I’ve listened to live gigs. I’ve partied in clubs. I’ve watched concerts. I’ve even recently just attended my first music festival at DayGlow – the World’s Largest Paint Party. But nothing prepared me for the sights, sounds and experience I witnessed at Future Music Festival this year!
I’ve been told stories, shown photos and watched videos. I thought I knew what I was in for – but no, I got it all wrong.
Future Music Festival is an Australian-owned event hosted annually across the country. Touring over the course of (less than) a month from city to city, FMF boasts a line-up of internationally renowned artists, bands and DJs, leaving no one stranded for good music.
The festival runs throughout the course of the day. Despite the gates opening at mid day, we rocked up at about 2:30pm to avoid the massive queues and congested trains…
As we approached the gounds, even the view from the train was spectacular beyond belief. It was incredible.
Tents were scattered and erected across the board, thrillseeking joyrides planted in the middle, whilst thousands upon thousands of colorful moving bodies circulated the fields of green.
Although there were thousands of people whom attended this annual event, there was barely a line upon entry.
Gates stay open throughout the entire day, giving patrons the freedom to come as they choose!
“We” consisted of Eric, Tish & myself.
The grounds were so large that the potential of getting lost had a success rate equal to that of that Asian kid in class acing that calculus test. You do the maths.
Best of all, the weather was undeniably kind!
Sunnies & singlets would have been a great combination, but I was cautious. Melbourne having pride itself as a city with 4 seasons in one day prepared me to expect the unexpected. (And boy was I glad!)
Booze stations for frozen cocktails, beer & bubblies were ideally placed in various locations for easy access.
Prior to attending Future, I had a preconceptive notion that people attending would get drunk and rowdy… let me retract my false assumption.
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of people were well-mannered and very much aware & conscious about their surroundings. Not all all rowdy like I imagined.
Amongst everyone performing that day, there was one act in particular I wanted to see perform; grammy award winning artist and dubstep DJ Skrillex himself.
Skrillex was set to perform on the main stage. The general crowd around the area was hefty! A barricade divided the stage and main holding area from the rest of the festival. And to get in to the main area, there was a massive line (or lack thereof).
We frantically conglomerated within the line, squashed and sweaty but excited to get closer to the massive speakers.
And before we knew it, we were in – and it was brilliance!
We didn’t want to get stock within the moshpit, so instead elected to sit behind the stampede of people and enjoy the music with comfort of space. Let me stress once again that the sheer quantity of people may not be for the faint hearted!
To my right were podiums packed to the brim.
Behind me even more!
And then when Skrillex came on, everything and everyone pretty much went crazy.
The wobble of the bass sent chills down my spine.
Everything felt surreal, and time felt like it had stopped.
I may have wept a little inside.
And before I knew it, 90 minutes had gone by and the set was over.
People slowly dispersed from the main stage area back into the showgrounds.
My adrenaline was still pumping and I knew that there is still so much more to do!
That’s the main stage from a distance.
Having witnessed our highlight of the entire event, we just cruised along and checked out the different stages across the showgrounds.
An indoor tent hosted a series of eclectic DJs such as Dubfire & Aphex Twins.
Two outdoor stages were aligned side by side with a barrier of heavy duty crates stacked 3 stories high to dilute the sound between the two.
Much to my surprise, you couldn’t hear the other from either side of the barrier!
To be honest, I thought spending 8 hours at a festival would be a bore.
Heck, I get bored everytime I go clubbing and want to go home after an hour or two.
But again, this wasn’t the case.
We met a countless number of people, all unanimously here for the same reason.
People are friendlier than ever. Strangers become friends. Starting a conversation was as easy as saying “How’s your day?” or “Who you keen to see?”
But although day became night, the atmosphere remained the same.
Lights lit. Lasers beamed. Stages reflecting excitement in color.
Paul Van Dyk brought the house down (or in this case, brought the tent down!)
The epicness didn’t stop there, but words cannot describe what it actually felt like to be a part of something so big.
I can only say that seeing is believing, and I am definitely a believer now.
Photos & videos only capture the brief essense of the moment.
Having been in Melbourne for 9 years now, I’m glad I waited ’til my final months here to experience Melbourne at its grandest scale.
Future Music Festival launches its first international festival in Malaysia on the 17th of March as FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL ASIA.
The skeptic in my is screaming “trainwreck” , but experience has taught me that precognitive judgement is just childish.
If you’re going, or have gone to FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL MALAYSIA, let me know how it went in the comment box below. Would love to hear about your own experience!