Festival X 2019 Debut Review
There was no better way to enter summer and the last month of the decade than going to one of the most talked-about festivals of the year. From the moment Festival X’s epic lineup was announced, there was no doubt that it captured everyone’s attention, and soon became the hottest festival to hit Australia. To be blessed with massive acts from Calvin Harris to Lil Pump could only mean one crazy fun-filled day and something all of us in Sydney needed.
I started off my jam-packed day getting ready at home with my best friends, hyping ourselves listening to our favourite Calvin Harris songs (who by the way, we were most excited to see). Once we were ready and all dressed up, we made our way to the Brewery at Olympic Park for some pre-festival bevvies, where we also caught up with the rest of our crew to head inside the stadium and start off the festival. Walking into Sydney Showground, I don’t think I had ever seen the place so packed, we got told there were over 45,000 people at the venue, just wow. With the lineup accommodating for nearly all types of music lovers — Hip-Hop & Trap, EDM and Trance, it was safe to say that almost all of Sydney was attending this festival. With such a diverse line-up, there was nothing more beautiful than to see hardcore EDM goers and new wave Hip-Hop heads together in the same place, I love how music festivals like this can bring completely different groups together, in the name of music.
As soon as our tickets were scanned we ran over to the Oxygen stage to see Sydney’s very own Dance/EDM duo, Sunset Bros. Although we were gutted that we didn’t make it in time to see them bring out Hooligan Hefs, (thank you to everyone on IG & SC who got that on record) we were glad to catch the last couple minutes of their set, which by the way, was insane. Although with the irony of the stage being called the Oxygen stage, but not being able to breathe in there, we were still able to bring ourselves together to push through the sweaty crowd to get a glimpse of the stage and its impressive lighting. Finishing their set off with a remix of “Take Me Away”, this got us all completely pumped and excited for the rest of the day.
Getting out of the Oxygen stage, we ran over to the main stage to catch the last 15 minutes or so of Trippie Redd’s set. He amassed quite the crowd given how early he was on and songs like “Fuck Love” and “Topanga” were truly euphoric to see performed live as most of the crowd was singing along with Trippie, especially “Fuck Love”.
Around 5pm, we headed back into the mosh at main stage, just in time to see Steve Aoki. Being a dance music legend, I was excited to see him live for the first time. Dj-ing his set in pure daylight, and being surrounded by different types of age groups, I felt like I captured a glance of what Sterosonic could have potentially been like as Steve happened to be a regular and a much talked about artist playing at that festival. Aoki’s set featured nothing but his best remixes of Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” to “No Beef”. During his entire set, he played all the best remixes and his own tracks like “What we started”, that got everyone jumping and dancing around in the mosh. It was definitely one of the most interactive live sets I’ve seen, Steve knows how to party with a crowd.
Minutes after Aoki walked off stage, a taste into the world of Hip-Hop & Rap presented itself with none other than Lil Pump. After being gutted that he had cancelled his Australia tour with FOMO at the beginning of this year, I was pretty keen to see the “lil” man up on stage. With Festival X being his first time performing in Australia, he really did go all out and performed like the crazy character he is. I was able to watch his set from the VIP section, where I got to see him jumping and running around the stage to “Racks on Racks”, and screaming to create crazy mosh pits to “i Shyne”. But of course, it wasn’t until “Gucci Gang” dropped, that got everyone in the mosh absolutely wild, plus being able to see the whole crowd reacting from the VIP section was just absolutely insane. He also got people peak hyped another time when he did his XXXTENTACION tribute by performing “Take a Step Back”, that track still never fails to elevate crowds. He definitely knows how to keep his fans engaged. Also let’s not forget when he played his Kanye West collab; “I Love It”, that got the whole of the festival (even the non-fans who weren’t initially paying attention) to be singing along, because c’mon how could you not love that song (pun not intended).
Headed toward sunset, there was no perfect artist that could have been on at the main stage, other than MK (Marc Kinchen). Coming in with a banger of a song, “My Head Is A Jungle”, there was no better way, to pick back up the Dance/House vibes after Lil Pump’s set. As we headed back inside the mosh to meet up with the rest of our friends, I remember there was a moment where I looked up, and the sky was a perfect shade of orange and pink, and then looked back up at the stage while MK was playing “There For You” then turned back to friends, and thought it’s moments like this that make me appreciate my love for live music. Everything from the energy that MK transferred to the crowd, to playing from daylight into the night was magical. Playing some of my favourite songs “17”, “Back & Forth” and “Piece of Me”, it kicked off the rest of the night in the most ideal way.
Once MK was done, we headed back to the VIP section to see one of my all-time favourite artists, Calvin Harris. And with that, all I can say is, in-freaking-sane. As soon as he opened with one of his old school songs “Under Control”, it was definitely safe to say that the crowd was nowhere near under control, and absolutely lost their shit when this song played. Calvin’s entire set came in with banger after banger, playing nothing but the best songs from one of his best albums (in my eyes of course) “18 Months”. I don’t think there was a second during his set where I wasn’t on my feet dancing, or where I was able to catch a breath. Calvin’s iconic songs of “We Found Love”, “Bounce”, “Summer” and one of my personal favourites, “I’m Not Alone”, gave me nothing but pure happiness and joy, to be singing along to my all-time favourite songs, with my best friends. Calvin’s entire set, from start to end really did make up for his absence to Australia within the last 5 years and was definitely by far the highlight of my night, or maybe even the highlight of my life…I did mention I was a huge Calvin Harris fan, didn’t I?
After what was one of the best DJ sets I had ever seen live, the festival was slowly coming to an end, and what better way to end the night with none-other than, Armin van Buuren. During Armin’s set, we headed back into the mosh to get a glimpse of the insane lasers. Armin is definitely no stranger to the stage in Sydney, as previously seeing him before, he certainly did put almost everyone in what they would call it ‘a state of trance’, with his energy, lasers, lights and confetti that themed his entire set. Opening up with “Revolution”, and continuing with his other songs of “A Million Voices” and “Repeat After Me”, Armin delivered a straight-up banging set and finished with a mix of his well known track “Blah, Blah Blah” which soon mixed up to a little bit of hardstyle to “Don’t Let Me Go”. Which of course then ended the night with an incredible display of fireworks. Armin, Trance/Hardstyle and fireworks, now that’s the best combination to end off a crazy festival.
Even though the artists I saw blew me away, the only regret of the day is that I didn’t get to see the other international artists because of the unfortunate clashes. Blueface got his crowd hyped with his surprisingly perfect crip-walking talents and Murda Beatz brought the whole house down, so I heard? It sucks because the time Murda Beatz was on, I was vibing at Pixel Stage which left a tonne of regret when I heard Sydney rap-crew OneFour made a spontaneous appearance. When I found this out, I was devastated that I didn’t get to see them, especially due to the issues they’re experiencing with their live shows being cancelled by the police. Also being the boys from my area (Western Sydney represent), it would have been a scene to be there and mosh to “Ladz in the hood”.
Nonetheless, with the lead-up and hype around Festival X, I can say with full confidence that this is by far, the best festival I have attended this year in Australia. Everything from its stacked lineup (which they delivered with no cancellations mind you) that catered for all types of music lovers, to the professional way it was organised, it definitely made this such a successful event all-round. It’s no surprise that this was the same team that brought Australia the highly successful — Steresonic Festival, and being so jealous I could never attend, I was so hyped I got a glimpse of what Stereo would have been like with this event. In summary Festival X crushed their debut in 2019, there is absolutely no doubt that the future of this festival is promising. Festival X, you’re only going up from here and can’t wait to see where you take things in 2020…
