So my first Parklife festival is over. I'd love to go again but right now I'm content on recovering from yesterday. I have a thumping headache and my neck and my knees are sore from dancing for 10 hours straight. But I'm not complaining, the whole experience was well worth the $120, so essentially I paid 12 dollars for each hour I was there. $12 to see the Rapture? Bargain. The weather was perfect and I miraculously managed to avoid getting sunburnt. I loved that everyone was in such a good mood, it was a whole day of good vibes and friendly people. I always had room to dance and I never really felt annoyed at anyone for being a douchebag, as always tends to happen at Big Day Out.
Here are some of the things I saw yesterday, by the numbers:
1 x sniffer dog who went straight up to a group of guys who were waiting outside the venue. They had to empty their pockets.
Knightlife
4 x people who were watching Knightlife's set when I arrived at 12.20. They were security guards. It sucks to play first. He played a good set though, it definitely would have been better suited to later in the day.
300 x People who somehow managed to either break down a barrier or jump the fence at the same time and came stampeding through the festival, trying to immerse themselves in the crowd.
1 x Security guard who was chasing after the fence-jumpers.
Countless x people who were escorted from Parklife for not having a wristband. Throughout the day I saw people sprinting away from security guards who had asked to see wristbands.
2 x DJs I heard who played Pon de Floor. Is it this year's Day N Nite?
3 x people wearing Indian headdresses
1 x Drag queen spotted side-of-stage at Mink Engine.
Mimes onstage at Art vs. Science
2 x People from the audience dressed as mimes invited onstage to dance with Art vs Science when they played Parlez-vous Francais? I'm not a fan of their music, but the whole crowd was loving it and the mimes were great at getting the crowd hyped up.
1 x proposition to lick a guy's nipple.
1 x Girl who had a fantastic haircut, she had white blonde hair and it was shaved on one side and was a bob on the other, with the hair length getting longer as it got closer to the front of her face, so the front strands of her hair came down to just past her shoulders. The tips looked like they had been dipped in dye. She had the attitude to pull it off too, as only her and Kate Lanphear could.
Joakim
3 x Bang Gang Deejays watching Joakim's killer mid-afternoon set.
4 x Cut Copy t shirts.
0 x Cut Copy remixes played.
Busy P: so French, so cool.
3 x remixes of Yeah Yeah Yeah's Heads Will Roll were played by various DJs: Purple Sneaker DJs, MSTRKRFT and one other I've forgotten. Busy P also played a remix of Zero in his set.
MSTRKRFT
5 x New friends made after their lovely comments about my new Docs.
1 million x undercuts, on both males and females.
1 x Girl wearing a Christopher Kane gorilla t shirt.
The lighting at Crystal Castles was really good, Alice Glass came onstage carrying a strobe light.
0 x Lyrics I could hear at Crystal Castles, even though I was quite close to the front. It was hard to distinguish the vocoder from the synth. Only the occasional screech. If someone had told me she was just mewing into the microphone, I would have believed it. I really had no idea what she was saying. But Alice Glass has a crazy amount of energy, her performance made up for it. I don't know how she does it night after night, it looks so exhausting throwing herself around for a 45-minute set.
Alice Glass enters the Matrix/just about to jump into the audience.
1 x Full moon, which came out just as Empire of the Sun were starting, it was rather fitting. A bit cult-ish too, with the synchronised dancers on stage.
5 x Girls wearing fur coats or vests. Really? Yesterday was boiling hot!
0 x Fireworks I could see just before the Rapture started their set. I was right up the front and the fireworks were being let off by the river, behind the stage.
The Rapture
2 x Crowd surfs by the singer of the Rapture
1 x Ending the night with the Rapture's No Sex for Ben. Soooo good.
1 x dusty pair of Docs from dancing up a (dust) storm.
How was your Parklife? Any numbers of your own you want to add?
2 comments:
Sorry love, but I would have to disagree. I wasn't particularly impressed by the small stages and the enclosed sounding systems which could not be heard from anywhere further than 10m front centre stage. I was however quite impressed with Luke Steele's solo efforts, particularly for 'Without You".
The crowd was a little agro, and too many kids asking around for drugs they become angrily pissed off that they couldn't enjoy themselves. I HATE THIS. Music is something for the soul and from the heart, no drugs needed to appreciate it - end of story.
I prefer the crowd at Big Day Out. It is a little more mature, and more about dancing as bubbly as possible and enjoying oneself.
This year's Parklife was only slighter better than the two years ago..due to the Lineup. Unfortunately, it was still a drug pound.
I mean I had to sacrifice seeing Metric who I was really looking forward to, just so that I gave myself an hour in order to gain prime listening position for Empire of the Sun, to only find myself on top of someone's shoulders, singing each song lyric for lyric, surrounded by people who didn't even know that Empire of the Sun was actually a duo and that Nick Littlemore wasn't involved in the tour due to PNAU commitments.
It is slightly frustrating that some of the honest fans are paying through the nose for tickets to see their favourite bands and music, only to get invaded by little pacman munchers, the smell of uneven orange fake tan, men with angry faces, and girl's disposing of their bile all over the toilet cubicle floors..How is this possible? Is it so hard to hold the flush down for two extra seconds? I mean they are in there for 35 mins snorting coke anyway.
Thank-goodness for La Roux and the crowd singing "THIS TIME BABY, I'LL BEEEE BULLET PROOF!!" in unison. :-) *ahh*
Really? I felt that way about the biggest stage, the one that Empire and La Roux played on. I could only tolerate the bad sound for about 15 mins of each of their sets - I was about half way through the audience. This happens at BDO too and I always blamed Auckland technicians but I guess it's just a given for an outdoor festival, though somehow Rhythm and Vines managed to get it right.
Aaah munters who are desperate for drugs are lame. But everyone appreciates music in a different way and I can understand if someone wants to take drugs to elevate what is already an amazing experience. I'm too worried about freaking out and missing out on seeing bands that I love. What I don't understand is when drugs are essential to having a good time.
I can't comment on the crowds here at BDO in Melbourne, but I think with a big rock element to that festival, it definitely brings a different crowd. At Parklife I felt like everyone was giving each other room to dance, whereas at Big Day Out, a lot of people who are fans of a certain kind of music (I mean bands like Rage Against the Machine and some other heavy rock bands that have been on the lineup recently) are just keen to get into the mosh pit and not really care if they're hurting anyone else.
Well that's more of a scheduling problem than anything else, I've done that before too, missing out on some acts to get prime position for a band that is my #1 priority. You're always going to get people like that, I'm sure you went and saw acts yesterday you didn't know all of the words to, or know the whole back story of the musicians in the band? I know I did. Don't forget it's also about discovering new music too and maybe after seeing Empire's performance yesterday some people went home and downloaded the album?
I understand it's frustrating when people who aren't die-hard fans are the ones taking up valuable breathing space at concerts, but again, you're always going to get those kind of people, regardless or whether it's a festival or headlining concert. We've just got to deal with it, it's kind of a given. It's aaaall part of the package. Enjoy it for what it is.
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