Stereosonic 2014 Review

What a weekend. Sydney was hit with some of the biggest names in EDM, as Stereosonic returned to Sydney with an unbelievable two-day line-up met with an equally incredible turn out, atmosphere and participation by acts, guests and organisers.

Whatever your artist preference from the line-up, there was an undeniably brilliant atmosphere throughout the whole weekend. The slightly more relaxed Saturday made it difficult to divert from the main stage as it really kicked into festival mode from Dash Berlin onwards. Followed by Showtek, Steve Aoki, Alesso and the day’s headline of Skrillex, needless to say there was little need to explore elsewhere.

On arrival to Sydney Olympic Park, after an easy train journey from Central Station, it was a breeze getting into the stadium. Throughout the weekend, the festival organisation can’t be faulted. Unlike many festivals, space and facilities were not an issue, and where demands were high, queues moved quickly and people remained calm.

With seven stages to choose from, there was constantly something going on, and the layout of the ground and access to the main Stereo arena meant where there were overlaps, you could move between stages with ease, so you didn’t have to choose between acts and miss catching your favourite bands due to unideal clashes!

Security was high, but not intimidating, and as expected with RSA hot Sydney there were plenty of water refuel points across the area to aid dehydration in the heat – and perhaps inebriation! With 10 bars dotted across the area, however long the queue, you didn’t need to wait long for a drink, even if the alcoholic choices were slightly limited with only Vodka V, Bundaberg rum, and pre-mixed Smirnoff or Captain Morgans cans to choose from. At 11 bucks a drink, ideally you could at least choose from a standard mixed vodka coke, beer or wine! Food choices however were good, with pizza, ‘chips on a stick’, Grill’d burgers and crepes to choose from, and merchandise, lockers and phone charging points were all catered for too.

Saturday

Saturday had a chilled start as people were slowly mulling in from 1pm onwards. It really kicked off with trance music project Dash Berlin at 5.30pm as people started to settle around the arena for the rest of the jam-packed line-up. As soon as ‘Here Tonight’ came on, the Dutch trio had everyone fixated on them, and the stadium was alive. Being a huge fan of Steve Aoki, Alesso and Skrillex, I had no intention other than to stay put for the rest of the day. With a quick turnaround between acts, Showtek kept crowds buzzing after Dash Berlin, starting with hits such as the David Guetta collaboration ‘Bad’.

The penultimate act before Skrillex was Swedish DJ Alesso – who did not disappoint and well and truly got the masses pumped for the headliner. Building up spectators with hits such as ‘Under Control’, a collaboration with Calvin Harris, Alesso played one of many teasers from the Sunday line-up. This was a common sneak theme amongst main stage acts of the day, playing teasers for both Sunday big players Disclosure and Calvin Harris. They knew exactly how to get the crowd hyped up. Playing ‘Tear Up The Roof’ and ‘Years’, Alesso had the stadium completely pumped and lost in a fanatic high – the perfect build up to Skrillex.

Which brings us to the Saturday headliner. The static energy in the stadium was maintained from beginning to end of Skrillex’s signature epic performance (even despite a brief electrical failure!) Crowd interaction and improvisation was flawless. The LA-raised DJ and EDM producer with six Grammys to his name, full on worked the stage. With his ever oozing monster energy, jumping around/on/over the DJ decks and down to the adoring fans, he blasted all the tunes everyone was waiting for, ‘First Of The Year’, ‘Scary Monsters’, and of course, ‘Bangarang’.

Sunday

After the first day, my body was asking how I could do this all again, but we were quickly buzzing for round two and ready to go again, especially given the line-up. Where Saturday had a slightly more chilled vibe, today started with a bang and was full on with big names dotted all across the stages, with acts such as Wilkinson and Diplo on from 3.30pm. Unfortunately, with such a sound line-up comes clashes and decisions – the biggest for most being the 35-minute overlap between English electronic duo Disclosure and Scottish DJ sensation Calvin Harris.

However, ease of access across the site and between stages meant that it was possible to get from one to the next, keeping everyone happy. For me, Disclosure had been the most highly anticipated, and they were everything I could have hoped. Being a DJ set, I’d been skeptical that they would not adhere to many of the ‘Settle’ album classics such as ‘Latch and ‘F For You’, but they got the perfect mix between awaited and improv, driving the crowd on the alternative Hard stage crazy. From one high to another, the end of Disclosure and it was a speedy move to the main Stereo stage for the rest of Calvin Harris, in time for the last 30 minutes, which included incredible festival classics like ‘Summer’.

For the whole two-day festival, it’s difficult to put the final act into words, other than one word – Tiësto. Despite my love of EDM, I had never seen the Dutch Trance and EDM legend live before. From start to finish it was like all the vibes, talent and energy seen over the two days so far had been building up to this amazing electronic music climax.

Though he didn’t play much of his older trance, I feel his choice of less hypnotic, dance/house electronica was perfect for Stereosonic. Playing ‘Wasted’ and ‘Red Lights’, two huge songs from his recent 2014 album ‘A Town Called Paradise’, the crowd really did go ‘Maximal Crazy’…which he was sure to also include in his set (not many things could come close to this electronic madness). The atmosphere of pure musical worship and euphoria was all across the now completely packed out stadium – even the security guards were jamming, making good use of the water guns to cool down the ecstatically hot crowd. Finishing on the Club Life remix ‘Paradise’ that’s where every onlooker was.

In all, an incredible weekend from start to end for all involved, though Sunday really was the day as everyone, both two-day and one-day goers, gave all they had left saved for Stereosonic Sydney 2014. From me, it’s thank you, and roll on Stereosonic 2015 because after this weekend, it can’t come soon enough!

By Heidi Edwards