Parklife @ The BotanicGardens, Adelaide (04/10/11)

Fri 7th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

With a fantastic Spring Day Parklife in Adelaide could not have started better. With a smattering of great acts throughout the day, punters expected a good show throughout and were not left disappointed.

The early pick of the event was never going to be anything other than Kimbra. The ‘it’ girl of the current Australian music crop – based on ‘that song’ by Gotye, came with a tight funk-come-soul band who had harmonies to boot. Kimbra’s colourful sparkly dress and pale make up absolutely shone, both literally and figuratively on stage and her live voice was huge. There’s so much natural talent, it’s safe to say she’s certainly ‘arrived’ and will be around for a while yet.

Surprisingly early, Little Dragon, partly famous for their collaboration with Gorillaz were mesmerizing at times. Combining strong minimal grooves elements with flashes of creamy ambience and silky, earthy vocals this act simply oozed professionalism. Top single Ritual Union came in early in the piece and sounded fantastic. It was simply one of many stellar hits to come, in easily one of the picks of the day.

The smooth cigarette smoking SebastiAn’s set was a little disappointing with a sadly shortened version of his killer track Embody coming in at the end and a lack of momentum annoying a few in the crowd. There were good moments and he actually had some of the best electro hooks and beats of the whole night (especially some slow grindier ones) which certainly was to be expected, there just wasn’t enough of it and not often enough, with big gaps of slow sound and some confusing experimentation. It’s a pity when it’s so clear an artist has so much more to offer and yet doesn’t choose to focus enough on what the crowd is crying out for, especially when he’s fully capable of providing it.

The Spanish-English act Crystal Fighters bring a Basque instrumentation to their dance rock structure and their weirdly captivating sound and stage presence brought a fresh presence to the Parklife line up. The strong Spanish accents driving some of the songs like the immensely catchy Xtatic Truth. Crystal Fighters aren’t necessarily huge in Australia, but this performance was definitely worth sticking around for and will win them more fans. At the other end Bollocks DJs and Joker and MC Nomad had the Cave Stage packed tight at different with probably the most emphatic dancing going on.

One huge surprise was the Naked and the Famous with one of the fattest live sound mixes of the night. The combination of melody, synth ambient and pumping beats was pretty awe inspiring even though the irritating nod to MGMT on hit single Young Blood can get a bit much for some.

Death from Above 1979 were predictably fantastic with a really raucous crowd getting into it. The signature distorted bass sounded huge and dirty and, really I guess, there’s little DFA can do wrong. The live energy was great, the sound was immense and the crowd reaction, to perhaps the ‘cool’ outfit for the night was understandably fantastic. One for the highlights reel.

The Gossip pulled a huge crowd with their pumping tight stage sound. Beth Ditto has a strangely mesmerising and powerful presence and is truly a pleasure to behold. Not all songwriters and frontwomen have such a natural charisma and such an electric aura and it’s certainly a great thing to have at a festival. Their cover of Teen Spirit was a fantastic moment, and not something to take for granted. In the hands of other bands the track could either be completely butchered but this is the best version I’ve heard since the very different one by Tori Amos.

Perhaps the cream of the event was Digitalism. Gaining the sort of following that Justice, Bloody Beetroots and in Australia Cut Copy have, this duo had one of the best crowd reactions. The sound was brilliant and let’s face it, whilst their not quite as edgy as a few of their peers at the higher end of the DJ spectrum they just do simple sweet hooks really well. The vibe at the stage was truly great and the band’s positive energy just wafted over the crowd who were totally into the moment.

Lykke Li had a great sound to go with a bit of an epic on stage presence, complete with smoke machine and lighting. With more of the indie set at the event filling up that stage, the other end was packed with fans for Duck Sauce. Arguably the main headline act this year the mini dance supergroup comprised of DJ stars Armand Van Helden and A-Trak known for hits aNYway and Barbra Streisand had a fairly straight forward live presence, which in the context was perhaps not such a bad thing. The afore mentioned dance hits went off, especially the latter and whilst the highs weren’t mind blowing by any stretch, the pair’s sense of camaraderie and fun was infectious and the crowd lapped it up. There was something a little more real about this performance, compared to Groove Armada’s strangely commercial, but overblown headline slot last year. For mine, this performance truly captured what Parklife was initially really about – a celebration of great modern dance and electro music – where the emphasis is less on sitting back and watching a spectacular live show but simply dancing to awesome music in a great natural surrounds.

There were some areas of improvement, drink prices were just ridiculous and the fact that there were no guides for people other that on the stages themselves was just confusing and frustrating and there’s no doubt a lot of people missed seeing acts they would otherwise have seen.

All in all, Parklife proves without any doubt that it is the cream of the local festival line up. Perhaps Harvest will prove otherwise and I’m sure Laneway fans will have something to say, but I guess any festival where there’s a beat every which way you turn and a constitution based around catchy and credible and danceable music has got to have a lot going for it.