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Hurray for festivals! 2009 started off with some dancing at Summerfieldayze at Doug Jennings Park at the Gold Coast.

The Gold Coast held up with cool weather for the day. It looked scary at midday with heavy rain and wind, for the rest of the day it was just overcast with not a drop. In short, perfect weather for a dance festival; if you were cold all you had to do was bust out some moves!

The crowds were of a good nature, and the drink lines were a breeze. Seriously, I didn’t have to wait longer then two minutes to pick up a Beer or Red Bull!

My fav rave of the day was Digitalism who travelled all the way from Germany to partake in the awesomeness. It was refreshing to see a ‘semi’ live band (similar to the Presets) after listening to DJ mixes of the Presets, Daft Punk and Justice for the 6th time.

Here’s my obligatory cheesy grin before the sun went down -

What isn’t featured in this photo though is a smokin new hat that the boys bought me.

Dance Dance Dance!

Back for our Splendour bendour adventures Cara and I arrived in Byron ready to party!

Splendour was supposed to be in the new Yelgun venue, but due to some locals pissed off it doesn’t look it they’ll be able move it there for a few more years to come. Good news for us, because I’m not the camper type and like warm showers after those long splendour days. My mate Steve managed to rent a house within walking distance to Belongil fields, so props to him for sorting that out. The typical LS crew came to Splendour this year (Myself, Cara, Steve, Nils, Katrina, Franger, Weberist, Kent, L. Barnard, and Stacky).

The new layout was excellent, a bit more space for restaurants since they’ve extended Splendour into the old camping grounds. Also means better toilets! No doubt the best place for a meal is the Spaghetti restaurant; hand made Spaghetti made on-site to fuel you through the days.

Pnau were full of energy and balloons! This was the first time I have seen them live and whilst their lead singer was shirtless and looked like a starved Ethiopian it was a lot of fun. Cara was disappointed her favourite song “Shock to My System” wasn’t played, but I guess they didn’t have the time to play it. Still I’d be happy to see them live again, was a good dance off!

The finale capping it off for Splendour was none other then The Presets, who never disappoint… unless of course they cancel their tour. For me The Preset’s are the best live band I’ve seen (bar Daft Punk), they always have the people pumping and in good spirits. Lot’s of love The Presets.

Police dogs were in a big way this year. The main entrance funnelled the crowds through a choke point were there were police pups eager to sniff. I’ve heard it costs $40,000 a year to train these pooches and I guess this is where they make themselves justified.
I spoke to a random girl waiting for a bus who had been processed by the police after her friend was sniffed and caught with ecstasy tablets. She told me that she wasn’t a drug user and didn’t have anything on her but was quite drunk. She had an option at the beginning to sign a form stating she was carrying illegal substances and therefore a criminal. Opting not to have a criminal record she was then put in a line to be processed; about half an hour later she was strip searched by a female officer and found to have nothing.
Not exactly something I’d like to experience.

I suspect this will be my last Splendour for years to come; the old bodies just aren’t up to it these days… and what’s worse is Cara has been sick for a week after with the Splendid Virus… since so many people are sick we’re calling it ‘Splendour Aids’…

update: after 3 weeks I finally succumbed to the deadly virus and was horribly ill for a week. damn you Splendour!

One of my favourite bands had their last tour in Australia before heading overseas to conquer the world, and their last night was in Brisbane! Whilst it wasn’t a sell-out in the Tivoli, the crowd were all fans. I managed to take a few snaps on my trusty Nokia N70, have a listen to the crowd get into it!

Because tickets were available at the door, we ended up with a small posse of 6 or so mates going in. Of course when the concert started I ditched them all and raced to the front. Nils seemed to enjoy the concert…This was a piccy that Steve snapped just before I shot off on my bike, ROCK AND ROLLLL!

Daft Punk came to Brisbane with the Nevereverland tour. A bunch of LS friends came and we congregated just below the riverstage. The crowd was super happy and friendly, and we didn’t feel crushed at all.
First up were The Presets, with this support act bringing them back to Brisbane. My expectations were high, since the last time I saw them was in Splendour’06 where they rocked hard. Ultimately I wasn’t disappointed, but they did sound rather flat early on in their set. Perhaps it was jetlag, or it could be their a little tired of their own material.As soon as they gave us a taste of their new album though, things changed and the crowds vibe was electric. The future looks promising for the Presets and I can’t wait to see them live when their new album is launched.
Daft Punk have raised the bar in Live performances for me. I’ve never seen something so polished and so energising live. Their light show was second to none and the beats kept the crowd pumping. I’ve purchased the Alive album which is essentially exactly what I heard on the night, and it is still sending chills up my spine.
As always, I youtuberised my night. I still can’t beat my trusty Nokia N70 for recording at music festivals, it really handles the crazy bass sounds unlike most other recorders which just have a blur of noise.

Arriving back in Brisbane with over 14 hours of flight time and very little sleep over the pass 48 hours it was time to get my dancing shoes on and push it to the limit at Summafieldayze!

Having never been to Summafieldayze before and not knowing anyone who had, it was a bit of a gamble buying the tickets.  The dice rolled in our favour though as it was a cruzy 40,000 person day!
The Freestylers were pretty good with their ending songs being the music highlight of the day… ’cause they were Pendulum mixes!  Fasten your seatbelt and Painkiller pushed my heart rate to dangerous levels and no doubt shaved a few months of my life expectancy.

Sure there were some down points also… with the three tents so close to each other the music wasn’t as loud and pumping as it could have been.  The drink purchasing was silly as you had to not only pre-purchase drink tickets but have the drinks charged in odd numbers and cents.  Would have been quicker and easier to have a certain amount of cash for one drink ticket that could buy a drink, but cest la vie.
Here’s a little vid shot on my trusty N70…

Dare I say it, can’t wait till Summafieldayze 2008!