So. I hear there were some unlucky people in the eastern states who missed out on big chunks of We Love Sounds due to overcrowding? They should have come to Adelaide – there was pleeeeenty of space! I think I was one of the many people who were ever so pleased to hear that WLS was going to be held indoor at The Royal Adelaide Showgrounds instead of the packed out mudfest that was 2009’s Bonython Park. I can’t say whether the large amount of empty space was due to dwindling numbers of keen festival goers or whether it was just the sheer size of the venue. Either way, it suited me just fine. I never had to wait in a line for more than 10 seconds and always had a nice wide personal dancing space radius. I did feel a little sorry, however, for the guys at the Bang Gang Stage who seemed to only have one or two people to play to for most of the day. Yikes!

I had a great day catching Seth Troxler who I’ve been wanting to see for a while. He dropped some pretty sweet tracks which seemed to go down well with the rather modest audience who stayed to check him out. Zombie Nation followed on with their trademark mix of acidy techno, and while it was a decent set methinks there were many punters just hanging out for Kernkraft 400. Admittedly, it was cool to hear it live.

Though Crookers have been no strangers to Adelaide festivals in the last couple of years, thanks to conflicting set times, this was the first time I got to check them out. It was certainly one of the busier sets that I caught, with the audience loving their electro tunes. I have a feeling there may have been a few very confused fluoro-wearing people when they dropped a bit of dubstep into their set. Dubstep and Crookers are not two words I’d expect to hear uttered in the same sentence, but it was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise and pretty indicative of the current surge in interest in the genre. Doctor P’s Sweetshop had me feeling really good about the set. Laidback Luke was a little uninspiring to this reviewer, but Dim Mak boss Steve Aoki put on a rather entertaining – if not commercial – set, highlighting there’s more to DJing than looking cool behind the decks. He also showed that the popularity of the Beetroot’s brain haemorrhage of Warp 1.9 certainly has not waned.

As I’m sure it was for many others, my highlight was electronic legends Underworld. It was a time warp back to a 90s rave cave, with the guys dropping absolute classics like 2 Months Off, Push Upstairs, their new track Scribble, and finishing an amazing set off with Born Slippy. They certainly showed why they’ve maintained their solid reputation for nigh on 20 years. I was a little upset to see that for the second year in a row, London Elektricity had the same set time as the headliner. A half hour crossover would’ve been nice!

I’ll be interested to see what the lineup looks like for next year due to quite a few repeat performances with ‘09 and ’10. Or even if it happens again in Adelaide with the whole “festival saturation” issue that seems to be bothering people at the moment. Despite the very, very modest crowd and kind-of strange vibe, it was a great day. At the least, I don’t think I’ll be forgetting Underworld’s set anytime soon.