Future Music Festival @ Royal Randwick Racecourse - 17.3.2007
Author: Jessica Miller
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
It's a big call, but this year's Sydney gig certainly didn't disappoint. A perfect combination of Field Day (without the NYE hang over) and Good Vibes (without the hype). Contrary to all media beat-up, without the overbearing presence of police state representatives and their pets...
Gosh, where to begin-
The entire day was nothing less than sensational - the crowd was calm but keen, the weather was on edge enough to keep things interesting and the Randwick Racecourse was extremely accommodating - a lot can be said for betting rings and drinks on the lawn. The beauty of Future Music is that they managed to restrain themselves with ticket sales and as a result, there was more than enough room to move, plus no hassles in the drinks queue. A small breath of fresh air.
So, for the lovers of house/trance/progressive/funk etc, the line up was perfect. TV Rock was typically Ministry of Sound, but credit where credit's due: they certainly got the party started. Although the weather eventually broke under the pressure during the set, the general consensus was that it was actually quite nice to be dancing in the rain.
Next up, Amber Savage at the God's Kitchen stage - a beautiful mix of progressive and party trance only deepened the mood.
Nik Fish and Jumping Jack unfortunately didn't seem to pull any rabbits out of the hat with their sets - you could very easily be fooled into thinking you were at Home's Sublime night on a Friday. In fact, there was a general rumble that they weren't particularly inventive nor entertaining, to the point where some were crying the death of trance. Perhaps the high emotions were exacerbated by the rain. Ferry Corsten managed to reverse some of the attitude problems later in the day with a cracking set of hard beats and dance-inducing mixes.
Fedde le Grande at the Famous stage was the winner for this year's Dark Horse Award. He played with the crowd, as opposed to 'at' them and satisfied every willing soul in the room. The music started off on a very big high and continued to climb until every single fan was dancing in the palm of his hand - an emerging master of the House genre.
Carl Cox was, of course, the headliner. I heard him named both sublimely and subliminally good (I didn't ask) - after such a massive day of excellence, he had some very big boots to fill. He not only delivered, but also surpassed all expectations. In fact, he was a little bit too good - the crowd was still absolutely pumping when he wound up just after 10pm.
It has to be handed to Carl Cox - he's certainly a savvy business man. The last time he was here was playing Mobile Home on Bondi Beach for New Year's Eve 2000 - a cool seven years ago. That show was supposedly so good that, for those who can remember, it set him up with an eternally warm and fuzzy recollection amongst the Sydney dance aficionados, the result being a sense of anticipation for the Future Music so tangible, you could feel it dripping down your skin. There was not a second of disappointment.
He worked the crowd with beats so big and clean they (and the crowd) were bouncing off the walls, with added touches of pure Cox magic that only a master veteran of the scene could manage. Just for the record, Cox is moving into semi-retirement mode with the purchase of waterfront on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula after apparently not having had a holiday since 1985. Before you write him off completely, he's also playing Canberra's Summernats festival in a few weeks.
Yet another wonderful day out on the Sydney festival circuit - they just keep getting better and better. It makes you wonder when it will all end - the stakes and standards are really climbing higher with every announcement. The only attitude at the moment is to embrace Australia as the mu Tags