Stereosonic

Review: I'm going to preface this review by saying my entire festival was spent front and centre at the Sneakerpeeps stage. That's right, seven hours of progressive techno, deep house, and Chilean minimal. I didn't hear Calvin Harris mix his own hits, I didn't see the clubbing super brand Carl Cox (or any of his friends for that matter), and I didn't even watch on as Tiesto dropped ‘Adagio for Strings' at 11pm as the finale fireworks were unleashed.

Instead, what I did do was this: My first stop was the silver fox. And DJ T, the Get Physical label head, was the perfect first point of call. His set was laid back, deep and had an appropriate amount of party jams woven in for an early evening timeslot. The Avalanches ‘dropping it like it's hot' at the end? Just the right amount of cheese on a cracker afternoon set.

Next up was Technasia, a duo that makes exactly the kind of music their name describes - South East Asian inspired techno. It was an interesting set, but halfway through Charles Siegling hit the PA, adding an unnecessary ‘live' element to the performance. And frankly he just sounded drunk, which could explain why the duo weren't able to stretch their extremely short 45 min set to an hour when tech lord Jeff Mills was late for the stage's next slot. Instead, we were treated to the standard Top 40 changeover tracks.

The enforced party pause allowed just enough time for a visit to the stylish Strongbow boat to slam down some middies of cider (the festivals' only full strength option). When Detroit's man of the moment finally arrived, he seemed a little out of sorts. Though he unleashed some very impressive moves and played a near faultless set, he did so with the manner of a man just in it for the mortgage repayments. A stark contrast to the infectiously hypo Reboot who followed him.  

Rapping up the Sneakerpeeps proceedings was Ricardo Villalobos. And the Chilean king of techno was by far my festival highlight. Teasing his modest audience with build-ups and faux breakdowns, Villalobos delivered an incredibly engaging set. So engaging that barely a head turned when the pyrotechnics began a few hundred metres away at the main stage. And that wasn't even the most impressive part. Following slightly less convincing attempts by Luciano and Reboot earlier in the evening, Villalobos successfully proved that piano house can actually be cool. Really! Now that's talent. Erin Moy 

Missed Stereosonic? See Ricardo Villalobos play a 4-hour set at the Metro on Fri 3 Dec.