Live Review: Breakfest

Seventeen years strong and with no hint of fading, Breakfest is WA's longest continuously running music festival. Each Boxing Day, fans of the breaks, drum'n'bass, electro and other assorted genres gather for their annual pilgrimage to Belvoir Amphitheatre for a day of dancing in the summer sun to a plethora of local and international acts.

This year the festival gods smiled, providing near-perfect weather, yet surprisingly the crowds seemed smaller than the last few years, with the 'bowl' only reaching three-quarter capacity. No matter, for those who attended this was a fun afternoon with plenty of great acts to catch.

A new feature for the festival was the blow-up dome, called the BoomDome. Replacing the local stage normally located near the toilets, this inflated, fully enclosed stage provided a venue for near-pitch black raving while fractals and star constellations were projected onto the dome. A small, hot venue that screamed fun. Unfortunately, late in the evening it sprang a leak and deflated.

Early punters started the day off with a bang thanks to local act Black & Blunt. These local dons of breaks performed a great set that ranged from funky to mind-melting. The crowd happily bounced along, although this was a bittersweet set with news that Micah Black will be parting company with promoters Boomtick after nearly 16 years at the helm of local venue Ambar, meaning this may very well be his last Breakfest behind the decks.

Following on was New Zealand producer Opiou. The first act to bring a level of live interaction into his set, with multiple drum pads set up behind the DJ booth, he mixed future beats with live percussion all while dancing and smiling at the crowd below.

Meanwhile, in the Hanger, Stickybuds was dropping dub and raga tunes while a rather dank-smelling cloud rose up from the crowd. The set was a great mixture of throbbing beats, bass and the occasional Amen break thrown in for good measure.

As the sun began to hide behind the trees, Breakfest stalwart Krafty Kuts took to the stage along with Jurassic 5 MC, Chali 2na. What followed was quite possibly the highlight of the entire day. While Kuts played the beats, 2na spat flow, dropping in songs from his own solo catalogue and tunes by Jurassic 5 as well as classic hip-hop cuts that had the entire crowd singing along. With 15 mins of the set to go, 2na jumped into the crowd, taking pictures and handing out fist bumps for well over 20 minutes, while Kuts kept the party going in preparation for the next big act.

Fans of drum'n'bass needed no introduction to the next man behind the decks. Adam F (for Fenton) has been producing and DJing for close to 25 years. We have to admit, we were a little surprised with the direction this set took. Fenton made his bones producing intelligent drum'n'bass, which was what we expected. Instead we were treated to a more big room-style set, which mixed classic tunes with the modern, heavily peppered with Aussie producers like Pendulum, Ekko & Sidetrack and ShockOne.

As the sun set and the bowl began to fall into darkness, it was time for the A To Z show to begin. The UK's A-Skillz and the US's Z-Trip took to the stage to perform a back-to-back turntablism set that spanned multiple genres and decades. This back-to-back style is not an uncommon set-up; recent shows by DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist spring to mind. The difference is: these two guys are known for their boisterous party sets. Track after track were quickly mixed into one another: rock into hip hop into breaks into pop. It was a 75-minute musical history lesson. But it was when AC/DC was dropped that the crowd exploded.

Up in the Hanger, local Luude provided quite possibly the most perfect example of ADHD mixing we have ever witnessed. For a guy named after a downer, this was a frantic set with tracks mixing in and out every 15 seconds while trippy visuals of Leonardo DiCaprio morphed on the screen behind him.

With the sun fully set and the Ampitheatre plunged into darkness, Matrix & Futurebound took over. Add local MC Xsessiv on the mic and this was another huge and dark set. The crowd heaved in time while stragglers on the steps danced along with a frenzied light show.

For the second year in a row, the headliners turned out to be a let down in comparison to the rest of the day. Boombox Cartel dropped an awful set of trap beats, squandering the energy that the previous acts had built up. Their 'party boy' antics really aren't needed in this day and age, and it seems the crowd agreed with many deciding to catch an early taxi home to beat the crowds.