With overcast skies, puddles and mud, this year was a stark contrast to the last Future Music Festival. The terrain in parts seemed much more like you would experience at an Enchanted Rave out at Port Gawler. Well, not exactly. There was much more colour in the landscape, nearly as much fluoro attire and a whole lot more alcohol to be found.

The Garden of Unearthly Delights at the end of Rundle Street provided a great landscape again for an event of such capacity. Other than Big Day Out, Adelaide hasn’t had a festival of this size that really competes.

This day was definitely catering to many tastes, however it still seemed geared towards an ‘electro’ crowd – although local legends Loot N Plunder pulled out some dubstep to finish their set, which was well received by those who know and love it.

The Likes of You stage was definitely one of the highlights for music. Dubfire played a smasher of a techno set, a standout particularly for the older crowd who have soaked up the techno-vibes since the early ‘90s. Sven Vath also impressed many with his banging tech-house styles and flamboyant behaviour.

It seems only appropriate that the Solid Gold Roller Disco had Adelaide’s local gods keeping the funky vibes going. Driller and HMC were in charge of busting out the beats to help people try to not fall over as they went round and round. It was a great addition to the typical stage set-up, and along with the Silent Disco, it had a line for entry the entire day.

The Pink Flamingo stage was definitely the place for the HQ young’ns. Does It Offend You, Yeah? impressed, and the colourfully-costumed Empire of the Sun provided something to sing along to. On the main stage, David Guetta drew a very big crowd, busting out all his hits like When Love Takes Over, Memories, Delirious and Sexy Bitch.

But everyone was really there for the rave legends, The Prodigy. The stage was very hard to get close to, with everyone being packed in like sardines. This was more a mosh-pit than a dancefloor; in fact, dancing was barely possible. Further back the sound was rather dull, and close in you were squished.

That said, the band still delivered. Pulling out all their Fat Of The Land classics, they also drew from the newer album, and finished on one of their earliest classics, Out Of Space. Although I couldn’t get in as close as I would have liked, you could tell that these boys were a little tired – not giving quite as lively a performance as at the Big Day Out last year – but the energy of the songs are unmistakable. Again, kudos to Future Music for bringing legends from the past alongside the new crop of talent.