Parklife has built a reputation over the years as being one of the “trendier” music festivals in Australia. The perception amongst a lot of my friends has long been that this is a negative quality as the Sydney-edition to attract every poser that the Harbour city has to offer. Admittedly, at my first Parklife in 2007 I was blinded by the sea of fluoro I encountered as I stood with my friends in the baking sun as we waited in one of the more ridiculous festival entry lines. Given this, the two main non-musical aspects of the 2009 Sydney Parklife I noted were this, firstly that the crowd has evolved to the point where I think there is a much more eclectic and enjoyable atmosphere and secondly that entry line has de-evolved into a shuffling and shambling sour opening note to an otherwise well-run festival.

At the end of the day though, the music is what festivals should be all about, what they should be judged by, and the line-up Parklife had put together in 2009 had me salivating. Whilst I despise clashes, to me they always signal that the organisers have done a fantastic job of pulling a quality ensemble of acts to impress the masses.

After making my way through the opening gauntlet I managed to rush over to Air Stage as perennial festival favourites Art vs. Science started cranking into their set with their new single “Higher”. I’d got to Parklife early especially to see these boys after being impressed about how they brought the party to Splendour earlier this year. With drums cranking they most impressed me the song "Parlez Vous Francais", followed closely by crowd favourite "Flippers"! However, I still think they lacked some of the spirit they displayed in Byron but I’m going to put that down to lacklustre sound at the Air Stage (more about this later).

After a few cheeky bevvies and a wander round the festival grounds my friends and I settled in for a killer three pronged back-to-back attack at the Air Stage. First up was Busy P, the godfather of Ed Banger records most famous for those French robotic legends. However, Mr P is a bloody great DJ in his own right and got me right in the mood for a fantastic day by punching out more Justice mixes than you could ever want (10 mins of Phantom Part II…hell yes)! Thrown in amongst that were some Bloody Beetroots, Chemical Brothers and even a little MSTRKRFT to hint at what was to come. PS: I’m in man-love with his sexy French accent.

Pushing our way to the front we then prepared ourselves for those aforementioned Canadian party people MSTRKRFT. I saw these guys at P-life back in 2007 and wasn’t too impressed however this time around I thought they played a great set. The crowd absolutely loved the one-two punch of Bounce and Heartbreaker off their latest album Fist of God. Yet something was still lacking... it wasn’t f***ing loud enough! Damn those pesky noise complaints from precious suburban Easties (but I wonder what they had to say about the massive sing-a-long at the end to Bohemian Rhapsody)!

Straight after this was the auditory onslaught of Crystal Castles. These were my “must-see” act of the day, due in no small part to the legendary moshpits I’d heard about. Whilst it did get very crazy especially when Alice Glass decided to get her cute little frame into the crowd, I expected a little more craziness from my fellow Sydneysiders! I think Alice and the boys would have also suited a closed roof atmosphere better (think the Boiler Room). These were minor gripes compared to the crazy good dance I had to Alice Practice, Crimewave and Black Panther!

After cooling down and watching the sun set, we settled in at Fire Stage to catch another beautiful woman do her thing with blonde bombshell Emily Haines fronting Canadian indie heroes Metric. Let me say, hearing Emily singing about her heart beating like a hammer is something that would mesmerise any red-blooded male with an ounce of musical appreciation. Closing with the pumping and thumping Stadium Love, I marveled at Canada’s ability to produce bands with heartbreakingly beautiful pop sensibilities (think Stars and god bless Arts & Craft).

After being extremely underwhelmed by Empire of the Sun, sans PNAU’s Nick Littlemore, on the Water Stage (seriously what was with the 10 minute instrumental?) as I chowed on some Yum Cha from a distance, we headed back to the Fire Stage. Our selection of The Rapture of the last act of the night turned out to be the perfect choice. As we waited the Purple Sneakers DJ’s reminded me why I used to love that dingy run-down Abercrombie ho(le)tel. The fact that they played "Banquet" by my favourite Bloc Party in no way influence my unbiased perceptions, of course. As The Rapture strode onto stage I was absolutely pumped and they did not disappoint. As Larry remarked to me, it’s amazing that they’ve managed to tour Australia three times on the back of their excellent album ‘Pieces of the People We Love’ and still seem fresh and engaging. Favourites for me (and the crowd) were the album namesake, Get Myself Into It, W.A.Y.U.H. and the perfect closer to the festival NO SEX FOR BEN! I also think I heard a hint of some new songs, so stay tuned. Thanks for travelling all the way from the Big Apple again, boys!

As we fought the traffic by bus back into the city and reflected on the day I decided Parklife Sydney 2009 was one of the better festivals I’d been to in a long while. It rekindled my love of the entire experience and prompted me to strap in for the Summer festival season. Next up Stereosonic, lets hope it lives up to, and if I’m lucky, exceeds my expectations.

Header photo and additional article contributions from Larry Heath.