Two Tribes 05 @ Mulberry on Swan (Perth)- 06/03/05

All 7000 tickets sold out for this years Two Tribes dance festival and it's no wonder with electronic headliners the Prodigy plus Richie Hawtin, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Zinc, LTJ Bukem, DJ Hyper and Dave Seaman all on the line-up. This year it was bigger than ever in Perth with three stages and one chill out area, compared to last years event held over two venues.

The event started at 12 noon and it was a hot day, which didn't seem to deter the majority of people arriving before 3pm to catch some of Perth's local DJs, particularly drum & bass hero Greg Packer with MC Assassin.

The ever-youthful Grandmaster Flash drew a huge crowd of mainly bare-chested guys and bikini-clad girls in front of the Two Tribes Outdoor Stage, with Grandmaster and his partner alternating between MCing and mixing. Both of them played a mega mix-up of every track under the sun ranging from Phil Collins, ACDC, Public Enemy, Michael Jackson, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Run DMC, Cypress Hill, Destiny's Child and Snap, plus a few of Grandmaster's own productions with The Furious Five, The Message and White Lines.

Grandmaster's turntable skills were sheer brilliance but unfortunately he was enclosed in a tiny tent on the stage and there were no video screens to see his hands at work; although this might have not been possible outdoors in the glaring sun. The set was very similar to Grandmaster Flash's last Oz tour a few years ago, making it all a bit blase for those who had seen him play before. I personally found the whole history of hip hop and it "doesn't matter whether you are black or white' routine, which most hip hop artists of any nationality seems to adopt, a bit cliche. But on the other hand, nobody is better qualified than Grandmaster Flash to educate us on how hip hop began.

Late in the afternoon, a small crowd of people headed over to the Plastik Electronic Stage to see Dave Seaman play. I think it has been over three years since Seaman last visited Perth and he was most definitely the drawcard DJ of the day for me. He started his set with Infusion's Love and Imitation [Original Mix] which could not have been a better opening track. For the next two hours, a small crowd in a hot tent were taken on a danceable journey that flowed amazingly well. It was a techy and electronic set with the track selection sitting just on the edge of what is typically tagged "progressive'. It was overall a brilliant set that superseded expectations.

It's the first time at a multi-staged festival that I've seen everyone come together to see one act perform. It was a sight to behold - 7000 people congregated in front of the Outdoor Stage to see the Prodigy play. Felt a bit sorry though for Junior Sanchez and Andy Farley on the Plastik Electronic and Future Trance stage's who had less than a handful of people listening.

Liam Howlett once described the Prodigy's music in Q Magazine as "big, dumb, rocking tunes' and that is precisely why we love them. With the Prodigy there is usually no holding back when it comes to energy, aggression and big fat beats and thankfully, this translated well live on stage. They played a range of tracks spanning three albums including Fat of the Land, Music for the Jilted Generation, and their latest album Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned which was ditched by many critics for being entirely composed in software program Reason - but if it works, who cares- The five-piece band of a drummer, guitarist, Liam behind mountains of equipment at the back, and punk-vocalists Keith and Maxim screaming down their mikes and dancing like crazy, all sounded great.

The Prodigy's set (in order) for diehard fans included: Wake Up Call, Their Law, Warning (new track), Breathe, Spitfire, Girls, Firestarter, Action Radar, Minefields, Poison and Smack My Bitch Up which seemed to be mixed in with Medusa's Path. Plus two other tracks slotted in, which I didn't recognise.

At one point Maxim shouted "turn up the fucking so Tags