Future Music Festival Melbourne 2014 @ Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne (09/03/2014)
I’m going to start this off by saying I’ve never been to a Future Music festival before. Past years have had their fair share of bands I’d certainly be interested in seeing, but I’d never actually taken the plunge, dropped the $160, and carted myself off to Flemington Racecourse. In the lead up to this year’s festivities, I’d heard plenty of talk about how it was a strange line-up this year; and with a huge emphasis being put on DJ’s and electronic music, it did make acts like Cut/Copy and Phoenix stick out like a sore thumb, regardless of how electronically influenced their music is.
As a result, my thoughts as I made my way to the festival ground last Sunday were a little bit concerned, mostly due to the fact that I have no idea who in the world Eric Pryde, Carnage, Rehab, Kaskade, or basically any of the main headliners (sort of Phoenix, Deadmau5, Rudimental, or Pharrell Williams) are. Now, berate me all you want, but I’m not big into hard-core, DJ-centric music, so I can’t claim to know every DJ that graced the stage at Future Music this year, but I know enough to tell you whether the day was any good or not, so, without further ado, let’s do that.
Usually, stepping off the train at Flemington, I’d have a better plan as to how I was going to go about my day, but in order to give myself a cleaner slate on which to experience the festival, I opted to avoid a timetable until I actually made past the gate. As a result, my first act was the ITM chosen ‘best DJ’s in Australia’, The Stafford Brothers, along with Jazz/House whiz-kid Timmy Trumpet.
From the moment I saw them I knew what The Stafford Brother’s would be bringing to the table, and it turned out I was correct. However, the balls-to-the-wall-no-nonsense house beats The Stafford Brother’s put out are hard not to enjoy, especially in an outdoor setting, something that I wasn’t expecting. Timmy Trumpet (a.k.a. Tim Smith) also did a fine job harmonizing along with the music, and although I doubt it was improvisation, Smith’s trumpet playing added another dimension to the music as a whole, and it is impressive to see a DJ set actually make use of live instrumentation, rather than just relying on pre-recorded melodies.
Melbourne-based Will Sparks was my favourite DJ of the day, partly because I like to believe that he did his best to put on the best show for his home town, and also because he’s just a fun guy to watch. People say it’s great when an artist puts in just as much as their audience, and I’d agree, as Sparks’ wacky hand movements and general good-vibes attitude helped a lot in creating a great atmosphere.
Between acts like Dada Life, Carnage, Rehab, and Kaskade, there wasn’t much salvation from an onslaught of bass and syncopated rhythm. Pharrell Williams’ half-hour set was unappealing and bland, Williams’ playing a chopped medley of songs from his early years as a background poster-boy of ‘a bit weird’ pop music, then moving on to touch-stones from his recent resurgence to ubiquity, songs like ‘Blurred Lines’, ‘Get Lucky’, and the inescapable ‘Happy’, from his new album ‘G I R L’, his first solo release in eight years. Apparently ‘Happy’ was somehow related to last year’s Despicable Me 2, something that the easily recognisable ‘minions’ from the film that were displayed on the stage screen made obvious, also hammering home the point that wherever ‘the cool’ is, Pharrell is certain to be found, regardless of age-group.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis was the first performance of the day which made use of more than just a DJ in their set (sans Timmy Trumpet), as the duo were joined on stage by a violinist, cellist, and trumpet player. Macklemore has made obviously huge strides in the past two-years, with the comprehensively stratospheric ‘Thrift Shop’ being he and Lewis’ ticket to stardom and Grammy success. Thankfully however, none of this good fortune seems to be lost on Macklemore, as the sincerity in his performance of songs like ‘Same Love’ and ‘Wings’ is delivered along with a twinkling admiration with the crowd. I’ve not seen such a commercially successful artist believe so hard in their music like what I saw in Macklemore, and that belief turned into a lot of energy on stage, Macklemore positively bounding about the space, feeding off, and too, the positive energy in the air.
After I noticed that the next two and a half hours on the main-stage would be another DJ bonanza leading up to the arrival of electronic royalty Deadmau5, I decided to retreat to the smaller Safari Stage to watch the remaining acts of the day in a less intense atmosphere.
Rudimental’s collaborative efforts were commendable, a highlight being the three lead vocalists, who swapped about lead responsibilities, lending some welcome variation to the set, as by the time they were finished, Rudimental had sort of lost me, their sound blurring together, and I lost patience, hoping for a quick finish. Regardless of how I felt though, the main quartet performed brilliantly.
Phoenix’s arrival on stage was a welcome sight for me. As I imagine most people have, I’ve followed the group since their fourth release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and their admittedly ‘safe’ but infectious pop-rock was also excellently redeveloped on their recent record Bankrupt! Phoenix has a subtle personality on stage, and from their faces you’d think they’d just come off their first break-out album, and hadn’t gotten used to the fact that people love their music. Thomas Mars’ constant thanking of the crowd and the semi-dumbfounded yet amused facial expressions of guitarist Christian Mazzalai were proof enough that the band were having a blast, seamlessly gliding through a selection of songs from their two most recent releases, with some older tunes sprinkled throughout for good measure. The mash-up of ‘Trying to be Cool/Dakar Noir’ was wonderfully danceable, but a real visual treat came with ‘Love like a Sunset’, the song complimented with projected hazy imagery of a cars perspective, speeding through the streets of Paris.
Having opened with ‘Entertainment’, the lead single from Bankrupt!, it was fitting the group would return to that song’s bridge to close out the set, a bombastic and loud finisher over which Mars’ climbed into the crowed, before returning to the stage and eventually disappearing backstage with the rest of the band.
Future Music was rife with great performances and plenty of good energy, and all things considered, that’s what a festival ought to be about.
Nick Kennedy
As a result, my thoughts as I made my way to the festival ground last Sunday were a little bit concerned, mostly due to the fact that I have no idea who in the world Eric Pryde, Carnage, Rehab, Kaskade, or basically any of the main headliners (sort of Phoenix, Deadmau5, Rudimental, or Pharrell Williams) are. Now, berate me all you want, but I’m not big into hard-core, DJ-centric music, so I can’t claim to know every DJ that graced the stage at Future Music this year, but I know enough to tell you whether the day was any good or not, so, without further ado, let’s do that.
Usually, stepping off the train at Flemington, I’d have a better plan as to how I was going to go about my day, but in order to give myself a cleaner slate on which to experience the festival, I opted to avoid a timetable until I actually made past the gate. As a result, my first act was the ITM chosen ‘best DJ’s in Australia’, The Stafford Brothers, along with Jazz/House whiz-kid Timmy Trumpet.
From the moment I saw them I knew what The Stafford Brother’s would be bringing to the table, and it turned out I was correct. However, the balls-to-the-wall-no-nonsense house beats The Stafford Brother’s put out are hard not to enjoy, especially in an outdoor setting, something that I wasn’t expecting. Timmy Trumpet (a.k.a. Tim Smith) also did a fine job harmonizing along with the music, and although I doubt it was improvisation, Smith’s trumpet playing added another dimension to the music as a whole, and it is impressive to see a DJ set actually make use of live instrumentation, rather than just relying on pre-recorded melodies.
Melbourne-based Will Sparks was my favourite DJ of the day, partly because I like to believe that he did his best to put on the best show for his home town, and also because he’s just a fun guy to watch. People say it’s great when an artist puts in just as much as their audience, and I’d agree, as Sparks’ wacky hand movements and general good-vibes attitude helped a lot in creating a great atmosphere.
Between acts like Dada Life, Carnage, Rehab, and Kaskade, there wasn’t much salvation from an onslaught of bass and syncopated rhythm. Pharrell Williams’ half-hour set was unappealing and bland, Williams’ playing a chopped medley of songs from his early years as a background poster-boy of ‘a bit weird’ pop music, then moving on to touch-stones from his recent resurgence to ubiquity, songs like ‘Blurred Lines’, ‘Get Lucky’, and the inescapable ‘Happy’, from his new album ‘G I R L’, his first solo release in eight years. Apparently ‘Happy’ was somehow related to last year’s Despicable Me 2, something that the easily recognisable ‘minions’ from the film that were displayed on the stage screen made obvious, also hammering home the point that wherever ‘the cool’ is, Pharrell is certain to be found, regardless of age-group.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis was the first performance of the day which made use of more than just a DJ in their set (sans Timmy Trumpet), as the duo were joined on stage by a violinist, cellist, and trumpet player. Macklemore has made obviously huge strides in the past two-years, with the comprehensively stratospheric ‘Thrift Shop’ being he and Lewis’ ticket to stardom and Grammy success. Thankfully however, none of this good fortune seems to be lost on Macklemore, as the sincerity in his performance of songs like ‘Same Love’ and ‘Wings’ is delivered along with a twinkling admiration with the crowd. I’ve not seen such a commercially successful artist believe so hard in their music like what I saw in Macklemore, and that belief turned into a lot of energy on stage, Macklemore positively bounding about the space, feeding off, and too, the positive energy in the air.
After I noticed that the next two and a half hours on the main-stage would be another DJ bonanza leading up to the arrival of electronic royalty Deadmau5, I decided to retreat to the smaller Safari Stage to watch the remaining acts of the day in a less intense atmosphere.
Rudimental’s collaborative efforts were commendable, a highlight being the three lead vocalists, who swapped about lead responsibilities, lending some welcome variation to the set, as by the time they were finished, Rudimental had sort of lost me, their sound blurring together, and I lost patience, hoping for a quick finish. Regardless of how I felt though, the main quartet performed brilliantly.
Phoenix’s arrival on stage was a welcome sight for me. As I imagine most people have, I’ve followed the group since their fourth release, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, and their admittedly ‘safe’ but infectious pop-rock was also excellently redeveloped on their recent record Bankrupt! Phoenix has a subtle personality on stage, and from their faces you’d think they’d just come off their first break-out album, and hadn’t gotten used to the fact that people love their music. Thomas Mars’ constant thanking of the crowd and the semi-dumbfounded yet amused facial expressions of guitarist Christian Mazzalai were proof enough that the band were having a blast, seamlessly gliding through a selection of songs from their two most recent releases, with some older tunes sprinkled throughout for good measure. The mash-up of ‘Trying to be Cool/Dakar Noir’ was wonderfully danceable, but a real visual treat came with ‘Love like a Sunset’, the song complimented with projected hazy imagery of a cars perspective, speeding through the streets of Paris.
Having opened with ‘Entertainment’, the lead single from Bankrupt!, it was fitting the group would return to that song’s bridge to close out the set, a bombastic and loud finisher over which Mars’ climbed into the crowed, before returning to the stage and eventually disappearing backstage with the rest of the band.
Future Music was rife with great performances and plenty of good energy, and all things considered, that’s what a festival ought to be about.
Nick Kennedy