Live Review: Soulfest

The gorgeous Sydney sun shines down on music lovers ready to embrace the first ever Soulfest event and you can instantly feel the happiness and love seeping through your skin.

This is not your average festival – there are considerably less dickheads (can we get an AMEN?!?!) in the crowd and people seem to generally be here for the music as opposed to just walking around with their shirts off looking for attention. Meat-heads are at a minimum. And there are pregnant ladies everywhere – good for you mamas-to-be, good for you!

The amazing Angie Stone is quite the presence when she takes the stage and she’s clearly a crowd favourite – many moved away from the food and drink stalls to head back over to the main area to watch her perform. The familiar tunes of I Wanna Thank Ya, Brotha and No More Rain are winners (we swear we just saw footage of one of the security guards dancing on the big screen) and she finishes with a funky-ass version of Wish I Didn’t Miss You. Angie is queen!

Musiq Soulchild’s set doesn’t get off to the best start with sound problems affecting the first two songs, but once that’s cleared up, he effortlessly rolls through a number of his slow jams, including Teachme. Closer B.U.D.D.Y. gets the crowd bumpin’ and grindin’ and ready for the next act.

Can we just take a minute though to appreciate how far food stalls at festivals have come? Soulfest dish out Cuban and Thai cuisines, schnitzel wraps, chip on stick (nom nom nom!), nachos, pizza and chilli. While we were hoping for a bit more southern-style grub, we know our bellies are blessed with options and quality today.

It’s announced that the next artist scheduled to perform – Mos Def – will not be appearing today, which is a bit of a Debbie downer. So it’s up to Sydney MC Miracle and his DJ to keep the crowd entertained and interested. You can’t help but notice the vibe levels of punters dims during the set, although Miracle does a great job considering the situation.

The biggest surprise of the day is Aloe Blacc. He’s probably the only artist on the bill who’s ever had considerable radio-play and commercial success in Australia, which is why he seems a little out of place on the line-up considering the other Soulfest names. But he is a brilliant live performer and has some very, very smooth moves. Wife and Aus hip hop veteran Maya Jupiter joins him on stage towards the end of I Need A Dollar and he wins everyone over with his latest hits I’m The Man and Avicii collaboration Wake Me Up!.

We’re slightly distracted by a man who resembles Samuel L Jackson in the crowd (it doesn’t help that he has a posse of people around him either), but make our way back to the main area for one of hip hop’s most intelligent artists, Common. His energy levels are insane, as are his head-sweat levels and he probably enjoys the biggest crowd response of the day. He loses his shit during Testify and takes it out on an innocent stool but it’s all apart of the song’s message, while a Sydney-focused freestyle and incredible few minutes from his DJs proves Common and his crew are just plain showing off.

The man who almost everyone is in anticipation to see, D’Angelo, is unfortunately also the man behind the biggest set disappointment of the night. His band, as ridiculously talented as they are, drowns the singer out and the sound issues that have popped up consistently throughout the day seem to affect – and frustrate - D’Angelo the most. An extended version of One Mo’ Gin and the instantly recognisable Lady appear to have put those issues behind us – his voice is still the sex btw - but an erratic rendition of She’s Always In My Hair sees the troubles return and before we know it, D’Angelo is giving thanks to the crowd and is off. No Untitled, no Brown Sugar. Six songs from undoubtedly the drawcard Soulfest artist is just not good enough.

Luckily that’s not the end of day’s proceedings and the disappointment at what we just witnessed is soon forgotten as the sound of Maxwell and Sumthin’ Sumthin’ swoons through the night-time air. His performance is a cool and slick ending to the talent-filled day.

Soulfest has the potential to be one of the most adored, genre-specific festivals on the Aussie calendar. It boasts a niche, unrivalled line-up, great food, drinks and amenities and an awesome vibe. But it will have to sort out its first-year teething problems to do so. It’s hard to be too critical though considering it is the event’s first year. So here’s to seeing you again in 2015, Soulfest.