2011- What to expect.

Yes. It's that time of the year again. That time when suddenly the chilly wind that makes all us Victorians so bitter for the better half of the year relents its grip and the sultry thoughts of being magically whisked away to an unknown location for a few days to enjoy strange sounds, smells and folk seem to be the only thing we can think about. Yes people. It's doof season. A time where money seems to have only one purpose, where general chats with friends always start with "Do you remember last year at Rainbow..." or when you begin to pack your bags a week or two before you head off.


2011 has been a relatively active year regarding events as such.  The beginning of the year kicked off with an amazing Rainbow Serpent, which acts such as Schpongle, VibeSquad, Atmos, Perfect Stranger, Khainz it couldn't of been any better. After a month or two of recovery, I headed north to experience the ACT/NSW Doof scene with my cousin and bought tickets for R.E.G.E.N (ReGrowth) and witnessed the mastery of Ace Ventura. Unfortunately his set was positioned on the last day at about 2pm. This being the case I had to return to my campsite, (balls deep might I add) and pack up and leave. Not the best ending to a magnificent set as it was clear that people were heading off early during Ace's show to pack up and avoid the rush of the traffic. During June, small word got around of a lively doof called "Royal Doof", although I wasn't entirely keen for this event (as the line up was a bunch of unknowns) one name popped right off the page. John Phantasm. UK Psy-artist with a huge following and cousin to other huge UK Psytrance name "Ballonatics". This really was my only motivation to go to Royal, the crowd was full of boganites and cooked out clappers who really had no idea on electronic music, and for the majority of the event the warmth of the fire took priority over the stage. To make things worse, Phantasm was either canceled or wasn't ever booked. Lots of info was lost through mid-doof banter. But as Jim Morrison says in Wayne's World 2, "If you book them, they will come".


To be fair, I had a ball at everyone of these events. I was surrounded by friends, nature, drugs and (most of the time) good music. But the quality difference between the likes of Rainbow really make it hard to settle and enjoy these smaller and more frequent doofs. Music cutting out due to mediocre electronics, barren dancefloors and unplanned campsites make way for more time sitting in your car/campsite and doing the best with a bad situation. However, the last few months has seen surprising interest from unconventional crowds. I feel this will be the last few years that doofing will be kept to the underbelly of society, as the hipster/indie crowd circles ominously over Strawberry Fields like condors, feeding on the next "new" thing.

So that being the case. I'm glad I've witnessed the "select few" at multiple venues around the Australian Bush as the tide of Melbournites attack the last pure moments in the electronic music scene.

Onwards to Strawberry Fields (Nov 26) !