Future Music Festival

March 8th

The Future Music Festival is what brought me back to Melbourne. Yes, I could have stayed in Adelaide and seen it there, but I got a ticket for it in Melbourne shortly after arriving. Besides, I had a crew to go with.
Basement Jaxx, N.E.R.D., CSS, Grandmaster Flash... I was pumped.

Didn’t see much of Grandmaster Flash (he started at 2pm), N.E.R.D. was good, but the sound wasn’t; I couldn’t get to CSS because it was at a different stage and I certainly was not going to miss Basement Jaxx.

Michael, David, and I had jumped the barrier to see N.E.R.D. and then decided to make a move for the front, to be there in time for Basement Jaxx. Which meant enduring Paul Oakenfield – ter-ri-ble – but worth it a million times over. In fact, Basement Jaxx made up for the whole predominantly lacklustre festival, despite the largely unresponsive [see also: very high] crowd.
And there were costume changes!
(What can I say? I’m a sucker for costume changes.)

***

We made it 2nd from the front and soon after, I was cursing my empty water bottle. Some of the people around us had been there for hours, including a lobster-red lout from Leeds. The only way out was over the fence, and after that, you’d be at the very back.

From time to time, the security guards got water bottles and fed people in the front few lines, who waited anxiously, mouths open like baby birds.

At one point, we're joined by a feisty blonde named Alesia and her Italian cousin. They had pushed their way to the front fairly quickly and had had enough of the drunken and stoned hoards. Thankfully, Alesia decided she liked us, because she seemed quite sincere in her threats of violence toward everyone else.