I WENT TO FOMO FESTIVAL 2017

Empire of the Sun are one of the richest musical acts I have ever seen, but there was a days worth of festival before they reached the stage, most of which was a curious musical contrast to the dream-pop icons. The soundscape of FOMO, which began at 11am with the chilled and melodic Lastlings, was thereafter rap, hip hop and R&B, dirtied up with dupstep references. Feki, who provided some of the smoothest transitions of the day, gets labelled "future soul". If I had to name it, however, I would say a whole lot of urban Trap, which made for a hard-edged but decidedly downtempo vibe. Hannah Wants is the only DJ who pushed the BPM above 100, with remixes of some smooth naughties club anthems.

The crowd were either trailing in, or sweaty and languid through most of the early sets. The first crowd-pit emerged when international act Desiigner hit the mic, and even still, it was a dedicated crew, slam-dancing just in front of the stage. For the most part, the urban attitude of the music seemed heavily reflected in the crowd, who were hangin' and checking each other, smoking, walking, or keeping to the shade. Desiigner's trap had a downbeat, reflective edge that sounded like heat and concrete to me, but perhaps that was delirium. Perth up-and-comers Slumberjack then continued with the hip hop but segued into a less aggressive, more performative feel with a live vocalist. Goldlink blended trap with whole indie classics like "Smells Like Teen Spirit", in what must be a new approach to mixing. Metro Boomin' brought out the bass and the 808's - originals mixed with music from his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. MC JME was a more studied performance, with beats taking a backseat to his killer rhymes. He seemed to hold the crowd, stalking and enunciating, despite the intensity of a rap set seeming a little dispersed in such a large outdoor venue.

Australian Summer festivals have that special relationship with endurance and heat and there was a noticable pickup of energy when the sun finally buggered off and gave us all some relief. And I mean that quite literally: a backflip competition broke out on one of the mounds, as if to celebrate life-force no longer being licked from all of our pores. This was around when Aussie duo Peking Duk took the stage, one of the most mentioned acts in the exit interviews I conducted. "They had so much energy", punters all said, and they were right. A few visuals and a little bit of crowd interaction goes a long way, even with electronica. They also played some vocal house amid the trap and mixed it well, which seemed musically smart. The crowd were getting ready for the headliners, but they still made an impression, no mean feat at all.

Which brings me to where I began: one of the richest musical acts I have seen, and a sudden departure from attitudinal urban slam into a wonderland of colour along with chords so emotive you could be listening to a film soundtrack. The thing about Empire is, they really don't have any boring songs. To qualify, listening to their music is like trying to keep track of Donald Trump's mis-statements: a flood of information points and you can't settle on just one. For anyone who hasn't seen them live, it is much more four-on-the-floor than their studio work, which tends to have a bunch of electronic disco snares. They do, however, perform with a live drummer, which works to further emphasise the percussion. It was definitely a dance set, and the onstage dancers lent to the other-worldliness. "Luke Steele must know so much about music" I thought to myself, and probably not just popular music. In the short set at FOMO I counted nuances of Prince, Michael Jackson, Sly and the Family Stone, Bee Gees, Boney M, David Bowie; disco, funk, house, ambient, new wave, psychodelia - all this as Steele finished the main set by smashing his guitar like Pete Townsend. These cats make you into a proud Australian: sort of like Vegemite, but far from an acquired taste. The only flaw was that "Alive" sounds a little like "Lux" in the chorus: I'm being picky.

The problem with finishing with Flosstradamus after a trap-laden festival was you sort of felt that this is how the genre should be done. His set had the stadium feel of Empire of the Sun, but an opposite vibe: instead of feathers, eyeliner and disco dancers, his stage-set was smoky, industrial and mechanical, like his music. The park-sized crowd, none the less after Empire, and individually lit up like carollers by what I assume were phone apps, went wild when he asked for "any dubstep fans". His set stuttered and wobbled into the night as police gathered behind the slowly bangin' sea, ready for close of eve exodus. I asked an officer about the tone of the festival. Quite notably, I hadn't smelled any weed all day; guys were ripped and shirtless, girls were glaring at each other's outfits, perhaps it was the trap, but there wasn't a hippie in sight. "A whole heap of busts at the entrance" the cop said, which was puzzling because there were no sniffers at all. It must have been random checks, and I'm not even sure how many "a whole heap" is, in the eyes of the law. There was one hospitalisation, he added, a tad sheepishly, in a way that made me suspect it was beer and heat stroke.

I've been to great festivals. Big Day Out was always the most anticipated event of my Summer before it disappointingly folded,and was always full of long time music fans lost in the atmosphere. What FOMO lacked was cohesion. The decision to have everything on one stage meant that there were long changovers with only a tinny backing tape of Prince (assumedly because he's dead) playing between sets. I don't know if it was that, or the fact that I have seen some killer trap sets lately on mixmag Facebook, (take a look at Alice in Wonderland), or maybe the decision to mix so much hip hop with Empire of the Sun. It wasn't bad or dismal by any means, but since I heard many describe it as a "dance music festival", I was left wondering why such similar DJ's were put next to each other with no peaks or troughs, and why more genres weren't represented.

#sydney #arts #music