Sunshine People @ Mulberry on Swan (Perth) - 01/01/05

You know when an event has reached legendary status when people start forgoing New Years Eve celebrations in favour of Sunshine People on New Years Day in Perth. This year was bigger than ever with three outdoor stages and a gamesroom held on the grounds of Mulberry Farm on the verge of the Swan River.

It was a warm day in Perth so like many people I didn't arrive until 4:30pm and just managed to catch the last few tracks from DJ Deekline and Wizard on the main outdoor stage. They ended their set with some funky breakbeat tracks which had lots of people dancing but the majority was enjoying the music sitting underneath a massive shade cloth out of the sun.

Next it was a difficult choice between Miss Kittin in the Plastik Arena or DJ Falcon on the Main Outdoor Stage but the French DJ who is a part of the Daft Crew won; partly because he was impressive with his opening breakbeat tracks but mainly because it was just too pleasant and comfortable watching all the people in the main outdoor area and the odd plane flying low into Perth Airport. Falcon brought with him lots of vinyl and his laptop which was running Ableton Live, and for the next two hours he mixed up a variety of different genres and pulled out lots of great samples. Earlier on in the set he played a remix of Jaydee's Plastic Dreams and the Deekline & Wizard remix of Boomblast by The Freestylers. As the set progressed, the audio levels sounded a bit harsh and Falcon kept waving frantically at the sound engineer but he continued with the set despite sound problems, mixing up electro, house and breaks while still maintaining a consistent pace and vibe. A great mix was Say My Name by Destiny's Child mixed with Coldplay's Clocks and a 80s mash-up which included Blue Monday by New Order. A surprise highlight was Girls & Boys by Blur.

As technical difficulties prevailed, DJ Adam Kelly played some great upbeat tracks while the stage was being set up for UK based Crazy Penis. After a 30 minute wait, Crazy Penis hit the stage as a full 8 piece band with an improved performance in comparison to 12 months earlier at Good Vibrations. Vocalist Danielle Moore really interacted with the crowd and was very entertaining - she did a wardrobe change half way through the set into a stunning blue dress. As darkness fell, the stage was beautifully lit up with twinkling lights and Crazy Penis belted out their new tracks and classics like Do It Good and You Are We.

As much as I wanted to check out the other stages, Phillip Zdar of Cassius was next and for the first time that day, I finally had to get up and dance to his selection of house tracks. I'm not sure what it is about the cool sexy Frenchman but he certainly looked like one of France's dance music innovators with his fitted black shirt, smoking cigarettes. It was certainly a site to behold, outside in the cool night air with everyone dancing in the glow of lights from the stage. I did manage to tear myself away though to check out James Zabiela's introduction in the Plastik Arena; he was playing his third consecutive gig in 24 hours to a small but very enthusiastic crowd. His intro on the CDJs was certainly impressive but my heart was still at the outdoor stage, so I raced back to hear Zdar play Tiga's Pleasure from the Bass.

Decision time again - either continue at the Outdoor Stage and see Adam Freeland or race across the grounds and catch more from James Zabiela but Freeland won me over by playing his own remix of Infusion's Better World. I've heard mixed reports about Adam Freeland's previous sets in Perth so I decided it was about time I gave him a listen. Personally I liked his set, he played three brilliant Infusion tracks including a Careless Kind remix and Infusion's remix of Free*land's We Want Your Soul. I enjoyed his choice of tracks and liked the way he interacted with the crowd. The majority of people were disappointed though saying that it was a similar set to what he played at Sc Tags

• sunshine people