LIVE REVIEW: Fat Boy Slim enchants at Electric Gardens 2018
Electric gardens returned Friday night with a stellar lineup in tow!
The mini electronic music festival kicked off its third consecutive year, and second year in Perth, at its usual stand-out venue, the Red Hill Auditorium. A complete sell out that meant 5,000 eager, dancing bodies were all ready and in high spirits to embark on a night of some of the finest global DJ’s, in one of the most picturesque venues WA has to offer.
Kicking off the night was Madrid-born DJ Henry Saiz who delivered an arguably slow set that worked with the still emerging crowd. Think chilled house music by the pool that never really gets going. Next was the surprisingly great set from Motez, who last graced our shores in September touring throughout Australia. Motez's set was 80 or so minutes of frivolous fun, using older songs to enhance today’s current music, a technique we would later see in the crème de la crème act that was undeniably Fat Boy Slim. Out of the three opening DJ’s, which later followed the extremely hyped up Gorgon City, Motez was the highlight.
Armed with a slew of great songs from their recent album which they failed to play, sadly Gorgon City didn’t quite deliver. Usually a two-man act, only one DJ appeared, not able to keep up with the sell-out crowd’s demands. A confusing decision, the set featured trance beats that failed to ramp up the audience into a high energy crowd, but rather bring the mood slightly backward, sliding into a chilled, “barely-moving” kind of thing.
Although disappointed, the crowds didn’t waiver as we realised the main headliner was about to come on. The audience was a mix of young and old, with people claiming they had never been to an electronic night before, and on the other side of the spectrum were people stating “This is my 5th time seeing him, just you wait." We waited for the stages to change and then, he was on.
An eerily slowed down, magical version of 'Praise You' opened the show, with his infamous visuals dancing in the background that mirrored a smiley face that didn’t look so innocent. Fat Boy Slim, AKA Norman Cook played an incredible 90-minute set that demanded every single body in the 5000 strong crowd to be entertained. He mixed his hits, favourites such as 'Right Here, Right Now' with music’s’ nostalgic finest, such as Queen. A similar sound to Motez, his 25 years more experience, however, separated him from anything that was previously heard.
His set ended at midnight, with us all greedily hoping he would come back on. But no one could grudge him for leaving when he did, Mr. Cook undeniably gave Electric Gardens everything he had, with his visuals leaving you star-struck as he co-ordinated sounds with specific shots from classic films, such as Scarface. A world class act that did everything but disappoint, Red Hill Auditorium really saved the best for last, providing a stage for Fat Boy Slim to show why he’s one of the biggest DJs still to this day.
