not good enough to wheel out the same DJ's year after year and have the day bomb like that one did. Festival tickets are expensive and the day is expensive (drinks, etc). They may think everything is ok right now because they are selling out their festivals... But they are still trading on reputation. Add to that the amount of fights (i dont remember fights occuring at festivals pre-2006??) and steroid using w*nkers who have invaded these events..... It's just too much. Very poor effort from fuzzy... Personally, i've had enough after saturday, and will not be attending any future fuzzy festivals again. The only real festival this season looks like it will be Future....
damdamodam says...
Solveig rocked it ok when he stayed away from the cheese! the justice accapella over the end of deadmau5's ghosts n stuff was a highlight as was hearing erol alkan/boyz noize song "waves". Could have done with a little less Dizzee rascals greatest hits though. Not really sure where fuzzy is going with the recycling thing. At $12.50 for a spirit you'd think they could afford to pay someone to recycle it at the end of the night. Unless its a social awareness thing they're trying to promote.
cableguy2004 says...
Having been to the last three, this was definitely the worst of the bunch in terms of music. Having seen the Stanton warriors earlier this year in the UK where they killed it i was pretty disappointed. Having said all this, the festival was 10x better than Stereosonic which sucked SO bad
ACHE4DANCE says...
despite this being a bad reveiw, i would probably want to go next year!