Future Music Festival @Wellington Square, Perth(02/03/08)

Tue 4th Mar, 2008 in Gig Reviews

A collaboration by digital junglist and ashryn

Barely two years since rising from the ashes of the Two Tribes name, the Future Music Festival has quickly established itself as one of Australia’s premier electronic music events. While this year’s line-up of artists was impressive, punters were much less impressed with the hour-long queue in the sun at the gate. That aside, the organisers did an excellent job, plenty of space and shade available, with only short queues for toilets or food, but the small venue meant that noise pollution from stage to stage spoiled some of the mixes, but sometimes the crossover worked quite well.

Travis kicked off the day with a chilled session which gave anyone who was still chasing away their hangover from the night before, a chance to acclimatise to daylight and sobriety and get ready to do it all again. For those who had rested up in preparation for the big day, Micah vs Ben Mac warmed up the Future Funk Stage with tech-funk that had even the edge-sitters head nodding and foot stomping.

Meanwhile, Carl Kennedy had the Electro Splash stage up and jumping for a while, but he may have nodded off somewhere after the first hour, which was fine because it gave people a chance to run out to the toilets before Datarock took over.

In the Future Funk tent, breakbeat superstars Evil Nine twisted the decks with a diverse, high energy set. Known for incorporating a range of musical styles into their DJ sets, even Evil Nine could not have anticipated the crowd going completely beserk when they dropped Metallica’s Enter Sandman. Aesop Rock kept the party going in the by-now bulging tent, with many a shade seeker compelled to jump up and join in the madness.

On the Famous Stage, UK export The Shapeshifters played a lighter set than their last tour; but their beats perfectly matched the festival vibe. The climax of their set was an electro remix of Underworld’s Born Slippy. Of course. Must everyone have a go at this song? It was great, but then again, it was great to start with. Then, as the sunshine poured in, Eddie Halliwell served up an uplifting trance set and finished with a stage dive into his adoring fans.

At the main stage, Laidback Luke kept the beat going for a two hour set and watched the pit gradually fill with people who were getting into position to dance away the next four and a bit hours waiting to see the main act of the day. A good chunk of people who ducked out of Carl Kennedy’s set intending to go back later to see Datarock got distracted by Digweed’s relentless set, and by the time they realised they had been sidetracked, had missed the relatively short set in the Electro Splash tent.

Black Ghosts slid in at exactly the shoe throwing time of a festival, when thongs snap and feet get just too sweaty to stand any longer. One by one, dancers got fed up with their shoes (or perhaps the mix) and tossed them at the small crush of dancers spinning in the pretty lights at the front.

Legendary DJ/producer Roger Sanchez worked the decks at sunset, raising the bar even higher. The sweaty crowd were given no relief as Sanchez’s trance-house grooves thundered from the speakers. Despite many wandering towards the main stage at the end of Sanchez’s set, Markus Schulz closed the Famous Stage in style with a hi-energy and techy-trance set that surpassed everyone’s expectations. What his crowd lacked in numbers they more than made up for in enthusiasm, with many of the opinion that Schultz was even better than The Chemical Brothers.

Outside, after the intensity of Black Ghosts, Sven Vath seemed a little mellow considering the mounting excitement of the crowd, he couldn’t seem to hold anyone’s attention for more than a few minutes at a time and much of the crowd sat down for a quiet chat while they waited. His set was very stripped back and minimalist, and possibly a product of the so-called – œepidemic’ gripping the country at the moment. He painted no soundscapes, and some might be tempted to think that the sooner the DJs get off the meth, the more interesting the music will be for all of us.

Tour DJ James Holroyd played a teensy warm-up set, barely worth the effort, and disappointing considering his reputation, but he did include The Chemical Brothers’ new single The Salmon Dance in his mix probably because it wouldn’t have worked in the headline set.

As the last rays of sunlight left the sky, The Chemical Brothers stepped up to the main stage in front of a huge crowd. Their first visit to Perth since 2005, expectations were high riding on the success of their latest album We Are The Night. Flanked by a massive lighting rig and trio of projection screens, They played an even mix of old and new tracks, though the biggest cheers and wildest dancing were reserved for the older tracks.

The laser light show was awe inspiring, and their scary clown will give the irrational-fear-of-clowns-people nightmares for weeks, but long gaps and slow build-ups in the set killed momentum somewhat, particularly when Dim could be heard from the stage next door, doing something completely different from what the boys were trying to achieve.

The Chemical Brothers have such a long back catalogue that no single set could feature them all. More than a few people were disappointed by the omission of breakthrough tracks Block Rockin’ Beats and Setting Sun from the set. However, they still tore through some of the biggest dance hits of the past decade. The Test, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Out Of Control and Golden Path along with plenty from the latest album. An unexpected encore highlight was Sunshine Underground, the epic psychedelic monster from 1999’s Surrender album.

As the set closed in a swirl of synthesizer squelching, the arguments began about what could have been a better set-list. Nevertheless, The Chemical Brother’s blistering set was easily the highlight of the day.