Future Music Festival was always going to be a mixed bag. Combining the biggest names in electronic music, indie rock and pop, the line-up for Future was both daunting and brow furrowing. With the somewhat unsavoury reputation that electronic music festivals have had of late, I am curious to see whether it is going to be something out of the ordinary, or the equivalent of a live Jersey Shore episode.
The sweet sounds of The Naked And Famous welcome me into the festival. While their set was in the unfortunate pre-Skrillex slot, they do an admirable job and “Punching In A Dream” is the perfect warm up to the day. They are becoming a staple festival band and deservedly so.
Despite not being a fan, I make my way into the hugely swollen crowd to check out Skrillex. Surprisingly he puts on one of the better performances of the day. Jumping around and head banging atop the riser, the L.A native brought the energy of a punk show to dubstep which is no mean feat. As expected the crowd goes berserk from start to finish, to the point where the man himself has to ask the crowd to calm down in the mosh (yes, people mosh to dubstep). Confetti and smoke blast out as the Skrillex symbol smoulders at the back of the stage. The man who launched a thousand copycat haircuts blasts out “Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites” and finishes with his remix of “Cinema” which causes the already freaking out crowd to totally lose it. Spray tanned limbs and hair extensions fly with wild abandon before it is time to move on to Die Antwoord.
Heading into the Likes Of You tent, it is shoulder-to-shoulder as the crowd anticipates the kooky South African zef-rap crew’s entrance. The screens surrounding the stage flicker to life to reveal the face of late Die Antwoord collaborator Leon Botha staring over the crowd which is an unexpected but touching tribute. Ninja, Yo-Landi and DJ Hi-Tek emerge on the stage in matching fluoro orange tracksuits and the craziness begins. Yo-Landi is a tiny pixie from Hell, zipping around the stage and spitting water onto the front row behind the thrusting aggression that is Ninja. The foul mouthed Ninja announces to the crowd “I learned to swear from a fucking Australian, it’s your fault” before launching into Kevin Bloody Wilson’s “Hey Santa Claus” in an Australian accent that rivals home job tattoos for roughness.
While entertaining in parts, the novelty soon wears off. They are an undeniably interesting watch but when it comes down to brass tacks, their music isn’t very good and no amount of masks, outfit changes and Kevin Bloody Wilson covers can change that. Walking out of the tent I can’t work out whether I have been watching performance art or if we are all part of the great zef‘n’roll swindle.
Wandering back to the main stages, I catch the end of Friendly Fires set. Lead singer Ed Macfarlane and guitarist Edd Gibson seem to be engaged in an intense dance off before leaving the stage and I mentally kick myself for missing what seemed like a terribly good time. Over at the Las Venus stage, Tinie Tempah belts out “Written In The Stars” to an audience who are keen to sing back twice as loud.
During this time we take a beer break en route to The Rapture and I am delighted to see that Future have decided to do away with the token system that has been causing headaches at festivals over the last few years. The lines are short, the ones at the bar anyway. Taking one look at progressively more munted crowd I would wager the lines in the bathroom are significantly longer.
Filling in time before The Rapture, Ruby Rose turns her hand to the decks though I am not sure why. She manages to get a lacklustre mix of “Rolling In The Deep” out as the crowd rapidly loses attention and some cheeky bugger lobs a bottle that luckily (?) misses.
In what is possibly the biggest let down of the day, one time indie darlings The Rapture skulk onto the stage and begin playing a limp and disinterested rendition of “In The Grace Of Your Love” that would stun the ages. Having been a fan of The Rapture since 2003’s Echoes it was unnerving to see a band that once shone so brightly seem totally bored and disconnected. As vocalist Luke Jenner addresses the crowd for the first time asking, “Who is your favourite band that you have seen today?” a girl standing behind me yells, “Not you!” Jenner goes onto say, “Yeah, I think Madonna is playing later,” while smirking at his band mates. This does it for me and I sadly move on to one of the biggest draw cards of the tour, Fatboy Slim.
Almost the entire Future population congregates to the Las Venus stage as the man born Norman Cook appears behind the decks. A face on the big screen welcomes the crowd before breaking into the start of “Star 69”, to which the entire field erupts into one big “what the fuck?” Quickly sampling “Praise You”, “Fucking In Heaven” and “The Rockefeller Skink”, Fatboy Slim goes into DJ mode and this is where things get confusing. While he puts on a great show and clearly loves what he is doing, working the crowd at every turn, the crowd thins out when they realise that it is going to be a DJ set rather than a Fatboy Slim show. “I dropped a pill for this” is uttered by one disappointer punter. Deciding to cut our losses, we head over to check out The Wombats.
If there ever was a band to cheer you up, it is The Wombats. The Liverpudlian four piece tick every box and play a hit filled set, “Jump Into The Fog” and “Moving To New York” stand out especially. Their show is punctuated by lasers and is an easy highlight of the day. It was recently pointed out by another writer that the irony of The Wombats singing “Let’s Dance To Joy Division” on the same bill as New Order is staggering and I am inclined to agree. Hopefully we will see them back on our shores soon for some solo shows.
By this point the sun has gone down and the more scantily clad festival goers are doing it tough. A few silver hypothermia blankets begin to pop up, with several being used as superhero capes.
This brings me to the biggest decision of my day: who to see last? Having seen New Order a few years ago and not having a great interest in Swedish House Mafia the choice was made to see Aphex Twin. Making our way to the Likes Of You tent, it is a relief to get out of the bone chilling breeze that had started to blow. Veteran German DJ Sven Vath finishes up his set to much applause as we make our way as close to the front as we can.
The lights cut off as the evil genius that is Aphex Twin begins what will be the most amazing DJ set I have ever had the privilege of seeing. While the unschooled have made their way to Swedish House Mafia, those in the know stick around for what will surely be a truly strange set. Beginning with almost oceanic ambient beats, Aphex Twin builds and builds his wall of sounds before exploding it in our faces. A camera man moves slowly along the front row as their faces are broadcast onto the huge screens surround the riser where Aphex Twin mixes with only the slightest of movement. The faces on the screen then have the warped and gruesome faces Aphex Twin is known for morphed onto them. Showing his twisted humour, the faces are then put onto the bodies of famous Australians: Julia Gillard, Kath and Kim, Bindi Irwin; even Chopper isn’t safe.
To bear witness to this painstakingly put together show where light, music, images and fricken laser beams all come together is almost humbling. From a thread he weaves intricately layered beats that are so much more than the sum of their parts. Richard James is the total opposite of Fatboy Slim who laps up the attention of the crowd, he is happier for the audience to forget he is there at all, which when surrounded by so many other stimuli is easy. Aphex Twin’s set is one of the most terrifying, beautiful and transcendental things I have ever witnessed. As the set comes to a close, the talented Mr James simply smiles and gives the crowd a thumbs up before melting away into the night. I cannot help but think that there is no-one else on the lineup fit to hold his towel.
In what was one of the most diverse and ambitious lineups of the summer festival season, Future can be declared a resounding success. While there were trashy elements to it and a fair sprinkling of bottle throwing douche bags, there was a certainly community spirit to the day and it was easily much better organised then several festivals Maybe I am still riding a wave of Aphex Twin’s brilliance but it was a day that I will remember long after the last beat, the last train and after the last muscle truck puts his shirt back on.
– Madison Thomas
