Live Review: Future Music Festival

The rite of passage for the modern festival attendee now extends beyond simply the admission ticket. For Future Music Festival today it includes groups arriving in stretch Hummers and party buses, decking themselves out in custom-made unofficial merchandise and arranging themed costumes amongst friends. As the gates punctually open and people stream in, it's clear the carnival vibe created by some fans is reciprocated by organisers, with Mexican wrestling, a foam party and a saloon-themed bar, among other things, on offer alongside the musical entertainment. As it's a commercial festival, there are plenty of organisations trying to launch their brand, offering everything from complimentary bandanas and foam hands, to the more useful cold drinks and sunscreen. It lacks subtlety, but as the midday temperature hits 36 degrees, it's more than welcome.

Playing the early slot are Gypsy & The Cat, the project for Melbourne DJs Xavier Bacash and Lionel Towers, who now perform as a four-piece live band. Their sound is a synth-heavy, dreamy take on indie folk music and their past experience in dance music means they know how to win over a crowd, even so early in the day. They draw from their 2010 debut Gilgamesh, as well as October's The Late Blue, closing with an all-in singalong for their most successful song to date, Jona Vark.

Turning up relatively early to catch the Zane Lowe DJ experience is a bit overwhelming, and not just because of the searing afternoon heat. The kids on the train, many of whom are nattering about triple j, begin a chant of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!” Many of us shrink into the corner of the carriage, fearing the next ten hours of our lives. Arriving at the Warriors Dance tent, Kill The Noise is actually murdering sound with a song about Facebook. He slightly redeems an ear-bleeding set by ending with some lovely classical piano that squelches into some techy beats. It's already about 40 degrees in here.

Ellie Goulding's performance is timely; her single Anything Could Happen is all over television and has previously spent seven consecutive weeks in the charts. Dressed in black, the 26-year-old English singer walks on stage and begins Don't Say A Word by playing a tribal drum beat on a floor tom, as her backing band rotate between multiple keyboards and guitars. After a slow start, she finishes on a high, with the triple threat of singles, Anything Could Happen, Lights and Starry Eyed closing a spirited set.

Last month fun. won a Grammy Award for song of the year for We Are Young and it's clear to see why. The New York band immaculately craft pop songs around piano chords and singer Nate Ruess's powerful voice, as he sings about everyday life occurrences with zest and candidness. Their 2012 album has already spawned three hit singles including Some Nights and Carry On, and the latest and crowd pleaser, Why Am I The One looks to follow suit.

Azealia Banks takes to the stage to The Prodigy's Out Of Space. She's 15-minutes late but finishes on time, understandable considering her slim back catalogue. “Yo Melbourne, make some muthafuckin' noise!” yells the renowned potty mouth. “Who's fucking toniiiiight?” She's all sass and freaky attitude as you'd expect but she's also super sweet. A wardrobe malfunction sees her giggle and run off stage for a second while DJ Cosmo cuts it up on the decks behind her. “One of my titties popped out, you'd better not put that shit on the internet!” She plays Jumanji, from the Fantasea mixtape, and 1991 and Liquorice from her 1991 EP. Esta Noche shows off her verses at a slower pace. Her flow is tight, and even though she says “It's fuckin' hot as shit!”, she seems cool as ice. She says she'll be in “a lot of trouble for this” as she launches into Harlem Shake, but as expected, it's 212 that sends the crowd bananas – it's anthemic and awesome. The sun even comes back out from behind the clouds to check it. The lyrics flash up behind her. It's odd to see things like “I guess that cunt getting eaten'” up on a big screen.

“I know you are expecting one song and me too, but I want to show you the singer I am because I have been doing this for 12 years,” begins Psy with a defeatist tone, apologising to the audience that he will be performing more than one song. As an artist, it's totally unnecessary and breaks from the character he has worked so hard to create. Muffled boos and the odd stray bottle ensue, but he has set himself up with such an introduction. Joined on stage by eight back-up dancers, he begins with Champion, a song that heavily samples another novelty track, Crazy Frog, even odder, that the screens either side of stage run subtitles to the lyrics. The inevitable eventually happens when he plays Gangnam Style, twice. The first he says “for your photo, SMS and videos,” and the second to dance too. It's nothing more than a short-lived and underwhelming novelty.

A-Trak's set coincides with Psy's across the other side of the site, which might explain the hugely dwindled crowd. The Canadian scratch turntablist legend mumbles a humble hello before launching into an epic set of old-skool rave sounds and basslines so heavy they make your stomach bounce. Dude's so good he doesn't even need to look at his turntables. He DJs from an awesome wooden A-shaped DJ booth, which brings a bit of class and style to the stage flanked by giant pink flamingos. He finishes off mixing some Yeah Yeah Yeahs into Stardust's Music Sounds Better With You, which, strangely, Madeon plays on the adjacent stage ten minutes later.

Canadian duo Zeds Dead play electronic music that sits somewhere between drum'n'bass and dubstep. Performing on the stage curated by The Prodigy, it's only fitting they drop their remix of the group's 1996 hit Breathe.

At just 19 Hugo Pierre Leclercq, aka Madeon, is a boy wonder. Having recently supported Lady Gaga across stadiums in America, his imaginative remixes of everyone from The Killers and Blur, to Daft Punk and Pendulum, prove him much more than a fleeting YouTube composer or support act.

Dizzee Rascal has serious stage presence. He does a few brand-new tracks, including We Don't Play Around, which are more on the cheesy R&B tip than the grime stuff he started his career with. Suddenly he calls out “Stop, stop stop!” and the music stops completely. “Chill, chill, I saw that happen!” he says, clearly having seen an incident happen down the front of stage. “Security, sort it out,” he demands. Clearly, Dizzee Rascal will not be having beef at any of his shows. Respect. Bassline Junkie gets the crowd bouncing, and he dedicates Ass Like That to all the ladies worrying about whether their ass looks big – “Don't worry, we love it”. Finally he plays the tracks we've been wanting to hear – Fix Up, Look Sharp is glitchy, sharp and massive, and Dance Wiv Me, which is much more on the ass-shaking tip, goes off, particularly down front of stage where everyone is already very… happy.

He can't hit some of the low notes any longer but it doesn't really matter how Ian Brown sings because the crowd completely drowns him out anyway. I Wanna Be Adored is the biggest gig singalong ever, as the crowd spend the entire set in disbelief that they're actually experiencing The Stone Roses live. Sally Cinnamon, Waterfall, Don't Stop, Made Of Stone – all the brilliant, classic guitar lines just spill out of John Squire. The super extended version of Fools Gold is a massive treat, and This Is The One is utterly joyful. I Am The Resurrection finishes off the set and then it's group hugs all 'round for the band.

The Prodigy are insane right from the start. They kick off with Voodoo People, an opening gambit that states the gig will be turned up to 11 the entire time, and it is. Breathe and Omen follow that and it's clear The Prodigy have not lost any of their intense energy. Because Liam Howlett is a musical genius, their insane big beat still sounds fresh after twenty years. Howlett is the dance master, lording over his people from behind his keyboard and laptop set up at the back of stage. Keith Flint is still scary as fuck, and he and Maxim are still two of the best hype men in the business. The crowd is dripping with sweat while the massive tracks just keep on coming. Poison, Firestarter and then Smack My Bitch Up send the crowd strictly insane. During the SMBU breakdown Flint demands we all “get down”. Everyone lowers their bodies to a crouch, and when the beat hits back, the Warriors Dance tent completely explodes. It's a shock to the system when it ends, but they even return for an encore, performing Take Me To The Hospital.

Bloc Party are such an unpredictable and intelligent band, it's funny to see a mix of the old Stone Roses crowd and the kids who seem to have come to the festival mostly for the future electronica side of things. They hit us with a pretty people-pleasing set with a good few tracks from their first couple of albums. Russell Lissack's guitar is spectacular, the light show is awesome and Kele has a great stage presence – his grin fills the stage. They finish their set by taking a heart warming four-man bow, and suddenly it's all over.

It's impressive to watch one person, Avicii, captivating tens of thousands of fans. Cancelling dates in Brisbane and Perth last week due to acute pancreatitis, the Swedish DJ, previously known by Tim Bergling, defies doctors orders by not only performing, but putting so much energy into his performance. His set is a seamless transition of hit into hit, which never once looses momentum. It's rare to hear a remix that adds something more to the original or outshines it, but he does so on a regular basis, the greatest example being when he moulds the honking baritone sax of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's Thrift Shop into a crazed mash up. As the crowd dance the night away to closer Levels, a song that references Etta James's gospel-inspired Something's Got A Hold Of Me, it seems a fitting way to end an eclectic and vibrant festival.

Schlepping home is a bit of a mission, and we're stopped on the way by a bunch of kids who ask: “Excuse me, did you guys go to the festival? Aren't you a bit old for that?” Burned. As you'd expect from a festival featuring The Prodigy and The Stone Roses, there are a fair few Brits heading home on public transport, and there is some feeling that: “Australia just doesn't know how to do festivals”. Maybe Future does try to do too much all at once in trying to appeal to teenage club heads as well as old-timer indie kids. But today we danced to The Stone Roses playing Fools Gold, and that's all that counts, really.