Today is the day of Parklife, and it suddenly dawns on me the enormity of covering a festival of this size, solo. I offer to share my beer money with my troupe of five friends along for the ride, in return for their thoughts on the bands that clashed with my must-see list. When it surfaces that they are all drinking $11 Smirnoff Blacks, I scrap that idea but we reconvene at the end of the long day and they kindly share their thoughts for free.

Local dub dealers Dubdoubt play to a small assembly of chilled punters in the shady surrounds of the Earth Stage. Of late the group has had a revolving door of members, but the rock-country swagger of guitarist Brian L’Huillier filtered through space echo pedals adds an extra dimension to their set.

If I shuffle 10m to the right of the Earth Stage, I can hear the uncomfortable clash of Dubdoubt vs Illzilla on the encroaching Ku Stage. The Melbourne hip hop troupe show off their production nous and lyrical fitness (provided by Mantra and new addition 1/6) with Live Enough and Cut Feet from new release Wasteland.

Grafton Primary are dealt a shitty sound mix but still manage to keep the sizeable crowd gathered at the Air Stage entertained. Even with the already-reduced attention span of most punters at this early stage in the day, the Triple J darlings take us back to the 80s and serve up chunky synths on She Knows It and radical keytar on Relativity.

Familjen are highly recommended by a wristbander at the entrance and I am not disappointed. Plenty of revelers have convened under the fierce sun at the Riverstage to get their groove on to the Swedish duo’s synth-tech beats. I’m far from au-fait with dance speak, but if you want my interpretation of synth-tech, head to their Myspace page. The pop sensibilities and vocals of Johan T Karlsson on Det Snurrar I Min Skalle make me smile as I wander off in search of some lyrics I can understand.

Sydney four-piece Cassette Kids are about as rock as this place is going to get today. They are already slaying the Fire Stage with Listen Now when I arrive, propelled by drummer Jacob Read-Harber and singer Katrina Noorbergen. At times they wander into Sneaky Sound System territory, and like Connie Mitchell’s previous band Primary, bust out some excellent dance-tinged indie rock, especially on closer You Take It.

I only catch a few minutes of Snob Scrilla, and in that time he announces to the crowd “Ya’ll came here for one thing right? To party! Except the reviewer up the back with the notepad…” – errrrrrr, gulp! He’s probably not talking about me, but just because I’m not wearing fluro don’t mean I’m not the embodiment of fun! By all accounts, the Californian ex-pat is making waves in and beyond his new hometown of Sydney and didn’t disappoint with his tight lyrical hip hop – indie crossover cuts from the recently released The Day Before EP.

I cannot rave enough about The Bamboos. Although I’ve seen them before, I can’t resist a quick trip to an island of impeccable live funk, a tiny jewel hidden in the sea of big beats and electronica that is Parklife. Vocalist Kylie Auldist joins the septet and together they showcase deep funk tracks off The Bamboo’s Side Stepper release and retro soul from Kylie’s Just Say debut. This outfit hits The Step Inn very soon and I implore fans of classic funk to witness the Eddie Bo-endorsed excellence of The Bamboos.

Dizzi Rascal is the subject of the most heated debates at days’ end. I squished as close to the Air Stage as I could, but arriving halfway through his set meant I heard more crowd noise than PA blare. Those up the front spouted superlatives about the 22-year old Londoner who is doing big things with grime, garage and hiphop. Dance Wiv Me, however, is the only track that rises above the awful din from where I’m standing.

Dragonette are easily my favourite act of the day. Not only is their funky 80s electropop set delivered with gusto by the London-based quartet, but the outrageously loose crowd become somewhat more tolerable as they are cloaked in darkness. Spunky frontwoman Martina Sobrara has one thing on her mind – boys – and they dominate her poptastic lyrics. I Get Around and Competition (reminscient of No Doubt’s Hey Baby) are shiny highlights.

Soulwax are unanimously voted the day’s standout by those lucky enough to make it to the Riverstage before emergency services blocks access to it to attend to a spinal injury victim. Photos of the brothers Dewaele and Belgium bandmates donning matching tuxedos show them looking as sharp as their squelchy electro rock mashups apparently sounded, with Accidents And Compliments and NY Excuse touted as the best of their performance.

I end up watching Van She at Fire Stage because Diplo is still out of reach at the Riverstage. Strangers and Cat & The Eye from the Sydney quartet’s debut V are surprisingly catchy and ease the pain of missing Diplo’s lauded DJ set.

Goldfrapp draws obvious comparisons to Bjork’s performance at this year’s Gold Coast Big Day Out. Both left-of-centre eponymous female-fronted groups, whilst brilliant live performers, played late timeslots that worked against their atmospheric material. Alison Goldfrapp is resplendent in what looks like a multicoloured plastic curtain found at the entrance of a 70s takeaway store, the stage littered with stuffed owls and a harp amongst a large backing band. Had they been scheduled a few hours (and drinks) earlier, I suspect their career-spanning set would have been much better received by the masses gathered at the Riverstage, but at this point everyone is gagging for big bad beats.

Blackalicious, the perennial festival favourite of hip hop fans, don’t disappoint in delivering yet another entertaining set. Tracks from 2002’s Blazing Arrow are still as pertinent as ever, especially Paragraph President. Lateef the Truthspeaker – of Latryx notoriety – joins MC Gift Of Gab to showcase tracks from their new collaboration The Mighty Underdogs, with United Flow Champions dropping knowledge all over the Earth Stage gathering.

I am en route to the Fire Stage when I hear Does It Offend You Yeah? kick into Battle Royale. Throw in Let’s Make Out along with Doomed Now and there goes half their set. We Are Rockstars sums up their set and the day in its entirety: where 25,000 beautiful people swanned around in little more than bikinis and shutter shades, some there for the music, others just for show. Parklife no doubt provided an intense day of fun and beats for most punters, and those who loved it will be back for more in 2009.