Waking up at five am to get on the road for a three day festival is a big ask for your average 20something year old, but somehow people managed. Thinking no one else would be clever enough to get there at opening time secure a good camping spot on the grass was perhaps not as clever as you may think. The Perth to Southbound journey for 2010 was the easiest one yet, thanks to our brand-new highway… no gritting your teeth as you and 5 other cars try to overtake a truck at the same time, no angry fist shaking and abuse as you sit behind a person who only speeds up when there’s an overtaking lane; just a nice, straight, slightly boring and uneventful trip, meaning everyone arrived in good spirits. When the gates didn’t open immediately at 9:00am, and cars lined the side of the road awaiting entry, no one was angry or pushy… it was merely a chance for some road cricket, or to meet your weekend neighbours, or to dig in to your stealthily hidden supply of booze.

Entry this year was a breeze, unless you were unfortunate enough to make friends with the couple of cute little Labradors walking up and down the line. The bag checks were efficient and very few people had the hassle of unrolling their tent and every item they owned. Getting up so early paid off, as we were ushered through to the grassed camp-sites, closer to the action, and further away from the dusty, noisy chaos that was over-flow camping in 2009.

Base-camp was delightful, created with all kinds of people in mind. There was an organic, vegan place offering all kinds of meat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free alternatives; there were red-bull slushies, a cosy, atmospheric Indian dining room, a chai tent and even a steak-house offering Wagyu beef burgers: fancy. The Lounge was bigger this year and was set up to give many upcoming acts the chance to get an audience; so if you were too tired to brave the main stages, or if you were grabbing some dinner, there was always something on offer in the Lounge.

First act on Friday was Felicity Groom and The Black Black Smoke. This band always receives mixed reviews; it’s the kind of sound you just have to be into to enjoy. She has a powerful voice, and the band is comprised of many talented musicians, but the sound itself is a little dull; you feel a little like you’ve been listening to the same song for the whole set. This actually isn’t all bad if you’re just lying back in the shade, recovering from the trip down to Busselton and discussing the plan for the rest of the day.

Soon after FG&TBBS, Whitley took the stage, much to the delight of many. He seems to have picked up quite a fan base recently, and there were many eager little faces turned up towards his stern baby-face, chewing his lip like he was about to bite it off. After a bit of a humble and embarrassed request to take his name off the screen behind him, he launched into his growing back-catalogue of hits. Particularly well received were Killer and Lost in Time. Unfortunately, unless you’re a fan, Whitley also fit into the “I’ve feel like I’ve been listening to this song for 45 minutes” category; music that might fit nicely into a compilation, but listening to the whole set was a little bit of a chore.

Dappled Cities followed with a bit of an unmemorable performance, before Emiliana Torrini took up the mic with her gorgeous little Icelandic accent and no-frills performance. Early on in the set she gave us Heart Stopper and Sunny Road, which for some of us, were the only things we wanted to hear. She was obviously getting some requests for Jungle Drums as she promised that she would play it later, and the crowd looked a little restless as she took us through the set, playing beautiful folk teamed with her at times Bjork-esque voice. When the first drums sounded for Jungle Drums, the crowd went a teensy bit ape-shit, which must be a difficult feeling for Torrini; knowing that a lot of the audience sat through her set just to hear one song; but hey, at least they really like that one song!

Jamie T and the Pacemakers followed Torini, with a ½ hour change over, in which the crowd changed dramatically; out with the relaxed cuddly couples and chilled-hippies and in with the now well-sauced fluoro-brigade, who incidentally, this year, are wearing significantly less fluoro. He’s a funny guy, and knows how to get the crowd involved, but his music is not for everyone, and about half way into his set it was looking like a good time to head off to find some dinner.

Successfully dodging Little Birdy over a dinner and “lets go find a jacket” mission, arriving back at The Other Stage in time to see Rodrigo Y Gabriela was well planned. As so many have recently remarked, this Mexican duo really are something special. The crowd was going completely nuts from the very beginning, which was such a surprise, considering there were no words, and these were not well-known songs (although their album actually charted #1 in Ireland). It seems that people recognise great musicians, and appreciate good, honest music. They play acoustic guitar the way it was meant to be played, with fingers flying over the fret board and strumming, drumming and picking with all fingers and all parts of the hand, it was amazing to watch. The sound was somewhere between traditional Mexican Ranchera, and Metal… which some of us have dubbed “Mextal”. While it was cool to hear snippets of Metallica, and ACDC and the White Stripes amongst the frantic playing, it is worth noting that seeing this live is one thing, but buying an album and playing it at your next shin-dig, is probably not going to happen… unless you’re having a Mexican Fiesta perhaps.

This year some parts of base came were 24 hours – which certainly helped keep the noise and activity in the camping grounds to a minimum. Anyone still on a high from the last act could dance it out in the groove tent – œtil the wee hours of the morning; or check out what was playing in the uber-comfy indoor cinema; or even spend all night chilling in the lounge and watch the sunrise. Those of us who braved the early hours of Friday morning however, called it a night pretty early; knowing there were two more whole days ahead of us.