Live Review: FOMO Festival

With such a quality line-up of local and international acts, FOMO Festival truly benefited from its one stage, no clashes, party together format. A well-facilitated event allowed punters to enjoy the last stop of the festival's sold-out run without the heat getting in the way of over ten hours of great music.

Those willing to brave the midday sun got down to Parramatta Park early to catch a string of local talent: Western Sydney's own Lil Spacely and Sydney-based DJs Dena Amy and Nina Las Vegas. By 1pm, the park had reached 34 degrees but the sun wasn't the only thing bringing the heat. Nina Las Vegas invited friend and fellow Sydney artist Kota Banks out to perform a couple of tunes, including her catchy single Holiday, as the crowd danced along, taking refuge in a small shaded area at the back of the festival grounds.

The first international act of the day, London duo Stooki Sound took to the stage and delivered an energetic performance with their mix of grime, UK bass, hip hop and trap enticing the growing crowd to their feet.

Short set-ups in between acts allowed the perfect amount of time to reapply sunscreen at Red Cross' Save-A-Mate stand, fill up water bottles at one of several water stations around the festival grounds, grab a meal from the variety of food trucks or get a drink from one of the well-staffed bars. The air was thick with dust throughout the day and every pair of black Vans or Converse worn left the festival brown (RIP white shoes).

Los Angeles DJ Drezo delivered a C02 jet-enhanced set of house and EDM with mixes of Knife Party's Internet Friends and Dr Dre's Forgot About Dre getting the crowd moving. Brisbane's The Kite String Tangle (the solo project of Danny Harley) performed some smooth, electronic tunes elevated by live drums and keys, and finished the set with his remix of Fatboy Slim's Praise You, which had everyone singing along.

British electronic producer Tourist's chilled beats and soaring set-closer Run was the perfect musical bridge between the more uptempo electronic music the crowd had become accustomed to and the R&B that was to follow.

Following SZA's rise and enormous success in 2017, which saw her release the critically acclaimed album Ctrl, the American alternative R&B artist was one of the most highly anticipated acts of the day and she definitely didn't disappoint. The singer-songwriter captivated the crowd with her phenomenal voice, unique sound and engaging stage presence, dancing in front of interesting visuals including footage of actress Drew Barrymore, blue butterflies and retro television sets. She opened with Supermodel, a song that earned her one of her five 2018 Grammy Award nominations, and performed fan-favourites including Broken Clocks and Go Gina. With time constraints not allowing much time for anecdotes, SZA only addressed the audience a couple of times to acknowledge that it was her first time performing in Sydney and to provide some context to her song Normal Girl before finishing her set with Love Galore and The Weekend.

The crowd was riled-up for hugely successful singer/rapper/producer Post Malone, who walked on stage and paid tribute to artists and entertainers including Malcolm Young and Steve Irwin before kicking his set off with Too Young. Someone in the crowd threw a sneaker at Posty, for the artist, now with plenty of shoey experience, to drink his beer out of, which elicited cheers and applause from his audience.

Post Malone performed his plethora of chart-topping hits that are hard to pinpoint to any specific genre, including I Fall Apart, Candy Paint, Rockstar and White Iverson, but struggled with the hot sun, noting, "I'm a big boy". He lit a cigarette that a fan threw to him and talked about being shit at guitar at the age of 12 and having people laugh at him, and his mixtape, at 15 before performing his huge track Congratulations as white confetti rained down.

After SZA and Post Malone's set it felt like the festival had peaked, but Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada took to the decks and reminded everyone there was more great tunes to come, spinning mixes of tracks like Chance The Rapper's All Night and Rihanna's Kiss It Better.  

Electronic musician Zhu played a set full of his own bangers like Faded and mixes of tracks including Migos' Bad & Boujee and Michael Jackson's Thriller, accompanied by visuals of dancing skeletons - a definite set highlight. As he said he felt that Sydney was like his family, Zhu treated the crowd to the first listen of his new collaboration with Australian psychedelic band Tame Impala.

American trap producer RL Grime capped off the night with an electric set - fire, sparks, C02 jets and his huge hits like Kingpin featuring Big Sean, Aurora and Stay For It featuring Miguel. He mixed a song from The Lion King soundtrack into his hit Core, which saw the crowd going absolutely crazy, and had everyone put their lighters in the sky for Flume's Never Be Like You.

Very happy, dirt-covered, sunburnt festival-goers left Parramatta Park extremely satisfied after a very successful event.