Nothing like capping off a long weekend than at a festival. Extra day to booze/recover and a day less playing office wars. Anyway, onto the recap…
After catching the end of Ian Carey the first artist on the list of “to sees” was Grandmaster Flash which I have to say was a bit of a downer. BLASPHEMY! I know you’re probably thinking, “OMGWTFBBQ?! He’s trippin’!”, but I’m dead set on that opinion. Grandmaster’s set was so scattered/start-stop and forever filled with hip-hop preaching… Play the tunes and Melbourne will put it hands up and bounce!
Next up was Lifelike and now that was freekin’ awesome. Ok, I confess I have a soft spot for the French especially when they’re running through the Modular/Oz indie/electro playlist. Cutters, Presets, Ladyhawke… They all made a cameo. Oh and Whitest Boy Alive! I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of Fred Falke’s remix of ‘Golden Cage’ that and Stardust… To be honest though, it didn’t look like Lifelike was enjoying himself. A stark comparison to Grandmaster who loved his own show and banter. So while my original plan was to see Mr Oizo set straight after Lifelike’s, I decided to play the good friend card and agreed to head over to see the Swedish House Mafia in preparation for Pharrell Will.. I mean N.E.R.D… Besides, Oizo was playing at Roxanne’s later that night…
So how was the Mafia you may ask? Pretty good actually. A bit “commercial” for my liking but hey, it got the crowd moving and I was pretty sure Pryda and the ‘mau5 got dropped. Oh, and I heard ‘Show Me Love’ for probably the 3rd time that day… Little did I know that tiny gripe would pale in comparision to the aural onslaught I’d get when N.E.R.D got on stage… Crackin’ sound you say? Not likely… The wind did a good job of shifting the sound away from the grandstands. No, my ears were deafened by the sheer number of female punters shrieking like 12 year olds when Pharrell was on stage. It was a scene out of those archival Beatles concert news reels except with less skirt and more skin…
So after N.E.R.D our next stop was Joachim Garraud but that meant a walk through Punch-ONz alley… Apparently some poor gal got push down three flights on the grandstand by some dick and then all hell broke loose. Seriously?! WTF?! People!!! Our crew also discovered that the audio sweet spot was just past the inthemix tent when we heard Oakenfold set crystal clear… Oh well… But enough of that, Joachim was awesome. Well, he did rock out with a keytar and I’m biased to that haha! Oh and he also dropped a bit of ‘One More Time’ which is always = WINNER in my book. Bit of bias to French Touch? I sure do! Haha!
I feel bad now saying it, but the next hour really was just filler till Etienne involving CSS and Richie Hawtin considering how great they both are. Oh and Lovefoxxx, Lovefoxxx! That feisty Lovefoxxx! Yep, huge crush on that halfie haha! Damn it! Anyway… Finally, the highlight and pretty much what I was anticipating all night… Etienne de Crécy’s cube! So freekin’ awesome! The tent was packed, the crowd was sweating and dancing away. It was like a BDO Boiler Room! Ah the memories…
Roxanne’s was pretty sweet with Nick Foley and Generik doing a great job of revving up the crowd before Mr Oizo got on. Chardy I’m told was alright too. So yeah Oizo rocked and by near the end of that I was pretty much dunzos for the day/night. Hometime!
So kids, that’s it really… Go Future! Go Etienne! I guess now’s a better time than ever for all of the shout outs:
- Mindos – You hooking me up with a Future tix was so much better than me getting you a tix to St Jerome’s…
- A-to-the-N-to-the-YO! – Great assistant paparazzo work. Hurry up and get that damn SLR already!
- Lee – Onstage/backstage to snap Etienne was a real buzz
- Anth and Farz – Cheers for letting me recoup at your place before Roxanne’s
- Crevs & Lukey – Dedication to kick on at Roxanne’s and for the schmick ride home
