GenQ - For the not so straight individual

The sun was shining, the drinks were flowing, the bass was pumping, and the well-built guys were topless. Stereosonic 07 was held at the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds on Saturday December 1st, and it easily set the precedence of what to expect of the ‘07/08 round of summer dance festivals. For 10 hours, a crowd of thousands filled the massive expansion, which boasted 7 stages and over 50 of the hottest local and international djs, including headliner Armand Van Helden.



Interesting features for the day included reflector stilt walkers, which looked like they were better placed in the snow, the seeming pre-requisite of being sculpted for guys to enter the gates (every guy was beautiful, even I could tell that!), the sprays of water that gave relief to the first 30 rows of people or so, and a guy I refer to as ‘multi-task man’, who managed to carry a dancing, cheering girl on his shoulders, in a packed crowd, and also pash on with another girl on the ground at the same time, for minutes on end!



I’ve mentioned the beautiful guys, but I can’t leave out the women. Summer had definitely arrived, as small, revealing tops and shorts, and bikini tops were the flavour of the day. It was definitely a sea of talent, both on stage and off.

But the day was by no means about the people who attended. They were there for one main reason, and that was the DJ talent on the stages. The likes of locals John Course, Grant Smillie and Ivan Gough got the crowds going early, as the sun peered on already tanned bodies and prepared to inflict even more damage. By the appearance of Trentemoller on the main stage, the crowd was packed and the sun harsh. But nobody seemed to care what the conditions were, as long as there was room to bust a move.



I wasn’t familiar with Trentemoller prior to the day, and so was pleasantly surprised when he took the stage and began playing some hot tracks with fantastic improvisation sound effects. I met a guy in the crowd who had seen Trentemoller live in places like London, Paris, Germany and now his home town of Melbourne. It’s easy to see why talented DJs are in demand all over the world. Music is universal and people know a good sound when they hear it.

Fedde Le Grand lit up the stage with a smile on his face and a great energy. But the buzz in the camps I was surrounded by, was for Booka Shade. Again, I wasn’t as familiar with his stuff, but I grew to love it instantly. Playing Mouth Organs (they must have been running on a Bluetooth connection or something because I saw no cords!), and electronic drum machines, his sound was authentic and unique. Kaz James led us up to 7:30pm, and finished with ‘A Beautiful Day’ by U2, which had the crowd singing along and in good spirits.



It was at that time when the man of the day showed up on stage. Armand Van Helden, in my opinion, is ‘cool’ personified. And his set was gold. Playing old and new dance, house and even mixed pop, the crowd gave the biggest reaction to an instrumental mix of ‘way I are’ by Timbaland and Armand’s own, ‘I want your soul’, which the whole crowd sung to in unison. Probably the biggest amount of vocal tracks of the event was played during Armand’s set, and I appreciated this. Whilst all the DJs have a different style, it was good to have something to sing along to and break up the trance vibe. Ajax closed proceedings with an hour set and did well considering what a hard act to follow Armand was.



As Booka Shade said, ‘It’s a beautiful day for a rave’, and it was. Stereosonic 07 was a hit in all regards, and I can’t wait to head back next year.

If you attended this year’s Stereosonic and have any personal memories to contribute or photos, please submit them to natalie.k@generationq.net.