In 2010, Foreshore proved a seriously top day. With a line up that rocked and weather just short of perfection, this day exceeded all my expectations.

I anticipated encountering serious problems with the line-up and set times. The five acts I was most interested in were playing between 2.30 and 5.45. You should never expect to see everyone at a day festival, but in my mind these five – Calvin Harris, Tiesto, Pharoahe Monch featuring Jean Grae, Major Lazer and Krafty Kuts – were all top billed international artists and it just seemed a little rude to bunch them so tightly together.

With the wristband finally fastened at 2pm, we made a quick left from the entrance toward the Kicks stage. After a short wait for the first round of drinks, bump straight into some core group friends [awesome] and then, bam, Calvin Harris opens with Flashback and Foreshore had begun. Standing a little way back we were nearly overrun by screaming punters bolting towards the stage – their excitement enthused me.

Staying for half the set we got to hear I’m Not Alone and Acceptable In The ‘80s. It would be hard to for Calvin Harris to go wrong with a DJ set – his songs are popular and all he really needs to do is play them and create a stage presence. This he did.

Revved up and ready to go, we headed over the Block Party Stage to see Pharoahe Monch and Jean Grae. First impression: the crowd wasn’t big enough. Disappointed. It was awesome that we had the freedom to dance and get up really close, but live hip-hop feeds off the audience, and there’s only so much noise a bunch of Anglo hipsters can make.

Pharoahe kicked off, causing a seizure of excitement. Everyone there was awesomely into it. Favourites included Oh No and Desire. The exceptional Jean Grae commanded the middle part of the set. Not being overly familiar with Grae, her talent and beauty were infallible, and her speed when rapping was particularly impressive. Pharoahe came back on to wind up the hour with Desire and Simon Says, naturally sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Short moment to gather ourselves and it was time to check out Tiesto. I’ve never listened to much Tiesto but when one of the world’s most revered DJs plays you gotta have a look, and seriously – no wonder. The quality of sound and technical brilliance was at once obvious. I think for the first time ever I really understood the attractiveness of trance. People were moving easily and it was not long before I too gave into the hypnotic pulse. The High Top stage during Tiesto was just a shit-load of fun. It was your typical festival atmosphere – everyone was playing and dancing together.

Time for more drinks on the way to catch Major Lazer wind up. For this round we chose to take advantage of the can-token exchange. Serious hats off for the adoption of this policy. The environment and our wallets benefited.

The crowd at the Kicks stage was going off to the final tracks of the Major Lazer set. The poppy dance beats were perfect for the light-hearted vibe traversing the festival. I must admit I was frustrated by the presence of Diplo and Switch at the festival without being able to hear them play solo – but their flawless combined act in no way disappointed.

Quick bolt back to the Block Party stage for the final 45 minutes of Krafty Kuts. Unfortunately we got there just as the set seemed to move from some very good breakbeat and jungle into Krafty’s more pop remix style. While it would have been good to hear more from the earlier parts of his set, he was still brilliant. The crowd was doing some serious boogying and singing along. For those that had been there the full time would have been relieved for the shift in pace, easing them gently back into the frenzied surrounds.

It was at this point around 6pm that there was a bit of a lull. After going for a walk around we hit up some more drinks and went to hang out at the Kicks stage. In true Canberra style we were bumping into people all over the place. Everyone was there and everyone was having a blast. People were relaxed and happy, the rain was holding off and summer had begun!

Miami Horror were up, and they rocked us out of our mid-festival recess. The crowd joined in with the band to wind up the set with Sometimes as the final rays of sun cut through the clouds. As it got darker during Art Vs Science, everything got comically seedier. The final couple of hours delimited was a choice between Aussie hip-hop and dubstep by way of Koolism, Diafrix and the tremendous Caspa; electro house at the High Top with Afrojack and Benny Benassi; and the superstar combo winding up the Kicks stage of Cut Copy and The Temper Trap. My aim was to see the full Cut Copy set, catch the beginning of Temper Trap and wind up with Caspa.

We worked our way easily up to the front for Cut Copy. Their set lasted the full time and was a beautiful amalgamation of their tracks old and new. The purple and blue back lights generated a hazy solemn atmosphere, while punters relaxed and enjoyed the mellow electro rock sounds. Winding up the set with the classic Hearts On Fire, it was sad to see Cut Copy depart from the stage.

Waiting for The Temper Trap up the front was a frustrating experience. While the changeovers weren’t expected to be instantaneous the program did have their set commencing at 9.30. When they didn’t come on until 10 I was annoyed I had missed that time listening to Caspa.

Catching their opening tracks before ducking off I got to hear Fader which was my personal favourite. It didn’t take me long to leave though because it did seem like there were some sound issues with the vocalist, including the possibility that he was a bit off key.

Quickly over to Caspa, the bass levels were at once enveloping and enlivening. Playing only with records, the sophistication of the dubstep was intense. With the due respect that is demanded by Caspa, unfortunately at this particular time I found the slow, hard dubstep uninteresting so decided to head back over to see the end of The Temper Trap.

Finishing their set 15 minutes early with Sweet Disposition, I got the impression that the band was behaving somewhat like divas. With The Temper Trap’s departure we scurried for the exit – Foreshore 2010 was over.

Foreshore 2010 was a fantastic day. I haven’t seen or spoken to anyone that was there who didn’t have a great time. That said, the day was definitely better than the night. This might be due to the slightly inverted set times – the DJs that played throughout the day would have been better suited to the night-time slots and vice versa.

This would have been impossible, of course, because those acts were playing at Stereosonic in the evening but maybe next time the line-ups shouldn’t be so heavily shared, despite how alluring the presence of the big name acts are. Well done Foreshore – good times and great memories.