Parklife might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of FasterLouder and festival coverage, but the touring festival actually has a much broader spectrum of music than you might expect. Whilst electro and house music dominate, rock, rap and indie all get a little show in as well, and this year was no exception, with everything from the glimmering pop of La Roux, the cheeky rapid fire rap of Lady Sovereign and the uber-production that can only come out of the mind of Luke Steele and his Empire of the Sun project all on the bill. Melbourne’s leg of the festival was, as always, about the fashion, the booze, the dancing and the music, and it certainly delivered on all fronts.

Local heroes Art Vs Science were the early juggernaut of the day, drawing a crowd in the early afternoon almost as large as any of the international acts would later. The trio thrashed through their set on the Air Stage, gaining a devoted mosh pit that doubled during Flippers and doubled again during Parlez Vous Francais?. There was a moshing penguin flying about the crowd and plenty of voices, especially during the band’s cover of Where’s Your Head At? – performed in as much a replica fashion as the band could manage.

It was then to the Fire Stage, where the odd landscape of Birrarung Marr meant there were two viewing areas for the stage – one being on the flat in front of it, and the other on the super steep hill behind. The benefit of the hill was that everything was on show, but given the two stages in close proximity behind, the Fire Stage could hardly amp up the volume, which meant pretty poor volume for the likes of Bertie Blackman. Playing to her new hometown crowd, Blackman seemed more excited than ever as she bounced around the stage, screaming and hitting all the big notes easily. The set was a reworked, dance version of tracks from Secrets and Lies, with Heart, Byrds of Prey and her cover of In the Air Tonight standing out. Blackman may have had a little trouble winning over the crowd at first, but that cover always seems to work.

The same stage then delivered a double hit of rhyme and beats with Detroit hip hop act The Cool Kids and the quick witted rapper Lady Sovereign. To a sea of air hitting arms, Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids were quick to try and win over the crowd. The “let me here you say…” call outs appeared everywhere as well as plenty more call and response, as the duo flipped back and forth to deliverer their cruising rhymes. Whilst they lived up to their name via their cool and easy stage persona, Lady Sovereign certainly showed them up when she appeared next to rile up the crowd. Burping, screeching, jumping, foul language and plenty of sexual innuendo all added up to Sov’s charm; or lack thereof as she might have it. The delightfully dance worthy Hoodie had the crowd excited early, before a sea of middle fingers were raised (by order of Sov) for Love Me or Hate Me, which was the song of the set as far as crowd energy was concerned. Sov’s finest moment came with Public Warning though, as she yelled through the heavy verses and spat unbelievably fast lyrics.

On the way to the Water Stage, there were warning signs that the area had limited capacity, but despite the bulging mass waiting to see La Roux, security weren’t up for closing the area off and people continued to add to the Water Stage’s sea. La Roux walked onto stage singing, but by the end of her first track you couldn’t help but be distracted by Elly Jackson’s hair, the red quiff hardly even bobbing as she danced around. Playing songs from her self-titled debut, the set was shorter than it had to be, but its best moments were still worthwhile – Colourless Colour, I’m Not Your Toy and Bulletproof, which despite being saved for last wasn’t the crowd’s favourite. That favourite was In For The Kill, which had a mass of participating voices to make up for the Water Stage’s sound not being loud enough.

High rotation of Crimewave on Triple J means hearing it blare through the radio even at 8am – not cool. Crystal Castles playing the track live and loud as their city backdrop fades into darkness – very cool. Heading back the Air Stage, it was clear that this part of the festival had the best sound. Alice Glass is a woman possessed. If she wasn’t jumping around, she was either climbing the drum kit or surfing the crowd. Cooler again was their drummer, who had a permanent strobe light hitting him in the darkness to add to the intensity. The lighting overall was perfect for Crystal Castles – at times the red lights fading in and out were like blood running down the stage’s back, and at others it was all just like an epileptic rainbow, which of course was brilliant for the Gameboy sounding numbers like Air War.

With a growing crowd in anticipation for Metric on the Fire Stage, Yacht Club DJs took the numbers advantage to grab an inflatable dingy and travel around on top of the crowd – an apt party manoeuvre as the classics blared from their set. The Canadian rockers weren’t far off though, and when they arrived they were certainly given the reception they deserved. Opening with Monster Hospital from 2005, it took little time for Emily Haines to win over the crowd, moving around the stage like the dominant frontwoman she is. You could be forgiven for thinking you weren’t at Parklife anymore, with Haines announcing a love of rock and roll on several occasions and even playing a tribute to Neil Young’s My My, Hey Hey. James Shaw and Joshua Winstead were great either side of Haines, stepping up their game in the peak of tracks but otherwise leaving the entertainment stakes to the main woman, who spent her time moving between the very front of stage, her synthesisers and her mic to dance. Dead Disco was a great older addition, but the set was mostly made of Fantasies tracks; Help I’m Alive and the closing Stadium Love being the absolute standouts.

Now for something completely different – back to the Water Stage for Empire of the Sun, where people were surprisingly still coming and going despite capacity restrictions. It’s hard to know where to start with EOTS – Luke Steele has clearly put a lot into the show, so much so that even without Mr God Complex himself, Nick Littlemore, the show still came off a little over the top. There were times when it was obvious the music was being given the back seat, with highly choreographed dance sequences, as well as dramatised interaction between Steele and the dancers and breaks of near nothingness for costume change. Swordfish turned to frilly, goggled monsters as Steele’s dancers did their best to wow the crowd. He spent time with costume changes as well; his feathered headdress outfit becoming a furry shouldered one, before he again changed into his crown and blue dressing gown. Steele looked like something straight out of Star Wars, and you couldn’t help but feel that the cheesy voice over was about to announce, “Luke, I am your father”. As for the tracks, whilst the set consisted mainly of softer material to get the visual aspect across, the jerky Swordfish Hotkiss Night was a defining moment. Then, of course, there was Walking on a Dream, not surprising saved til last. The sing along was much louder than Steele and the attempted falsettos among the crowd contributed to the funniest moment of the festival.

Rounding out the festival like as it had begun, Purple Sneakers DJs had the crowd excited at the Fire Stage with their remix of Flippers, before the final act for the night, The Rapture appeared. Having come from EOTS, you couldn’t help but notice the casualness of this band. They dressed casually and there were no theatrics, but what they did have was their songs – more than suitable party anthems that had people dancing away the rest of Parklife. As a big fireworks show filled the sky in the background, Don Gon Do It kicked started the high-spirited set. And what did this festival need? More cowbell, which the Rapture had plenty of. Gotta Get Myself Into It continued, this time with the added collective vocals of the crowd. Luke Jenner gradually became more energetic as the set moved on, evolving out of a stand-and-sing approach into a dance-and-go-crazy one. There was a gentler interlude with Open Up Your Heart – the only chance for people to hold hands and say “I love you”, before the set hit off again with Whoo! Alright — Yeah… Uh Huh, some crowd surfing from Jenner and No Sex For Ben finishing the night off in amazingly fun style.

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