5. Creamfields Music Festival, Brisbane
Creamfields exploded into Australia for its very first time. It was one wild day to be had. A ticket to the event came in at under $100, which is unheard of amongst music festivals nowadays. The line up included Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, MSTRKRFT, Ferry Corsten and LMFAO. Post Bloody Beetroots gig I shared a bottle of Grey Goose with Tommy (and tipped it everywhere whilst telling him ‘to put it on the spillage tab’).
4. WMC/Ultra Music Festival - Miami
Not so long ago the Winter Music Conference (held every March in Miami) was the biggest date on the international dance music calendar - djs and their tracks could be made or broken. Nowadays there is far less business but the parties are bigger than ever, imagine a whole summer in Ibiza compressed into 2 weeks and dropped on South Beach. Pool parties are the hot tip with most of the major hotels hosting poolside events during the day - I caught Sharam, Joris Voorn & Eric Prydz at the infamous Shelbourne for only $10. At night, record labels showcase their artist & dj talent this year the OM Records party featured Groove Armada, Mark Farina, Classixx, Treasure Fingers & Aeroplane. Fortunately I was lucky enough to witness the world premier of Duck Sauce over at the fools gold party. Unfortunately it was also the first time in the world they played Barbara Streisand.
The conference culminates in the 2-day Ultra Music Festival (it will be 3 days 2011) and we're talking Tiesto, David Guetta and the Swedish House Mafia - and that’s just the beginning of the main stage! I saw at least 100 people on stage with Major Lazer, Tommy Lee play drums with deadmau5, Steve Aoki singing (and stage diving) with the Bloody Beetroots and Fedde Le Grand unleash this monster upon the world:
However all this hedonistic goodness doesn’t come cheap, its not uncommon to pay upwards of $50US to walk into a club so have the so start saving now. My advice is to register for the conference early (like now!) - it's a lot cheaper, and the cost of registration includes your admission to Ultra and free or discounted entry to just about every party in town.
Check these out for more info:
3. Stereosonic Brisbane After Party @ Birdie Num Nums
Don’t get me wrong, the festival was rad - we kicked it backstage, side stage and front of stage. Sammy Owens will have you believe I literally lost my shit whilst dancing to an impromtu back to back set from Luciano & Ricardo Villalobos. But it was the afterwards where the real party went down. People were having sex in the toilets, Afrojack was macking women in the booths, Carl Cox was spinning disco for 6+ hours and I was on the dancefloor with Yolanda Be Cool (and just about everyone else). All I need now is some photos of the night because apart from the aforementioned I can remember little else.
2. Wet Republic @ MGM Grand, Las Vegas
We've already established that pool parties are the shit so let me break this down for you:
Security: Hectic & thorough
Number of people in pool: 1000
Cover Charge: $50+
Beer: $10
100ml bottle of sunscreen: $15
The fact that I wound up at a strip club in the middle of the desert (Crazy Horse 3) at 10am the next day with a thai hooker straddling my mate and a foursome unfolding back in the hotel room - PRICELESS
1. Claude VonStroke @ LaLa Land
Having been staring at the screen for a hour trying describe this night & no words seem to do it justice, so I’m just going to come straight out with it - CLAUDE VONSTROKE PLAYED FOR 6 HOURS! That’s right, he just kept on playing (on the proviso that we fed him a jager every 30 minutes or so). Not to detract away from his 1-3 set to the punter which was amazing in itself but the lucky few that remained bore witness to something truly special and were singing 'Go Loco' for weeks to come
"I’d like to do a quick summary of Australia. Overall it was a great trip with some amazing highlights in Brisbane, Byron Bay (all 6hrs – thanks!)..." - Claude VonStroke
No, thank you Claude. Thanks for giving us not only our number 1 highlight of the year but for a lucky dozen their number 1 disco experience of all time.
