Consider this a memory jogger for those with lost time on their new years eve at Zoolander Oval; it is certain that there will be a few of you out there… enough to fill a footy field anyway, god fucking bless you all. Even the pair who managed to passionately suck face in front of the grand stand for at least three songs, if not the whole set of Public Enemy classics, with no consideration of their bodies’ need for oxygen: god bless you and your sloppy public affection as well.

There was no shortage of love in the oxygen at Bassendean on Wednesday night, a surprising amount considering the traditional hostility of d’n’b and hip hop crowds, and this was a show where they were all left to dissolve in the cauldron together. The inevitable scrap did break out during Chase and Status but essentially one was more likely to score a one night wife rather than a knife.

Some bands played as well which, as is always the case, seemed to be forgotten by a lot of the kids once they discovered the wonders of their new found social skills, guaranteed none of them would have regretted it though (except maybe for a moment on the return to earth). So for the amnesia sufferers and the apathetic socialites, this is for you.

On entry to the festival friendly surroundings of, let’s call it Zooland, there were already plenty of heavy breathers and soundwave riders smashing it out in the saved sun and lazing around on the banks. The d’n’b stage was outdoing the main stage for atmosphere with Muller using an intuitive selection from his record crate including a banging reshuffling of the radio raped Flashing Lights. It was a less enthusiastic crowd over at the mainstage perhaps as a result of the jilted mixes dj’s Zeke and Kitpop were offering. With noticeable changes between drops and slightly unsynchronised beats on occasion, it became difficult to maintain focus on the music, the sunglassed ones who were kicking up the dirt in front of the stage didn’t seem to notice though, so maybe this reviewer doesn’t know shit.

The shit that one does know, is that over on the unassuming Stage 3 AJM was laying down some fucking sweet dub step grime; what a guilty live pleasure this sub genre is. The highlight of the set may have belonged to the shirtless neuronaut in the Rip Curl boardies though, who was shredding some sort of planet far far away and most definitely would have woken up unaware of the ripper time he’d had.

It was time for the heavy hitters as the sun began its descent and Dj Numark had the crowd in ecstatic pieces. His effortless flow and mastery with the 360 degrees of vinyl is mesmerising and the unpredictability of what he drops under the needle leaves the crowd gripped to the PA’s output. What to expect after Four Season’s Oh What A Night? CCR’s _Down On The Corner_… naturally. Then later on Still D.R.E cross faded into the Pharoahe Monch gem Simon Says (Get The Fuck Up). Of course some J5 What’s Golden was needed as well as every dj’s stock standard ABC by the other J5. But when he mashed the piano line from Let It Be with the beat from It Wasn’t Me like Paul and John had written the track with Shaggy in mind, he almost out did even himself. That was until he closed with a Kenny G-esque sax driven version of Imagine and absolutely nailed the mood of the footy ground at dusk. With the shiny happy people taking it upon themselves to provide the vocals, Numark safely outdid himself in world class fashion.

It really was a surreal trip to journey to the d’n’b stage, after watching magic and mayhem unfold from the grand stand: suddenly one is right in the middle of the scene they were simply an observer of only moments before. While Numark was going about his business, Noisia was fucking killing it with his EU brand of drum and bass. They like their bass fatter than a 2008 Australian over there, and god damn was it good to listen to. A break down to stomping pace midway through his set (track title anyone?) was unbelievable and had even the straightest arrows in the quiver becoming a little bit bent.

If all this was not already enough, Public Enemy were still to arrive and they did so with some initial uncertainty. With the crowd growing restless and being entertained by an anonymous skeleton man, a roar went up when the customary PE soldiers marched on stage and the skeleton man was revealed to be Flava Flav. Chuck D eventually joined them on stage in his gym outfit and the founding fathers of outspoken political hip hop announced it had been 10 years since they had been in Perth and 20 years since the making of the revolutionary_ It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back_ and so they were going to perform the seminal album in its entirety. While this is what they have been doing around the world for the past year, it was hard to comprehend the privilege of witnessing one of the world’s greatest acts performing an album that consistently appears in all time greatest album lists. And on New Years Eve of all occasions.

Yeahhh Boiiii will be the call of the summer after Flava Flav brought it back from the late eighties: he with the novelty time piece is still in classic form and Chuck D’s baritonic flow has aged with… well it hasn’t really aged at all. With an impending Obama led USA being a consistent theme through their banter, their set had a sense of triumph about it, making their songs of militancy more like victory dances. Surely this band can take some credit for where the USA has made it to this year and the credit is all theirs for one of the most memorable New Years Eve shows Perth has received.

It was a fairly warped transition from Public Enemy to Skream and Benga but it was getting to that stage of the night where everyone was about to plateau before their second (or third of fourth or fifth) peak and so some cracking dub step production on the main stage was just what the doctor prescribed. By the time Chase and Status hit the d ‘n’ b stage and saw in the New Year with club hit Pieces and a remix of Killing In The Name Of, everyone snapped out of their hypnotic state and back into their electronic state. With an amusing out of sync countdown between the main stage and second stage, the second stage celebrated new year about 7 seconds after the main stage and it was a happy little haven to be in, as a post-countdown zone always is.

For a show that had been going since 6, the amount of energy people still had at 12:30 when Pendulum erupted, would have had Einstein saying I told you so. It wasn’t just the standard hangers on, it was everyone crammed into the mainstage. They have god status in Perth, and their live show has become more of a digital age stadium rock spectacle than a drum and bass one. Disgruntled purists aside, they are an incredible live act that was never going to remain in the underground of drum and bass.

Predictably, their tracks off Hold Your Colour were the most well received, with Fasten Your Seatbelts being the first played off that amazingly popular debut. It kicked in to a flurry of projectiles being sent over the heaving sweat pit which continued to pulse through to their breakthrough remix of Voodoo People. It’s getting old bagging tracks off their new album, but when they are put up against the might of their first album in a live setting, particularly when the mix on the vocals of the new tracks is too loud, one can understand the negative reception In Silico has received from their original fan base. Their first performance of 2009 also saw them show off their Master Of Puppets to Slam transition for the first time in Oz which is an absolute belter. They saved the ageless Tarantula for the encore with the crowd fighting off their noticeably impending weariness right until the ride was all but over.

Naras / Altered State should be given a rowdy applause for putting on one of the most seamless and successful New Years events Perth has seen. No problem getting a drink, no problem going to the toilet, no knob-head security, and world class acts. Disappointing that Mos Def couldn’t make it, but basically New Years at Zooland was where you should have been at. Yeahhh boiiiii!