Parklife Adelaide. Enjoyable even if you didn’t know who all the acts were. Though, let’s be honest with radio favouritesThe Presets leading the bill, and with Swedish pop singer Robyn, indie pop greats Passion Pit, psychelicious four-piece Tame Impala, and French electronica masterminds Justice on the bill – it’d be a hard feat to not to have heard all about it.
Kicking off the day was young chillwave producer Harley Streten, aka Flume. The initial cheering turned into empathetic wails when Flume revealed his broken arm as he walked on stage.
Further cheers arose as he announced his first song for the set would be his collaboration between himself and Chet Faker. Flume brought out a stellar set, full of quality songs such as “Sleepless” and “Paper Thin”, setting up everyone’s good moods for the day to come.
Citizens proved that their take on indie rock was certainly not the most desired of the festival, as they were only performing to a few rows of people, but the lack of crowd was no indication of how killer their performance was.
Crowd surfing, floral tights, travelling sunglasses, and overly fuzzed basslines were all ripe in their forty minute set, and they had just enough hits such as “Reptile” and “True Romance” to keep the crowd having an awesome time.
Soon to follow were American indie pop duo Chairlift, who have been making more than a few trips down under in recent times.
Lead singer Caroline Polachek’s vocals were just as good (if not better) live, and in between her elegantly sung words, she managed to bring out some eccentric dance moves. She also managed to sing nearly the entirety of “I Belong In Your Arms” in Japanese, as per a Twitter request.
Parklife is well known for its DJ stages, with both the Forest stage and Madam Sing’s Junk stage having a constant showcase of the nation’s hidden gems.
Fan favourites Bondi Hipsters managed to worm their way into being put on the Parklife bill following their YouTube video of the duo sneaking into Parklife offices to see the lineup.
The psychedelic Tame Impala were back in town with their sophomore release Lonerism, and their diehard fans couldn’t have been happier. The set started with “Desire Be Desire Go” quickly followed by the fantastic “Solitude Is Bliss” and new single “Elephant”. Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek also made a guest appearance, playing tambourine on “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”
Passion Pit were nothing short of an excitement-crammed celebration that included massive amounts of confetti, a packed jumping crowd, and more synths than you could count.
The five piece proved that they were worthy of co-headlining the secondary stage, as lead singer Michael Angelakos was, for the most part, showcasing his talent of being able to dash from sides of stage back and forth, all while singing in unique high pitch perfectly.
Playing all of their singles and finishing off with “Little Secrets” to a blast of confetti, Passion Pit made sure they were not one to disappoint.
Up next were headliners The Presets. At the lineup’s release, there was some controversy over whether the Australian duo were worthy to headline the festival, but their stellar performance quickly showed the doubters just how amazing a show they could put on.
Coming onto a set full of LCD screens, their show started with an intro that quickly turned into the ever pumping “Kicking And Screaming”. As the mass of people erupted in time to the track coming ont – it was clear that the crowd were eager to get as wild as they possibly could. This was soon followed by a unique remix of “Talk Like That” that then led into “Fall”.
Percussionist Kim Moyes was often seen traveling between his elevated drum kit and to the side of his partner Julian Hamilton, playing two roles in their set. By this point, everyone watching was completely enveloped in the dance atmosphere set by the duo.
One of their major singles “This Boy’s In Love” from their breakthrough album Apocalypso was introduced with a mellow mood, which caused more of a sing-a-long than a rave fest.
Finally, with a variety of tracks played from a range of their three albums, they decided to end their hour long set with the ever popular “My People” – a surefire track to finish the entire festival on an excellent note.
Be sure to check out all the action from the day in our Parklife Adelaide photo gallery.
