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In the mid afternoon chill at the end of a long weekend it was surprising to see so many punters milling around the Adelaide Shores Complex for the annual winter festival We Love Sounds. With the Adelaide leg of the tour being the last of the national instalment, many of the big names like Cassius, The Bravery, Scribe and Derrick Carter headed home rather than headlining down south. This left the line up a little lean for a big electro festival and may be a contributing factor as to why tickets for these types of shows never sell out in Adelaide.
The biggest cab off the rank was Mixmaster Mike, the legendary turn tablleist of *Beastie Boy*s fame. They scheduled him nice and early which was great for those who were heading there purely to catch MMM in action. He pulled a hefty crowd with many already in true party form. The early part of the set was made up predominantly of tracks from the nineties with the Beasties back catalogue peppering the playlist, giving the audience just what they came for. The rest sounded like a classic hits mix with Run DMC’s It’s Like That, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, Blur’s Song 2 and even a bit of Fatboy Slim. The predominantly younger crowd lapped this up.
Next up Alix Perez was spinning a funky, down beat blend of drum n bass on the HMAS Disco & Technphonics Stage. The beat was infectious with many dancers on the floor feeling the groove. This stage is technically a shed that has been tacked on to the complex, complete with cement floor and massive roof. But the acoustics worked well and it was a lot easier to dance on the cement rather than the uneven ground that an outside stage would have entailed.
Back inside on the Eclipse main stage Utah Saints cranked out their old sound that shot them to fame in the early 90s. They had a progressive set that moved from the old to the new and was coupled with some excellent LED lighting effects. Waiting until the very end to pull out their rehashed hit Something Good, those that hung around were not disappointed.
Dubfire of Deep Dish fame was up next with the highest flying set of the day featuring spectacular tailor made visuals and a pumping, dark and dirty sound . Dubfires set went in a very different direction from the main stream poppy feel of his other work to great effect. This was a brilliantly executed set that took the crowd on an audio visual journey, the likes of which is rarely witnessed in Adelaide.
A-Skillz finished things off in the back room with a relatively predictable and uninspiring set. Although he did pull out all the necessary A-Skillz & Crafty Cuts hits and a few classics from the 70s there was nothing new to be heard. This was unfortunately the general vibe for the day; a real emphasis on the old classic sounds with the 90s featuring heavily (I think I heard AC/DC four times). Perhaps with the full line up we would have heard a lot more of the new, cutting edge electro sound. The lack of live instrument driven electro was a real downfall; I couldnt help but think that pulling in a few of the talented locals acts would have kept the energy levels high.
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