Good Vibrations Festival Sydney 2007 - 17.2.2007
Author: &ru @ Tranzfusion
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Jam didn't skimp on the artists. There was something for everyone with 5 stages filled for 10 hours each. You could say we were rather spoilt! Indeed, that's the reason over 35,000 people turned out this year. All dance genres were represented with international acts on stage almost from the outset. Not to be outdone the local bevy of DJs and groups really pushed the envelope and from the early runners I was particularly impressed with Matt Nugent's up-front house selection and DJ Moto on the urban tack.
With so many acts and such crowds, picking who to watch was the biggest battle of the day. My first foray to the Good Vibrations main stage came just as Steve Lind rounded out his set with a kickin' broken beat version of Paul Simon's "Call Me Al". This got the crowd hooting for more and Cut Copy didn't disappoint starting with an unreleased track before dropping their new hit "Hearts On Fire". The vibe only built from there with the band putting in such energy the sampler looked like it may explode from all the finger thumping it received! Another local soon took the stage and continued from where Cut Copy left off. Ajax, complete with crazy fluro outfit, pushed out a range of classic and cutting edge electro house as the sun beat down - hard!
Meanwhile over the hill in the B-Live tent, Fort Knox Five entertained a packed tent with their blend of jazz, funk, hip-hop and breaks. In a set that spanned many years of their releases, the funky fellas from DC entertained the crowd and themselves and looked to have a whale of a time. It was great to see the guys live and I even caught "Blowin' Up The Spot" which was quite the highlight given the number of times I've played it out.. all the better live! Unfortunately time ran short with Jurassic 5 soon starting at the Roots Tent. Or should that be the Sauna Tent- With literally thousands of people squashed in to see one of the great hip-hop acts, the temperature shot through the roof. The atmosphere went with it and once the boys hit the stage the electricity in the air was incredible. Plenty of new tracks such as "Work It Out" and "Radio" were delivered perfectly but the biggest roar came for their classic tune "Quality Control".
With the sunset came a change in tempo as DJ Yoda graced the B-Live decks. He's always a pleasure to watch and adds his own special flavour to even the most well known tunes. His mash up session included breaks, house, DnB, Pulp Fiction samples and a special Aussie addition; John Farnham's "You're The Voice" and AC/DC's "TNT"! It was amazing to see but then something even more amazing happened… The main stage lit up as Snoop Dogg surprised us all!
Like a stampede of wilderbeast over an African plain, thousands of people literally sprinted toward the Good Vibrations stage trying to get as close to the man as possible. The main stage was setup more akin to a rock concert by this point and with many thousands of fans packed back several hundred metres it was just as well. With a bling adorned silver plated mic in hand, Snoop engaged the crowd with many of his most famous songs like "Drop It Like It's Hot" and the relatively new "I Wanna Love You". After "clearing his lungs" he also got 10,000 fans singing along to the track that helped stamp him as a household name, "Who Am I (What's My Na Tags