Parklife 2009 - Empire Of The Sun, Metric, Lady Sovereign

While most people prepared to spend the dismal long weekend Sunday tucked under the covers, Moore Park was mobbed by thousands of people desperate to dance the cold and rain away. Parklife 2009 was open for business, and the day was inaugurated across the stages by Sydney's best DJs. Anna Lunoe, Kato and Sleater Brockman were in particularly fine form, pulling large crowds for such early slots.

On their second visit to Australia, the Cool Kids were ready to destroy. Armed with a bunch of fresh tracks, they bounced and swaggered around the stage, trading lines with an ease that comes from experience. The new tracks sounded excellent but it was old favourites like ‘Gold And A Pager' and ‘Mikey Rocks' that had bodies swaying and hands thrust to the clouds all over the massive audience.

For all her blog hype and ‘darling of the indie dance scene' status, Little Boots' performance just didn't come together on the day. Her voice was flat and uninteresting, and despite strutting to all points of the compass she couldn't adequately fill the cavernous Water stage. The lacklustre crowd only responded to hits like 'Stuck On Repeat'.

A-Trak, who was meant to close the day but swapped times with La Roux (the rumour was that Elly Jackson from La Roux was 'tired'. The crowd was not amused), proved yet again why he is considered one of the best party DJs in the world. His set started with a few scratch tricks, a throwback to his days as a DMC champion, before kicking it into high gear with dance tune after dance tune. A good time ensued.

Perhaps Little Boots could have taken a page from Alice Glass' book. The diminutive spitfire from Crystal Castles was on fire, leaping around the stage from the very start of their set. Her howls and shrieks complemented the cacophony of jagged electro and icy synth disco. With the exception of a mumbled ‘thanks', Crystal Castles let the music speak for them, and their set ended in a squall of feedback as Glass dropped the mic and sauntered off stage with the aplomb of a career rockstar.

By this time the sun, never a major player over the course of the day, disappeared completely and was replaced by the lasers and lights surrounding Erol Alkan. The legendary DJ wasted no time cranking up his frenetic blend of electro house as the audience exploded into a frenzy of flailing limbs, hanging on his every crescendo and bass explosion.

Finally, it was time for Empire of the Sun's debut stage performance in Sydney. Room to move became a rarity as the festival flocked to see what spectacle Luke Steele had cooked up for the crowd. Visually, it was an overload. Giant graphics swam and spun over the stage as costumed dancers writhed to the beat and Steele, alone on stage due to Nick Littlemore being crazy and absent, oversaw all from behind a synth on a pedestal onstage. Not one to shy away from the limelight, Steele wore a gigantic metallic headpiece and his usual ‘Ming The Merciless' robe, occasionally leaving his post to wander the front of the stage singing or soloing on a guitar. However, while the eyes had their fun the ears were somewhat disappointed. Musically the show sounded the same as it did on the album. When you add the fact that Steele didn't interact with the audience (the mid-set banter being handled by a pre-recorded, sci-fi sounding narrator), the show came across as a bit passionless. Nonetheless, hits like 'Walking On A Dream' and ‘We Are The People' drew huge responses as the sea of watching people pogo-ed en masse. Jonathon Valenzuela