What Went Down… Under: Future Music Festival @ Doomben Racecourse, Brisbane

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  in Reports
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Image Julian Smith

Hercules & Love Affair’s disco-informed electronica was aided by guest vocalists, as it is on their records. Sound livelier and infinitely danceable live on stage, the band got peeps grooving even before they got sufficiently boozed up. Holy Ghost! delivered an electric dance performance that’d make hero and frequent tour peer James Murphy proud. We don’t mean to be vague, but ‘Wait and See’ and ‘Do It Again’ had an atmospheric edge to it that could only be exuded when played live at festivals.

We weren’t there only for just the acts coming over to FMFA, of course. Art shlock shock rap act Die Antwoord, well, shocked the crowd with their lowbrow South African white trash façade. At one point, group leader Ninja actually punched someone – at which moment we were confused by what was real and what was an act. Still, their maligned EDM meets white trash-appropriated mid-‘90s hip hop, while obnoxious on record, was a visceral in your face experience live.

Then there was Knife Party. Formed by two members of Pendulum, who will be performing at FMFA, the duo brought a sonic hotchpotch to the stage – a warped and frenetic mix of electro house and dubstep rang loud and hard through the sound system with dirty beats and bass.

Preceding The Wombats was Friendly Fires. While the crowd at the Flamingo Stage (basically where all the bands were slotted to perform at) wasn’t as huge as the dance stage, the band delivered their brand of white boy soul funk to a crowd of genuine fans. Still a shame though, considering the ending was an epic instrumental, the kind to give you goosebumps had there been a bigger crowd.

However the absolute highlight of the festival was definitely New Order. Despite the rain, and their admittedly more tired performance (Bernard Sumner is 56-year-old after all), we can’t help but dance in the rain to old classics like ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. (For the record, we’re all youngins lest you think JUICE is run by old dudes). By the time New Order got to ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, we forgave their rather… bizarre announcement when the downpour got heavier – “girls in the audience… I suggest you take your clothes off to keep them dry for later on.”

Future Music Festival Brisbane had us more excited for what is to come this 17 March at Sepang International Circuit. Come heat and rain, we don’t care, Brisbane got us prepared.

Future Music Festival @ Brisbane was on 3 March 2012. Only 3 days left for you to purchase the RM138 tickets to Future Music Festival Asia before the price increase to RM158. What the heck are you waiting for? Click here to get ‘em now. Tickets at door retail at RM188 and VIP tickets are RM388.

Find more FMFA deets here. Click here for more pictures of the event.