Live Review: Future Music Festival

Spread across seven stages at Arena Joondalup on Sunday, Perth's eighth Future Music Festival was a hot, sweaty mess of skin, booze and good times.

With an unknown delay pushing the entry back 45 minutes, sadly the starter acts had nobody to play to and Craig Hollywood vs Bastian's Happy Flight DJs unfortunately saw not a single punter, while Helena played a rather superb set to an absolutely empty room. Unfazed, they charged on.

Perhaps it was pent-up excitement from the entrance hold-up, but every kid at the Safari stage was ready to cut a rug, as Will Sparks was graciously handed an already eager crowd after Uberjak'd. Youngster Martin Garrix took to the Future Music main stage and had a great vibe, getting the crowd pumping early, which R3hab followed and, unfortunately, lost most of Garrix's crowd as soon as he started. Swedish duo Dada Life picked up the pace again with their electro house DJ set, including a mix of Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl, which saw the two sending a giant inflatable banana around the crowd.

I See MONSTAS offered a mix of bass and soul to the loosely-formed crowd at the Knife Party stage. It was a touch and go with live vocal portion, but the bass had people engaged and bopping along nicely – the crowd doubled by the end of the set. “Adventure Club” was chanted as less than a minute into AC's set technical difficulties rendering the duo silent, but with little resistance, the pair plugged back in and laid down a sick version of Crave You with Lullaby ending their set.

Guy Gerber had a crowd of very few at the Cocoon stage (not what you want at a festival), but Britain's Maya Jane Coles provided an immediate improvement, and her super-sweet house beats had the audience well and truly up and moving. Netsky tore the roof of the Knife Party stage giving the jam-packed room a reason to take the dance party to the next level. However, Baauer had everyone absolutely dripping. Not a beat was left un-danced to or a note un-sung as he delivered a dance party that you only dream of. Renditions of Shake N' Bake and Let Me See Your Hips Swing were belted like anthems, and he ended with the infamous Harlem Shake.

Back at Cocoon, Gorgon City had a few punters ready to party with their electronic tunes, but the two pirates sword-fighting had just as interested a crowd too, and Lukas Wimmler had a serious dance party of his own keeping the Foamarama stage slippery when wet.

Taking to the club-styled Future Sound System stage, Dannic had a bit of variety going on in his set, and Chicago's Kaskade had the crowd jumping and dancing as if nobody was watching, and his set just improved as it wore on.

Playing strangely early, hip hoppers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis proved they're worth their weight in gold (chains) with their brilliant live set. With their four biggest singles played back-to-back right at the beginning (for anyone wondering at home – Thrift Shop, Same Love, Can't Hold Us and Cadillac), their live string, percussion and brass band and Macklemore's various costume changes and charming swagger, the audience went absolutely nuts for a solid hour.

With most of the crowd over at Rudimental, Luciano played a solid DJ set to a small crowd, as Brodinski struggled to get his mob excited. Adding some funk to the Safari stage, Rudimental's horde was keen – perhaps a little too much, what with some chest flashes on the big screen (twice). Synchronised dance moves and song dedication won over the audience, as they played Right Here and Feel The Love.

Eric Prydz having dropped out sick for the festival, Dutch DJ Hardwell didn't leave the crowd hanging and played a massive two-hour set with appearances from fellow DJs of the day, Chuckie and Martin Garrix.

One step in the steam bath that the Knife Party stage transformed into and there was no question that Knife Party stole the crowd from Cut Copy. Cut Copy were fun, but if you wanted to lose some serious calories, you knew where to be. The tent was literally being ripped from the ground to let more punters in and the suffocating air out. The haunted house theme was in full effect and people were delirious with excitement. Knife Party absolutely killed it.

Markus Schulz had the Future Sound System stage pumping well into the night, and over at Cocoon, Germany's Sven Väth had his beats rocking with a bit of a groove to them. Using an impressive animation series to back him up on the main stage's big screen, Deadmau5, with his signature giant head and glowing eyes had the massive crowd jumping and dancing as if they were pinging (though I'm sure many of them were).

By the end of the night, you'd think that everyone would have lost steam, but Chase & Status had fists pumping, people jumping and squeezed a few more drops of perspiration from every kid that stayed to the sweet bitter end. The crowd – littered with costumes, onesies, morphsuits and mostly very little clothing and a whole lotta butt-cheek – left fully breathless, some ready to do it all again on Monday for Soundwave.