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Outback Eclipse Festival
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Doggy
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
15
Posted : Dec 8, 2002 16:47
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Wow, what an amazing party!!!
Where do i begin. I will try from the beginning. I headed up there with 4 friends, we hired a campervan. It was a long drive out to the desert from melbourne, silly us realising twice that we were going to run out of petrol if we didnt take a detour to a 24 hour petrol station, so we spent about 24 hours getting there when it should have taken about 17.
but we didnt care, we were there a day early so we could set up, settle in and enjoy the festival.
We arrived at 9am and were too excited to sleep so we had a look around, there were a fair few people there, maybe 1000 already. we set up camp, and walked around the beautifully set out mini city that the organisers had built for this magical event.
On one side of the hill was the camping ground, where everyone had parked and set up there tents, gazebos, tarps, etc.
There was a very friendly vibe there. Walking to your campsite past everyone elses, meeting new people, saying gday to the partygoers you have just been dancing with. There was a really great atmosphere. Lots of people had brought there own stereos to play music which was a great (except when we were trying to sleep).
The weather was very hot every day, between 30-40 degrees, and the wind at times was horrific. the day we got there, there was a big dust storm that lasted about 45 minutes. Lots of people had problems with their tents and shelters flying away. but ours were ok, and we just sat in the campervan until it had stopped. Every now and then the wind picked up and made it pretty uncomfortable to be outside, but it just showed us the beauty of nature and how powerful the universe is. You just needed some goggles and you were ok.
The temperature at night was quite nice. even cold sometimes, but it was pleasent to be out of the heat. Guessing I would say between 12-20 degrees most nights and early mornings.
The opening ceremony which i missed (was sleeping), was apparently great, with traditional aborigines singing and dancing to kick off teh party.
On the other side of the hill where the four different music stages. there was the market stall stage which seemed to be playing pretty funky stuff all day and night. it was nice to go there if you just wanted to boogie a little, it was nothing too full on. In parts it was shaded by coverings which had a sprinkler system installed to hydrate the dancers with water if they got too hot.
Around this dancefloor where heaps of market stalls, ranging from clothes, to jewlery, to food. There was a bar that served alcohol from 9am-3am, and a non-alcoholic bar open 24 hours. There was food being served in one tent, as well as fruit, fruit juices and coffee in another. Then there was the massive air conditioned room, which was a pleasure to be in, out of the sun and wind sometimes.
Near the market stall area was the chill out zone. this was open 24 hours for people to relax and enjoy. I think I saw some cushions in there, it looked quite cozy, but i cant guarantee, coz i never actually stepped in there.
About 100 metres away was the local djs stage. this was mainly for australian djs. it was probably in the windiest area, but fun if you didnt want to be dancing with 2000 people all the time. There was only ever about 200 people maximum at this stage. its a shame, coz there was some great music being played there. I had a couple of friends I went to support, and it was great, but just a bit too secluded from the rest of the party, and not many people ventured out there.
Now the main stage, this was someting else. 2 massive walls of speakers. The biggest I have ever seen. about 30 feet high, about 14 speakers stacked on top of each other, and a sound so loud that if you stood too close, you could actually feel the pain in your ear drum. it was a great sound! And a well set out stage. there was covering overhead, again with sprinklers to wet the dancers.
The music was great in my books. I am not much of a night person, I usually sleep at night and get up to dance all morning and day. I really enjoyed the funky tunes being played all morning.
it is a shame that XDream and Eat Static both did not play, but I dont think too many people cared. Apparently they had problems with their visas. It was all about the festival and the eclipse to me anyway, not the music.
The eclipse: wow. I am honoured to have been able to share such a magical, beautiful experience with so many beautiful people. It is not something you can just describe in words, the energy surrounding us at the time was truly amazing. It was just incredible.
And the party that followed that night and day where definitely the best for the festival.
Everyone took that energy from the eclipse straight to the dancefloor and partied on all night.
In my opinion Ollie Wisdom's set was the best. He seemed to be the only one who had the balls to take control of the party, and he played some classic old school crankers that really set the crowd on fire. All the other djs seemed a bit scared to do so.
Anyway, all in all it was a beautiful experience. There were so many different people from all over the world, so many different cultures. I am proud to be Australian when we put on parties like that.
Peace and Love
Doggy
[ This Message was edited by: Doggy on 2002-12-09 16:30 ] |
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full_on
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
279
Posts :
5475
Posted : Dec 9, 2002 00:13
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GOOD REVIEW!!!
Still it's very sad to hear "it is a shame that XDream and Eat Static both did not play"... Really disappointing, sure there was good music, but every party the same thing (where is the respect?)...
Who were playing during the eclipse???
P.L.U.R.
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...Be gentle with the earth...
...Dance like nobody's watching...
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...I don't mind not going to Heaven, as long as they've got Coffee in Hell... |
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Doggy
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
15
Posted : Dec 9, 2002 14:17
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Full_On, it was a bit disappointing when we first heard about xdream and eat static, but we got over it very quickly. As I said, it was all about the festival and the beautiful vibe, not so much the music. I am sure nobody was more disappointed than the organiser themselves, who did an amazing job with everything else.
There was no music playing during the eclipse. Thousands of people stood up on the hill to get the best view. Others sat on top of their campervans. Music started shortly after the eclipse finished. I cant remember who played... memory loss - you know how it is. |
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Doggy
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
15
Posted : Dec 9, 2002 16:33
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Benny K
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
61
Posted : Dec 10, 2002 01:51
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Great review Dog.
Very well summed up!
Thanks for the quality... Love the Dog.
Have a good time.... All the time! |
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Benny K
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
61
Posted : Dec 10, 2002 04:11
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FreeMan
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
52
Posts :
358
Posted : Dec 10, 2002 14:39
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so who gave the best rocking set?????
from all this line up it is propbly hard
but try anyway......
LunaMusic crew |
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Benny K
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
61
Posted : Dec 11, 2002 01:45
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In my opinion, definitely Ollie. The rest was a bit too prog or minimal for me. i like the more full-on pumping psy tunes and Space Tribe's set was all quality.
He pumped out a lot of the tracks that I have been playing for myself lately, so I was mopre than happy to hear them outdoors in the desert!!!!
Have a good time.... All the time! |
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doshikta
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
48
Posted : Dec 11, 2002 05:22
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personal musical highlights include phony orphants, matt boom (the remix man), mr peculiar (got things started), orxy...and the rest will come later when my memory full returns |
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Doggy
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
15
Posted : Dec 11, 2002 14:05
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I agree Benny. I thought Ollie Wisdoms set was the best. But Freeman, I dont think the focus for this party was on the music. It was more the magic of the eclipse and the beautiful friendly vibe. |
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MonasticSquid
MonasticSquid
Started Topics :
20
Posts :
359
Posted : Dec 12, 2002 10:08
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Wicked party.... really nice to do things the Ozzy way.... and what an environment... full on OUTBACK experience..... people were all really friendly and while the organisation was the 'bare minimum'.. it added to the 'ferral vibe'.. 
... dont care that xdream and eatstatic couldnt make it... all the other artists I saw delivered the goods 
.. only wish Mr P played a morning slot and not the night time.. (I so wanted sunrise, a drop... and Mr P..... to make things 100% for me)... see some of U at New Year...
BOOM
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www.myspace.com/mtheoryuk
www.myspace.com/monasticsquid
www.alchemyrecords.co.uk |
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mrpeculiar
MR PECULIAR
Started Topics :
11
Posts :
55
Posted : Dec 13, 2002 12:33
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yes
i wouyld have loved a morning set as well
but
it was also rather good to actually play after soo much minimal stuff and get the maxium vibe going
really felt like the party only just started for me after i played
and i could just get out there and have a good time after that  |
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ozzy
Ozzy
Started Topics :
52
Posts :
398
Posted : Dec 14, 2002 02:02
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yeah man,
i heard you started the party off for a lot of people.
why am i not suprized?
A TRIBEADELIC GATHERING
10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Dec 30/08 - Jan 2/09
www.tribeadelic.com |
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sourcepan
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
18
Posts :
74
Posted : Dec 17, 2002 13:39
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here's my version of the party.(sorry for cross postings!)
a small convoy of us left Adelaide at around sunday lunchtime we took the scenic route through the Clare valley and ended up making it to Hawker for a dinner in the pub.after dinner we headed to Wilpena Pound in the dark (we had two very close driving encounters with kangaroos) where we slept under the stars.
for pretty much the entire journey to and from the party we were bumping into partygoers on the road and where ever we stopped. (flinders ranges national park was crawling with freaks
monday, we went walking in the Pound, a beautiful place to freshen up before the party.that walk did my feet in for the entire week though .rather than head back to Hawker and go up the highway we decided to head for the party through the flinders via Blinman and Angorichina.i think that the drive between Blinman and Arkaroola was one of the most awe inspiring things i've seen, the scenery is jaw droppingly beautiful, ancient and huge.i never really understood the fuss about the flinders ranges 'til now.check it when you can .
arrived at the party around 8pm,thought to myself "fuck! it's gonna be extreme!"and it was (dusty, windy, sometimes hot).went to bed sunday night with a white doona,woke up with an orange one! i wasn't gonna let the enviroment get the better of me,so i decided to embrace the dirt for a week.
by the time the party started i felt like i'd been at it for ages already, i caught the last part of the opening ceremony,which i believe included the Swiss drummers (luckily we were camping with these fellas so it didn't matter that i missed that cause we got a camp performance! sick drummers! )
call me crazy but every night of the party i slept from around midnight 'til 4am (that was my entire party sleep!) so i missed quite a few things i would've liked to see (namely fractal).from what i did hear of the big names acts one of the only dj's who ruled my party was James Monroe,he kicked butt. i'm sure there was other good stuff that i missed though.among other things i had a cool time when my friends (goacentral) were playing wednesday morning on the outback (pyramid) floor from about 8am til around 2pm, one of the cd players packed up midmorning though(from dust) so from then on it was just chuck on a cd and dance til it stopped (got to hear all of classical mushroom)
admittedly a lot of the party was a blur but i'm sure stuff will come back to me as i see photos and read reviews.
a few more highlights included......the eclipse of course (no words for that! ),the japanese fire twirler (you know, the REALLY good one),the yummy food (once i finally had it in front of me) and all the faces from the world over.
the only low points i care to mention are the toilets (how do people manage to get human waste in so many places other than the bowl ??),having to queue for food tickets in the sun and then queue up for food (one queue would've been adequate, really! ).
so thank you to exotic native for their efforts, thank you to the people i was camping with for their vibes (and shade tarp and thanks to everyone who made the effort to go and share in the party of a lifetime.
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Dale
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
59
Posted : Dec 18, 2002 02:15
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Here is my review from Oztrance....
This was definitely one of the best weeks of my life....
I arrived home from Earthcore with a phone and computer full of messages regarding Eat Static and Marcus from Xdream not being able to make it. Sad, but it happened, I was going for the Eclipse and to see some friends from Cairns, so it made no difference to my plans.
We left on Monday to arrive early Tuesday morning. The drive there was kind of like a video game, 14 hours straight(after being knackered from EC anyway) and towards the end I was literally dodging kangaroos and emus that jumped out onto the road in my lights, it was total insanity. I was very lucky to make it....Shapeshifter(the animator) hit an emu and rolled his brand new van(which I learnt on arrival). He and his girlfriend were okay, but very shaken.
I spent the first few hours convinced I could find a few people with no luck, so we just left the car and went exploring. I never put the monkey up because I never saw Nirav and Tinpot(and so many other people I wanted to.) It was all just too damn big! I was thankful I brought ski goggles - the dust and heat and sun were all so extreme. I could have easily sold them for $100(so many offers it was shitting me).
What an amazing site. I have lots(9 hours) of camera footage of it all(which I was never ever hassled about Katherine) - so I look forward to posting the pics. Fantastic decor and installations which were somehow rock solid over the period of the festival under the force of the extreme wind and dust(unlike my tent).
There was a main stage(which just rocked all the time), the desert stage(hard psy), the market stage(funky low slung beats), the chill(weird and cool) as well as a few other 'stages' which I am not too sure if they were part of it all or not.
So many internationals! I would imagine that the crowd was about 30% Victorian, 20% Sydney, 20% Japanese, 10% Israeli and the rest a mix from absolutely everywhere. The Japanese in particular went crazy, my new ambition is to get over there next year for the Solstice festival....those people know how to have a good time.
The people in general were all absolutely beautiful(in appearance and character) - I have never been to such a massive party with such good vibes and a community feeling.
I eventually found friends, set up camp, talked some crap then made my way over to the main stage on the Tuesday night to film Mr P and Fractal. This was one of the most amazing nights of my life(and totally drug free if you don't consider pot a drug ). I would have guessed there was about 800-1000 people on the main stage, and they were all rocking. Shapeshifter was doing the visuals with lots of new and fantastic material, and was absolutely loving it and going off after his stressful trip up. Mr P killed it as always, everyone was loving it. I could not turn the camera off during his set. Matt Boom followed, this guy played some absolute killer remixes of old classics(including a crazy psysex remix). He was rocking just as hard as anyone in the crowd.
Fractal Glider followed with easily the best set I have ever witnessed in my life. Right from the first song(it has an indian theme, I guess its a new one, so damn funky) the whole crowd was just totally thrashing about. The stage where the djs played was hidden from the crowds view, with people dancing on the front of the stage. I was filming in this back area at the side but ended up just dancing my ass off and barely leaving to get any crowd shots.
more....
http://www.festivalisland.com
http://www.oztrance.com |
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