Live Review: Parklife 2012

Sydney's tradition of raining on dance festival attendees has been broken with a dry, but rather chilly, Parklife. The blazing sun early in the day gave way to a very cold evening, so those lucky enough to be wearing jumpers could've made a bit of coin selling their warm gear at an inflated price to the many punters in singlets and shorts offering serious money to get warm.

Early on at the Atoll stage Citizens! played bright and breezy melodies to suit the sunshine, but it was Chiddy Bang, asking for pandemonium on the main stage, that fired up the crowd. Over in the Kakadu DJ tent, as Art Department wrapped up their set to make way for Benga, some massive beats could be heard floating out of the tent. Sound bleed between the stages seemed to be a problem for most of the day. Every time there was a quiet moment in a set, you could hear the thump from another stage forcing its way across the park. The skittery beats that kicked off Benga's set seemed to be the order of the day with the current obsession with dubstep informing much of the music being played.

Faith SFX gave the main stage crowd a demonstration of some pretty impressive beatboxing (including dropping The Prodigy's Breathe and Reel 2 Real's I Like To Move It) before introducing his bandleader UK multi-tasker Plan B. Plan B combined the smooth soul sounds from his previous album The Defamation Of Strickland Banks, starting off with She Said and ending with Stay Too Long, with the darker rhymes from new album Ill Manors. With his lively band bouncing behind him, it was the covers that were his set's highlights; including a very Parklife-friendly version of Stand By Me and a punk version of Pieces, the song he recorded with Chase & Status.

Back over on the Atoll stage, grime star Wiley played Wearing My Rolex early though it was clearly a crowd favourite. He spent most of his set exploring the very edges of the stage to get as close as possible to his fans, while he and guest J2K kept up a frenetic rapping pace.

A quick swing past the main stage as Jacques Lu Cont dropped Mr Brightside was only a minor distraction on the way to see Labrinth at Kakadu. The British rising star brought with him a live drummer, bassist, synth player and DJ. Not quite the full stage set-up of his shows at home, but enough to give Australian audiences an idea of his talent. His R&B had a real UK drum'n'bass flavour and his reworking of NWA's Express Yourself was built around a chunky rhythm and a funky horn sample.

British duo Nero sat above a bank of TVs to drop an intense set of dubstep floorfillers. Vocalist Alana Watson added her soaring voice to proceedings while a crazy light show welcomed the twilight. While most people were watching Nero, Tame Impala played their hazy psychedelic soundscapes under the huge moon hanging over the park. As the festival headed towards its climax, punters seemed to desert the Atoll stage despite Swedish pop songstress Robyn delivering the set of the day. The Robyn faithful who were prepared to miss The Presets were rewarded by the petite blonde's dynamic dancing and electro-pop classics. Early on, We Dance To The Beat and Fembot were the perfect start to her energised, synth and live drum set, but it was the middle section pairing of singles Dancing On My Own and Indestructible that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

A Justice DJ set, with their big white cross illuminated behind them, kept the main stage crowd warm as the temperature dropped. The French duo populated their dark and sexy set with songs that would slowly build to raving crescendos and occasionally transform into familiar refrains such as Felix Da Housecat's Silver Screen Shower Scene and Junior Senior's Move Your Feet and rounding things out with their own We Are Your Friends.

Dance festival favourites The Presets may have been showing off a new album, but there were plenty of old hits given a run. Julian Hamilton's commanding vocals rung out clear across Centennial Park as they started with Kicking And Screaming and later during If I Know You and Are You The One?

Dubstep may have been the order of the day, but it was pure dance pop peddled by the headliners that sent crowds home with a smile on their faces, a song in their hearts and goosebumps on their arms.