After eagerly and diligently monitoring my inbox for confirmation that I was going to grab the review for Perth leg of the Future Music Festival for ITM, my prayers were finally answered. Before I knew it, I was shoved in the back seat of my mate’s hatchback with four other people, all buzzing in excitement for this year’s stellar line-up.

As we began the trek from our car to the gate, we could see the crowds beginning to form out the front, including scantily clad boys and girls with their favourite DJ’s name written in Texta across their once-perfectly-good shirts.

I had been pushing my posse to be there in time to see Dubfire, but it wasn’t to be. The massive queue to get in left us getting periodically hosed down and herded towards the entrance by bouncers until around 5.00pm, when I finally burst into Ascot and ran for the Likes of You stage, only to catch the very end of his deep house rhythms.

Most of my mates are keen trance enthusiasts, so the Above & Beyond stage was quickly established as home base. It was undercover and paved, effectively neutralising sunstroke and dirt inhalation, two common foes of the festival punter. Not to mention that there was actually room to move without copping a mouthful of armpit hair. Seriously, the main stage side of Ascot would have been so densely packed that you could not get within 300-metres of the stage. That being said, it was going off like a carton of milk in that sea of flailing bodies.

But alas, yours truly was settling in at the other end of Ascot, getting acquainted with the sounds of Super8 and Tab, a pair of trance DJs whose set time got swapped with Jaytech’s at the last minute. The boys delivered a true festival trance set, keeping it pumping with just the right amount of dirty breakdowns and uplifting crescendos.

The clock struck seven and the dilemmas of clashing set times began. This year’s festival had so many must-see big name DJs that it was quite literally impossible to check them all out. This was made even more difficult due to the 15-minute walk from the main stage to the other end of Ascot.

Anyway, back to the tunes. I was standing outside having a beer and running into mates from festivals past when all of a sudden the undercover stage went berserk. Above & Beyond had taken to the decks. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from them in terms of providing a thumping energy-filled set, but I was pleasantly surprised. The boys delivered an absolutely epic three-hour set, with the crowd’s fists constantly pumping as the sounds changed from uplifting to progressive to deep and pulsing.

However, as much as I like my trance, I was there see the motherfucking Prodigy. I had caught them last year at Big Day Out and there was no way I was going to miss that spectacle again. As I moseyed on down to the other end of Ascot, I was a little early, so I decided to stick my head into the Likes of You tent to check out a certified legend of the game, John Digweed.

There is just something about listening to those veteran DJs. The way they bounce off the crowd’s reactions makes it seem like they are playing just for you. It also looked like there were dance music enthusiasts around this year who actually appreciated what the DJs were doing, with fluoro loser-dom kept to a minimum.

Just as I began to get lost in Digweed’s set, I snapped into the panicked realisation that it was nine-pm, and dived into the crowd in front of the main stage, digging my feet into the sand and preparing for the Prodigy. Not that I had to rush though, as the boys ending up keeping us waiting for about half an hour.

The crowd was starting to get restless; there was definitely a stir in the air. Then the stage lights rose up and the sound of synths filled the air. The crowd began to wind up as the Prodigy’s intro played, building to a sudden BOOM of fireworks, lights flashing, people thrashing around and the kick ass sound of Prodigy vibrating the entire racecourse.

The boys kept up the pace for the entire set, with all the old classics infused with the new, with a few massive dubstep remixes. At one point Keith Flint was screaming for a good 30 seconds during Firestarter, and I was so amped that I just plain wanted to punch something. Those guys are truly a one-of-a-kind act.

If the organisers can keep pulling line-ups like this one in years to come, Future Music Festival will be around for a long time.