September has meant one thing to Australian festivalgoers for over ten years now, and that is the arrival of festival season, with Fuzzy events bringing Parklife back once again in 2011.

Known for bringing a plethora of talented performers from a wide range of genres, they certainly didn’t disappoint in 2011. Dubstep fans were salivating at the news of Magnetic Man, Nero, Joker and MC Nomad all arriving for the one festival. Branching out into other genres, Example, Adrian Lux, Duck Sauce, Lykke Li, Little Dragon, Gossip and The Streets (in what is slated as their final performances ever) were sure to bring fans in their thousands.

Arriving to Wellington Square around 2pm, it was clear that many other fans had opted to arrive early in the day, with lines stretching as far as the eye could see. Be it to catch the oh-so-soulful Kimbra or indie dance act The Naked and Famous, it seemed everyone was determined to make a big day of it.

Opting for the latter of the abovementioned acts, we sauntered across to the Sahara Stage to bask in the sun, and the infectious tuned provided to us by the Auckland five-piece. A rousing rendition of Punching in a Dream, complete with crowd sing a long ended their set nicely and paved the way for The Aston Shuffle’s new live show to kick off. Call me old-fashioned, but I didn’t take as well to their live show as well as most, myself preferring their talents behind the CDJs instead. I found they lost a lot of feeling and energy, and their set just didn’t flow as well as I have become as accustomed to from Aston Shuffle gigs in the past.

Next up was pre-pubescent looking Swede Adrian Lux, who to most punters was simply the guy who did Teenage Crime . He played a very solid early afternoon set, the light drizzle and glistening sun providing a perfect back drop to his infectious tunes. Of course the loudest cheers were reserved for when Teenage Crime was dropped, but I was really impressed with the quality of his set; definitely one of my favourite of the day.

Example followed up on the Kakadu Stage and so did a huge crowd. The London producer/frontman instantly had them all moving in unison, whilst commanding his backing band through a string of hit tracks and lesser-known tunes to bring some much needed energy to the slightly dampened crowd. His live version of his and Skream’s track Shot Yourself in the Foot Again was fantastic and had the crowd jumping up and down in perfect unison during the verse, only to simultaneously lose their shit when the drop came.

Unfortunately for electro wonder Wolfgang Gartner, famous for tracks like Wolfgangs 5th, Illmerica and Animal Rights with Deadmau5_ , the majority of Examples fans disappeared from the Kakadu stage, pursuing other acts, leaving my group of friends, along with a fairly intimate crowd to enjoy his banging set. It was a shame that his hour’s performance wasnt witnessed by more people because my god does this guy know how to get you moving.

Infectious tunes, killer mash-ups, un-heard remixes and Wolfgang’s signature blips and noises made for an awesome hour. Unfortunately his set ended way to quickly, but there was no time to dwell on the past as it was time to move onward and upwards – to Feed Me we go!

Catching the last five minutes of Joker and MC Nomad made me realise I had missed another potentially amazing set as they finished very strongly and left punters everywhere dripping with sweat and sporting grins from ear to ear. However, as Feed Me started off with a bang, the fans that were leaving the Cave tent began feeding back in (pun intended) to listen to what perhaps one of the lesser known acts of the early evening had to offer.

Feed Me made his way through a range of his electro and dubstep tunes, each one more explosive and catchy as the last, building to a sensational finish, which even included an electro remix of a Nero tune which set the scene for the next act to hit this stage, whom a large portion of people had camped at the very front of The Cave to see the London dubstep heavyweights (or in this case, one half of the duo Daniel Stephens) up close and personal. Perhaps the biggest cheer/sing-along moment was brought about by Me and You about two-thirds of the way through their set.

Facing the option of standing nearly a kilometre from the stage for Magnetic Man or getting relatively up close for Duck Sauce, the commercial sucker in me won out and we trekked back to the Sahara Stage to end the night. In a word, Duck Sauce were disappointing at best. Despite a touching mid-set tribute to DJ Medhi, there were little highlights in a 75 minute set that was plagued with audio problems which looked more human error than technical problems.

It seemed to me that A-Trak and Armand Van Helden whilst being accomplished producers and peformers on their own just didnt gel as a duo and seemed a bit lost on stage. Of course, they ended the night with Barbra Streisand, fading in and out throughout the song to let the crowd sing along. It was a predictable finish to an uninspiring set.

Fuzzy events never disappoint in their ability to draw big acts and this year was no exception. The crowd was relatively peaceful, drink lines were short for most of the day, their recycling policy with $1 refunds for empties was ingenious, and my only real complaint was the 45 minute wait for toilets which saw a lot of guys opting for the fences as opposed to the urinals. A small qualm that didn’t affect my opinion of this kick-off to the festival season.