Regardless of all the festival backlash we're having, there's something delightful about watching a bunch of white Wayfarer-sporting 19-year-olds dancing with a wrinkly old bloke and a bunch of ravers who look like they caught the wrong train home from Altona Leisure Centre.
Too early and at a stage that somehow didn't work for them, Canadian gentlemen Chromeo still managed to smother their audience with charisma. 'Needy Girl' delighted most, except a certain fellow who was more interested in why his belt seemed to have grown a personality that wasn't entirely appealing. Ice is a dirty drug.
A disconcerting sight came later in the evening when the tones of the Presets beginning prompted EVERYBODY to run towards the main stage instead of checking out hip hop legends the Pharcyde in their very first (and possibly only, now) Australian tour. Not that there's anything wrong with the Presets. But they do tour approximately every fortnight. The Pharcyde's audience, though, were not disappointed. Dropping classics like 'Oh Shit', 'Passing me By' and 'Drop' were (as expected) crowd-pleasers but their performance was only made better with their energy and dance moves. Impeccable.
Q-Tip was definitely the best vibration. Sporting to-the-knee socks and silver kicks, he was the perfect performer: super enthusiastic, generous, sincere and well spoken. Bouncing between James Brown-esque screams, borderline spoken word and robot dancing, he also dedicated his performance to the firefighters, volunteers and victims of the bushfires. He showed off his vocals in 'We Fight, We Love', his dance moves in 'Move', his sensitive side in 'Shaka' and his willingness to make people happy with A Tribe Called Quest winners like 'Bonita Applebaum' and 'Award Tour'.
It is without a doubt that the foulest part of festivals is the aftermath: half-dressed people dancing to no music, passed out amongst litter and yelling bogan chants do not make for great send-off.
For those who can't be bothered reading paragraphs:
Roni Size Reprazent gave us some flashbacks.
Fatboy Slim thrilled to start by playing 'Pure Imagination' from
Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Sam Sparro scored a massive crowd and proved that people do believe the hype.
Sampology was a great filler between hip hop acts.
The Pharcyde really can move. And rhyme. Obviously.
Q-Tip was out of this world and channelled James Brown.
There was corn on the cob available.
Lines for toilets and bars seemed surprisingly fast.
Best: The Pharcyde's rendition of Bobby Brown's 'My Perogative' complete with choreographed dance moves.
Worst: The fact that at the slightest glimpse of sunshine it's tops off and ugly tattoos out for the male population of Melbourne.