Good Vibrations 2011

Fucking Oath, where do I start? Yesterday I had a 7.5 hour shift at jwow. I also did the same shift on friday. anyways, yesterday I got out of work at 4:30am and was so fucking tired. but because i have a problem with sleeping i ddint get to sleep til 5:30am. Saturday night, Nai Zi and Hwi convinced me to book Good Vibration tickets. I have always wanted to go but none of my friends were willing or had the cash. Then I found out Hwi and Nai Zi were going so I guess I could follow them around? hehe the tickets were $75 for the last weekend on sale. thats a 50% off saving! there needed to be nothing more to convince me. I had my eye set on seeing Erykah Badu and Nas... drools. I booked my ticket at Jwow, 13 minutes before the offer ended. I wasnt good enough to convince David and Helen to come with me. Boo. Ive nver been to these festivals before. But i had been advise to dress comfy - no skirts because people can see up them when you're sitting on the grass. I wore black leggings, my recently cut up tshirt and my denim stussy jacket. The weather kept fluctuating today, one point i wished i had scissors to just chop my legings into shorts and other times i was glad i was wearing full length pants and jacket. I guess its better to be too hot than too cold. Outside Flemington Racecourse, men were walking up to people heading into the venue and asking them if we had any 'spare' tickets to sell them. We discover that tickets were being sold inside the venue, so what where these guys on about? I figured out, these men were undercover cops trying to catch dodgey ticket sellers out. You know, buy tickets for $75, sell them to desparate people for $200 each, then get thrown into jail. When we got in the pavement was lined with cops. We were approached by sniffer dogs searching for drugs. We passed that test too. Finally we were clear. We embarked on out journey to the Mr. J stage where Aloe Black was playin. Thought I've never heard of them but according to Hwi 'they play at Jwow all the time'. Really? Then I heard that 'dollar' song and I knew I heard it before. Aloe Black and his amazing band were great to see live. Very happy, enthusiastic, well presented... touched the audience emotionally.. engaged with the crowd and made them do a 'soul train' where the people dance frantically large groups. At first I thought it wasnt going to happen, but it only took 1 crazy lady to start the cool soul train. I did enjoy watching them. I noticed the air smelt of funny smoke. People were smoking on weed! or maybe it was the smoke machine? Next was Erykah Badu. Which was the fucking highlight of the day. to see her perform was a priveledge. she was so good live!! she really knows how to entertain and engage. the crowd was going crazy for her. The floor was packed 40 minutes before she started, people were pushing and greasy-ing the pushers. I, at first, had the shittest view, the back of giants teeshirt. and for the 1st half of her show, i had memorised the faults and distinctions of the shirt. The guys tag was out. I read the washing instructions over and over again until Hwi pulled me out of that space and strategically placed me beside himself, where the view was 100% better! Thanks Hwi! Erykah started her set with:

My name is Erykah Badu

and with a humble intro like that of course ur gonna get an uproar! Erykah mixed up her songs so they were unpredictable to the audience. It kinda messes with ur rythym when ur about to belt out the chorus but shes repeating her previous line. She wowed the audience with her beautiful voice that echoed over the audience and out of the tent. She has an amazing voice. I was mostly impressed with her MPC beatmaking skills, shes not just a pretty voice! Erykah was wearing some sick gold arm jewellery, that cuffed her fingers, wrist and arm to her elbows. It was a nice visual, we could clearly see what moves she was doing with her arms. The crowd was going crazy for her, she was crowd surfing just briefly and all of a sudden the already squashy crowds moved metres into those at the front to get a little feel of Erykah Badu. Did u know she performed barefoot? Erykah patrolled the front, and held the hand of my workmate Darsh. Darsh proved this with a photograph she had taken haha! Darsh said she also held her up when she was crowd surfing and had a little squeeze of her bum, not sure if thats true? I love Erykah Badu because unlike a typical American superstar, she is REAL. No following this trend, or wearing this because its been sponsored by a high paying company, no over the top make up (if any make up at all?), no revealing sexy clothes (infact she wore a basic white tshirt with navy blue long sleeves). I also love Erykah's optimistic and 'if you can believe it, you can acheive it' music. Her music is soulful and topics are important and relevant - they give people something to consider.

e.g. Bag Lady

"Bad Lady, you gon' hurt your back

Dragging all them bags like that

Alll you gotta hold on to

Is you, Is you, Is you

So pack light"

Beautiful. I will always be in love with that. Next up we did a quick walk and found Rusko playing some sick ass Dubstep in the Chinese Laundry tent. woo to dubstep. its so gangsta. Fat Freddy's Drop was perfoming in the Roots tent. Someone from the group yelled:

'WASUP SYDNEEEYYY!.. oh fuck.."

there was a delay response from the crowd before they produced a massive

BOOOOOOO!!!

hahahah. ass hole. apparenlty the Ting Ting's made the same mistake and got the same crowd response.

We saw Kelis. but she wasnt that hot in terms of the song she played and getting the crowd worked up. i did like her sparkly outfit. her nose peircing is strange, in a good way.

So is Nas without him trying to be gangsta. the crowd was going crazy for him. Damian Marley was also performing, he was waving around a jamaican flag. i could feel the ground beneath my feet vibrating - either from the dancing of the crowds or the bass. i guess thats why they call it Good Vibrations! Lame. Sorry.

Ludacris was the last act on in the Roots tent. He said he's never been to melbourne before but we were 'the rowdiest crowd' his ever performed for in Australia. The crowd was pretty fucking loud if you asked me. He was a very good performer in terms of engaging the crowd. But frankly i was over his 'when I say luda, you say CRIS!', hoe-ing and fuck you mutha fucka rhymes. Jessica Malbouy made a guest appearance in his set.

Ludacris is up there somewhere

I left 20 minutes after his set to beat the rush when the whole festival ended. didnt i wanna be stuck in a crowded tram or fight for a cab. it still took me 1.5 hours to get home. im happy to say there were no dickheads on the train today, IM SO TIRED PERHAPS ILL CONTINUE THIS POST TMRW. i had 3 hours sleepppp remember that! its VALENTINES TODAY! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Hallmark Day. I'm over valentines day. I was over corny and clique long ago. No more flowers and chocolates. Tmrw I plan to go job hunting.