Future Music Festival - Adelaide, 12th March 2012
Words: Rob Lyon
Mad March continued its run through Adelaide with music lovers spoilt for choice with the number of festivals and other shows on. Future Music Festival has morphed in to a colossal beast bringing to Australia the best international and local acts and DJs to rival any other festival.
Many would argue that this year’s FMF bill was better than the Big Day Out, boasting the likes of Swedish House Mafia, New Order and Fatboy Slim just for starters. The concept of Future Music Festival is great; well marketed/branded and clever cross promotion giving other festival organisers plenty of food for thought. A cool novelty was the Foamarama stage, enhancing the festival experience by providing something a little different - a giant soap-sudded machine billowing suds over the masses below. On the flip side, taking in to consideration that the weather was a scorcher and with very little shade, bottled water at a premium price of five sobs and being stuck in a dusty field, it is surprising that more didn’t suffer heat exhaustion.
The Naked & Famous were definitely unlucky, as they’d pulled the short straw, being up against Skrillex, who drew a huge crowd with ‘dubstep’ being the flavour of the month. These New Zealand rockers were right on the money though, rewarding the loyal faithful choosing to come and see them rather than the god awful noise coming from the Las Venus stage. Does anyone get dubstep? Even having a sticky-beak it is hard to understand what all the fuss is about. The highlights from Naked & Famous were Girls Like You and Young Blood and fingers crossed that one day they’ll play a club show here.
Many would argue that this year’s FMF bill was better than the Big Day Out, boasting the likes of Swedish House Mafia, New Order and Fatboy Slim just for starters. The concept of Future Music Festival is great; well marketed/branded and clever cross promotion giving other festival organisers plenty of food for thought. A cool novelty was the Foamarama stage, enhancing the festival experience by providing something a little different - a giant soap-sudded machine billowing suds over the masses below. On the flip side, taking in to consideration that the weather was a scorcher and with very little shade, bottled water at a premium price of five sobs and being stuck in a dusty field, it is surprising that more didn’t suffer heat exhaustion.
The Naked & Famous were definitely unlucky, as they’d pulled the short straw, being up against Skrillex, who drew a huge crowd with ‘dubstep’ being the flavour of the month. These New Zealand rockers were right on the money though, rewarding the loyal faithful choosing to come and see them rather than the god awful noise coming from the Las Venus stage. Does anyone get dubstep? Even having a sticky-beak it is hard to understand what all the fuss is about. The highlights from Naked & Famous were Girls Like You and Young Blood and fingers crossed that one day they’ll play a club show here.
Friendly Fires were brilliant and really commanded the stage, proving that they are no one trick pony with plenty of great tunes showcased from their second album Pala. Front man Ed Macfarlane, like the rest of the band, really threw himself in to the performance, thriving off the energy off the energy of the crowd. All the hits were there, with Jump In The Pool, Blue Cassette, Hawaiian Air, Kiss Of Life all being well received.
The Rapture entered the stage one band member at a time, building their sound and adding a new layer of instrumentation with each subsequent member, leading the crowd in to In The Grace Of Your Love. Their set lacked spark and intensity and songs such as House Of Jealous Lovers and Sister Saviour really need that.
Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook) was a huge drawcard and pulled big numbers, striking accord early with Praise You. The front section was jam packed with plenty of hot, sweaty bodies jumping up and down. It was hard to know what to expect as Norman played a typical DJ set mixing samples of other acts and generic house beats, whilst all the time focusing on entertaining the crowd and stroking his own ego. No doubt some would have been expecting more.
The Wombats had a strong following, not surprising considering how often they tour here. The crowd built up considerably as they progressed through their set and funnily enough Matthew Murphy echoed the sentiment that “this is our last night on tour for Future Music Festival, let’s make this a rather ridiculously severe one”. It isn’t until you see them play a festival set where you realise how many great songs they have with Jump In To The Fog, Anti D, Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves and Moving To New York impressing no end. It was no surprise that they closed their set with Let’s Dance To Joy Division, which was dedicated to New Order.
The Rapture entered the stage one band member at a time, building their sound and adding a new layer of instrumentation with each subsequent member, leading the crowd in to In The Grace Of Your Love. Their set lacked spark and intensity and songs such as House Of Jealous Lovers and Sister Saviour really need that.
Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook) was a huge drawcard and pulled big numbers, striking accord early with Praise You. The front section was jam packed with plenty of hot, sweaty bodies jumping up and down. It was hard to know what to expect as Norman played a typical DJ set mixing samples of other acts and generic house beats, whilst all the time focusing on entertaining the crowd and stroking his own ego. No doubt some would have been expecting more.
The Wombats had a strong following, not surprising considering how often they tour here. The crowd built up considerably as they progressed through their set and funnily enough Matthew Murphy echoed the sentiment that “this is our last night on tour for Future Music Festival, let’s make this a rather ridiculously severe one”. It isn’t until you see them play a festival set where you realise how many great songs they have with Jump In To The Fog, Anti D, Tokyo (Vampires & Wolves and Moving To New York impressing no end. It was no surprise that they closed their set with Let’s Dance To Joy Division, which was dedicated to New Order.
New Order should have been a massive drawcard, but with the small crowd on hand to catch a glimpse of this genre-defining act, it was the masses who missed the real headliners of the day. There was no mention of the stoush with ex-bassist Peter Hook but we welcomed back to the fold Gillian Gilbert after a ten year break. Dedicating their set to Miles Davis, they had one hour to cram in a massive back catalogue or risk breaking the ten o’clock curfew. Nine songs were all Adelaide got, and with all things considered, this is simply insulting for the band and fans alike. Still, they were fantastic. Opening with Crystal followed by Regret it didn’t take long for front man Bernard Sumner to complain about their sound and the sound bleed from other stages, which was quite annoying and another insult to the band and fans. Bizarre Love Triangle and Blue Monday were a sensational blast from the past topped off with Temptation to close the set out.
For the most part Future Music Festival was great. Rivalling many of the other festivals going round right now with attendance, we’ll look forward with anticipation to what 2013’s version holds.
For the most part Future Music Festival was great. Rivalling many of the other festivals going round right now with attendance, we’ll look forward with anticipation to what 2013’s version holds.