Future Music Festival is Crap

People have been saying that the Australian festival scene is dead. But I think that it is merely moving on. Festivals are being changed by the music that is showcased and the people that attend. Of course, I can only speak as far as Melbourne is concerned so perhaps it is more accurate to say that the Melbourne festival scene is changing.

Take for instance the Big Day Out. BDO has had a bit of a hard time in Melbourne lately, being shifted around from venue to venue in the wake of the refurbishment of the show grounds. Last year's, at Princess Park, was a success. The bands were great, the crowd good, and the venue comfortable. This year, at the Flemington Racecourse, the bands were still great but the sound suffered at times. The crowd was worse than last year, with more people so far gone that one wonders why they bothered to show up at all. And the venue was a disgrace. Dusty, filthy, and with very little natural shelter. I suppose that's what happens when you stage a music festival in what is essentially a gravel car park. But overall, it was still a Big Day Out and lots of fun.

Future Music festival was shit. The big draw card for me were The Chemical Brothers, but it was their set that epitomised all that was wrong with it as a whole. Their set lacked energy, lacked passion, and lacked the spark that the Chems have become famous for. And it is little wonder, considering the crowd that gathered on the hill of the Sidney Myer Music Bowl to watch. Who were they? For the most part they were pissed bogans, dressed in their finest fluoro, munching pills and getting pissed on vodka and lemonade. Rather than being a feature of the day, the high point and climax, The Chemical Brothers were reduced to being background muzak to the inane conversations of rednecks more interested in getting fuck-eyed and belting out a horrid rendition of 'Jesse's Girl' than being sucked in to a mind-bending set. Is it any wonder that The Chemical Brothers didn't even finish their allotted time and scarped as soon as they were given the chance to get off stage.

I suppose that festivals are somewhat like nightspots. A bar with gains a reputation for a good atmosphere, good music, etc. and people begin to go there more often. Then, as word spreads, more people come, including those who ruin the atmosphere for others. This has happened with the company Future Music. Future Music in Australia have encouraged the fluoro singlet and shirtless muzza brigade so as to extract the most amount of cash without a thought to the music. They have become the worst type of greedy corporation, one without morals or guidance to allow the continued survival of their industry.

So I'm on the lookout for new festivals and places to go without Melbourne's most unsavoury elements. Or perhaps I should find a new hobby, such as picking my toenails and flicking the jam at people.