With the competition for festival-goers hard earned reaching fever pitch this spring, it was always going to be interesting to see which of the newly arrived smorgasbord of events would capture the public’s attention. With its UK counterpart attaining legendary status over the years at Long Marsten Airfield, the 2008 Global Gathering season branched out to include shows in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, New Zealand, Malaysia and Australia.
Perth’s version was hosted at the Esplanade, and El Nino/global warming was in full effect with the usual end-of-November sunshine replaced with clouds, showers and cold winds. Nevertheless a healthy crowd was in early to see Australia’s number one export Dirty South, rocking out on the mainstage with some nice commercial tech-trancey-house. It was more shuffling than fully blown dancing yet the mixed crowd seemed to still be enjoying the tunes. Perhaps even more entertaining was the douche next to the decks who can only be assumed was one of DS’s mates, acting like an MC without a mic (though I’m sure he would’ve liked one). He had the hands in the air for the breakdowns and beat drops and was making Betty Davis eyes, through his Prada sunglasses, at a few of the young, very young, ladies in the front row. A true pimp if I have ever seen one.
South made way for one of the true icons in DJing of the modern era Felix Da Housecat, with his infamous set at Summadayze last year a highlight of that festival. With no scantily pink-clad dancers for this set, there was the age old problem of the large stage with a little DJ and with no special visuals it lost a little bit of magic. Spinning a party-friendly selection including some Presets, MGMT and the ever-present Daft Punk, Felix kept most at least head-nodding along to the tunes.
It quickly became time for a brief nip across the grass to the Godskitchen stage to check out Australia’s newly crowned number 1 DJ, 21 year-old Brisbane wunderkind Tydi. He had a small but devoted set of followers on the noticeably small stage, which probably realistically reflects trance’s popularity in Perth. It was one of the most enthusiastic crowds of the day and it wasn’t hard (even for someone who doesn’t like trance) to see why he had earned ITM’s highest honour with the dance friendly trance that wasn’t do heavy for anyone in the vicinity. This kid will be rivaling Dirty South for Australia’s number one producer soon too.
After a quick deep fried hot dog it was over to the Frisk tent to see US electro duo Fischerspooner. Looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, the electro-poppers both had long hair but that was about the extent of their physical similarities with one tall with platinum blonde hair and wrap-around sunnies, the other short with scraggly brown hair; opposites must indeed attract. Their set was upbeat and generally non-vocal electro with chainsaw basslines galore, a far cry from their more melodic original material. The large crowd was enjoying the set and things kicked up a notch when new Tiga singe Mind Dimension was played in between some techno and almost fidgety house.
One of the main draw cards for the festival was musical man-of-the-moment Mark Ronson. Almost seeming a little out of place at Global Gathering, which seemed to have a much poppier flavour than its UK cousin, Ronson had brought his ‘Version Players’ down under and the excitement was palpable. A four-piece female string section, then a three-man horns section and the rest of the band appeared on stage with the last to arrive being Ronson, dressed sharply in a slim-fitting suit and vintage guitar. Opening with an instrumental version of Maximo Park’s Apply Some Pressure, the brass and strings sounded crisp and clear and gave the day some much needed excitement. US MC Rhymefest was the first of numerous guest vocalists to let rip, giving us his own version of *Britney Spears*’ Toxic. Lily Allen’s vocals on Oh My God were impressively replaced by English singer Tawiah which had a nice crowd sing-along before Ronson unloaded on his guitar to show there was no Chinese Democracy about his skills with some sweet Guns ‘n Roses riffing. ‘Australia’s own’ and good mate Daniel Merriweather was next to grace the stage to belt out his version of Stop Me before Tawiah returned to finish with Amy Winehouse’s now classic take on The Zuton’s Valerie. Overall Ronson would prove to be one of the clear highlights of the festival with the sound quality, artist performances and entertainment value absolutely top notch, it was a tip of the hat to Mr Ronson.
Minimal maestro Sasha was playing a two and a half hour set under the Ministry of Sound big-top and had a healthy crowd grooving to his tech-rhythms. Playing a mixture of minimal house, progressive and techno, the legendary Welsh DJ seemed to be missing something and a similarly styled DJ friend informed me that he thought Sasha had played more of a club set than a festival set (of which has almost religious status). When questioned about it, this learned DJ friend said it needed more highs and lows and as he knows a lot more about this subject matter it will be left at that.
After Sasha it was back to the mainstage to catch the godfathers of electronic music Kraftwerk. To say that they have had a major impact on dance music would be a gross understatement and the example was no more glaring than almost exactly a year ago when Daft Punk played the same strip of riverside grass. The man and machine juxtapositions, the wireframed screens and visual stimulation all have be pretty much appropriated by the Daft ones for their own use, though the 4 Kraftwerkers had no need to hide their aging appearances under robot helmets. There is something mystical about what the four of them are doing on their computers and hell, as is the case with many other electronic performers, they could have simply been playing a CD, but as Melbourne sadly found out the night before, they need all of their parts to complete the full picture. Member Fritz had unfortunately had some sort of heart complications and, reminiscent of Voltron, as all the components weren’t there, the whole was not made and unfortunately Melbournians missed out on seeing the German geniuses. Opening with The Man-Machine, the minimal bleeps and drum kicks and snares were hypnotic, yet still danceable, though at a much slower pace. Running through most of their classics including Tour de France, the Coldplay sampled Computer Love, Autobahn and The Model. Unfortunately the wind and cold weather made it a little chilly and with Gorillaz playing under the big top, it was time to leave the pioneers for some newer experimentalists.
Billed as Gorillaz Soundsystem, it was unclear what would the cartoon music collective would take in live form and much to the dismay of surely many in attendance, it was a set of decks and a few MCs. One of the most immediate things when entering was the absolutely shocking sound mix with the bass drowning out almost every other sound. The sound was surely one of the worst ever heard at a festival and someone should have had their backsides given a good Dirty Harry for the shambles. Playing a lot of instrumental hip hop tracks including some 50 Cent and Basement Jaxx, the MCs rhyming over the top sounded off-pitch and the track and beat mixing was a joke. Visual elements projected were mildly interesting but couldn’t makeup for the horrible sound coming out of the speakers. It may have seemed like a party on stage but it was anything but in the crowd with die hard fans doing their best to move to the out of time beats. It only seemed to clear up when a couple of Gorillaz originals including Dare and closer Feel Good Inc were dropped, and even Feel Good Inc was just given a couple of ‘yeahs’ by the onstage MCs and the verses by De La Soul simply let play.
All in all the first Global Gathering was a moderate success with Kraftwerk and Ronson being the standout performers and Gorillaz being the biggest disappointments, who may have been a case of ‘if you’re not going to do it properly, don’t do it at all’. With a moderate crowd and impressive organization with little to no lines for most amenities, if the weather had been a little warmer, no one could have gone home too disappointed.
kanni says...
P.S.: Above and Beyond were amazing !!! :)
mzteriouz says...
i'd have to agree with that, they were such friendly guys too :))