Godskitchen - During the Cosmic Gate set

Godskitchen @ Hordern Pavillion Sydney
Assessment Time: 10:00pm – 3:15am
Opening Times: 9:00pm – 7:00am
Website: http://www.futureentertainment.com.au/wsite/future-events/92-godskitchen-2009
Address: Hordern Pavllion, Fox Studios Sydney
Dress Code: Anything goes. I had dress shoes, jeans, fedora hat. Pretty inappropriate for a rave. Everybody else was pretty casual, and the hardcore shufflers had their leg warmers out with glowsticks and light spinny things ( I have no idea what they are called ) and shiny reflective pants.
Entry Fee / Cover Charge: Prepaid tickets for $60. Also available at the door.
Guestlist: VIP tickets available for express entry, and access to the VIP room.
Inside: Just two of the halls were open. One hall for Godskitchen main area to hold everybody, and the second hall to serve as a chillout space.
Cloak Room: Yes, available, but forgot the pricing.
Bar: $10 smirnoffs
DJs: Main acts were Cosmic Gate, Blank & Jones, and John ’00′ Flemming
Music: The first act was .. ‘meh’. Crowd wasn’t really into it, just swaying around. The boombox wasn’t on at this time. Next was Blank & Jones, and the ‘official’ start to the Godskitchen event. Music was good. Everybody here seemed to be waiting for Cosmic Gate to come on. Music not too bad either! But, being someone who hasn’t heard any of the DJ’s before, it wasn’t too alienating. Everyone else seemed to know how to sing along to the songs. Once John Flemming came on, the music started getting a bit too hard, and was starting to get very repetitive. That is not something I really liked.
Crowd: Just anybody who is into these DJs. Mixed crowd all natios and all ages.
Entertainment: The ‘boombox’ was the star of the show. In the main room, it was a huge projector screen spanning the width and height of the stage. Behind the projector were bright lights and the speakers themselves. Four projectors from the back scan down to push projected imagess into the screen for awesome effect. Boombox wasn’t activated until 11pm, when Blank & Jones came on. Also alongside the DJs on occasion were two dancers in the Boombox. Pretty cool
Atmosphere: Initially upto 11pm it was pretty tame. During Blank & Jones, and cosmic gate, the main arena got quite packed and the atmosphere was pretty awesome. After 3am I was just suffering fatigue from the thumping repetitive beats. This was not a sell out event, as opposed to the Melbourne show. Perhaps it was because it was the same day as Parklife, which had just finished at 10pm?
Videos: on the next section

Timeline
Munky sponsored tickets
I won two VIP tickets by being featured in a Munky newsletter.  Thanks

VIP treatment
We had 2 VIP tickets. This gave us express entry into the event (we waited about 2 minutes) and access to the VIP room.

The VIP room was located next to the main stage. It was a small room with chairs outside facing the crowd. The room had a single unisex toilet and a bar. The “VIP Toilet” was totally crap, as both men and girls lined up for it. It was basically a disabled toilet. total joke.

The VIP room. Overwhelmingly disappointing

However on the other hand, the bar was pretty good. Even though there was only one guy at the makeshift bar, there weren’t many VIP holders in line, so we never had to wait long for a drink, where as outside the lines were massive long!

Boombox videos
Videos even cannot describe how epic the boombax was. Without this boombox, Godskitchen would have been only mediocre, at best, for me:

Blank and Jones: Intro to Godskitchen’s boombox

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cosmic Gate – “Firewire” Intro

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chillout room
So there was a chillout room. Not many people chose to sit in here, but instead chose to mingle in the outside cold, which was really bizarre, because on occasion there would be some rain and what not. Anyway, inside the room there were two bars, and a DJ playing some songs. Behind the DJ set was a video feed of what was happening live inside. You could see the boombox doing its magic, and it always looked beautiful.

And the chairs! the chairs were were the most comfortable fold up chairs I have ever sat on. The cushion was at least 2 inches thick, and it wasn’t the plasticky material – it felt like office chair rug material. It was pretty awesome. on top of this there were chairs everywhere – anybody who came in had a spot to sit as well as a place to dance and drink if needed.

Also in the far corner was a huge inflatable head of a supposedly DJ. we took some photos with his nose. About an hour later, security had enough of people hanging off the nose ring and sealed off the area with metal gates. Boo!

Inflatable Head Guy - Got a photo before they fenced off the area

The huge Godskitchen balloon falls down
There are two huge godskitchen floats hanging from the ceiling, and during the night the whole balloon floated down. The crowd bounces this whole thing along like a beach ball and it looks pretty cool. Sadly after a few minutes, security pounces on the float and deflates it. Boo!

People:

Witnessing awesome shuffling
Well, its events like these where you meet true lovers of this music genre. They dress up to dance, and are easily recognized with these leg warmers. A funny look, but it works impressively when they dance/shuffle/whatever you want to call it. I witnessed an exceptional female shuffler, spinning and leg splitting, whatever you want to call it, it was hypnotizing and I don’t think I could ever be as good as that. I’ just not flexible enough.

Raver girl - godskitchen sydney

Met this guy and he wanted me to tag him on facebook, but I lost his contact, so I’ll just post the pic up here. I don’t think he would  mind:

Random face paint guy - Godskitchen sydney

This was in the VIP area – there was a little area where we could dance.

Coda
After John Fleming came on, the music got too heavy for us,  (even I have my limits) and we left. Time of departure 3:15am

Recommendation
I probably wouldn’t go back, as I didn’t know any of the songs. However, if you knew the songs and artists, you would have loved it. Crowd was right into it. I think most people, if not all, were here for Cosmic Gate, which was a good set. With all the aforementioned in consideration, my rating for the Godskitchen Sydney Boombox Tour  is 6.5/10

Heavily promoted, we decide to buy tickets for the event! Last festival I dressed up on my own as an Indian, so this time I wanted to get as many others on board. A friend jokingly suggested a Pirate theme for ‘Arrrmin’! I took it seriously and went ahead with it.

About We Love Sounds Winter Festival
Music: House, trance, some other forms of house, etc. 6 or 7 areas of it!
Ticket Price: $110 first release, $118 second release? The event had sold out
2009 venue: Horden Pavillion. The pavillion itself had Armin van Buuren for a 4h 30 minute set !
Cloak room: $4
Drinks: $9 for a can of smirnoff.
DJs: Armin van Buuren, Armin van Helden, Armin Van Burren, James Zabiela, Laidback Luke, Kissy Sell Out, Guy Gerber, Dirty South, Popof, Bobmo, Danger, Anja Schneider, In Flagranti Live, Guns N Bombs, Grafton Primary Live, Justin Martin, Pivot Live, Matthew Dekay, Hijack Passions,
Sascha Funke, Aston Shuffle, Ajax, Goodwill, Bang Gang, Emerson Todd
Time: 12pm-10pm

Dress Code: Anything and everything goes
Atmosphere: Pretty much got pumping and really busy around 4pm onwards. Before then the venues, besides the Armin Arena (Horden) were not very packed.

Review:
On lining up:
We got there at 12am, and there already was a line. We were close to the front. Doors actually opened around 12.30. It was smooth sailing from there.

Lining up to get into We Love Sounds. We were at the front

A girl in line joins our group
We met a girl, Devo, whose friend had dogged her. She was pretty cut up about it, so we let her join our group. Aren’t we so nice

Checking out all the areas:
I can remember 7 areas where you could dance.. 6 main areas plus the soul bar. crazy.. that’s what festivals are for I suppose.

My favourite rooms to dance in:
Lost Baggage
For me probably my favourite room to dance to was the Lost Baggage room (I think thats what it was called!) There was never a dull moment for me to whip out my legs and dance a piratey dance. Unfortunately though, this was probably the least popular room for the general public, and the big room, was at best of times, only half capacity.

Bang Gang Room
Just generally good beats, and a good crowd. This was basically an open hangar like thing. Anyway later in the night they even mixed some rnb with house, which was totally awesome.

Soul Bar:
My friends and I hung out here for a good hour or so, just dancing away at around 6 or 7pm. This was just a simple bar, but they were pumping out all the party tunes, in case you were getting sick of the house music. The atmosphere made it what it was – it could hold probably 20 or 30 people inside the floor, with a small area out back to relax. We actually had a chance here to talk to our fellow festival-goers, which is important!

The Armin Arena (Horden) (only during the armin set!):
Armin was to start playing at 5.30. I got into the Arena 4.30 and friends were resting from pure exhaustion – already!? Anyway I leave and tell them I would come back in half an hour. BIG MISTAKE! Half an hour later, the line outside is massive. So massive they closed off one of the entry doors – i was not going to get in on time. So I went to Bang Gang to dance there a bit. I finally got in at around 8pm! The place was packed as just to see Armin play. Music, the sheer massive crowd and the lights made an amazing atmosphere.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Experiences as a pirate

Dressing up.. as a pirate
The plan – invite everybody to join me in dressing up as a pirate!!
Actuality – I turned up in a pirate suit, and the only other person who turned up was C, and she came halfway through the day.  Did my friends (except C) think I could really could have converted them to dress up with me? I suppose not. I was more than happy to be an attention whore.

Finally, some other pirate pics!

C also wore a pirate outfit, and SHE TOOK MY THUNDERR!! Whenever me and C went somewhere togther, everyone would ASK HER for a photo but not me!! NHEGH! I also saw another pirate! However I think was employed to dress up that day:

Me and my dance partner C, and some random guy in the middle

two pirates! arrrr.. I don't know why he was touching my chest.

Stealing of my facial hair
I had a goatee, sideburns, eye brows, and a moustache. By the end of the night I had lost all items. Eyebrows to sweat, but everything else was lost from people who kept ripping it off and putting it on themselves!! They basically lost their stick and I had to throw them away:

She stole my fake pirate goatee. Couldn't stick it back on after arrr above is a prime example of people messing with my hair.

She broke my phone into 6 pieces. Lucky its a Nokia.
I was outside one of the rooms early in the evening. A girl from the goatee photo above sees me. She yells out ‘PIRATE MAN!!!!’. She JUMPS out of her chair and RUNS toward me. Then she JUMPS ON ME!! Umph!! I had my phone in one hand, and when she jumped on me, my phone FLEW across the sky and landed onto the ground into 6 pieces. EVERYBODY SAW and EVERYBODY LAUGHED at what just happened to my phone!! omg !! I stare at the carnage on the ground. She was so sorry, and I was still holding onto her, my face in shock. Her legs were wrapped around me and I was holding up her ass. So I accidentally fell forward on top of her. Hahaha.. anyway we had a good old pirate chat while reassembling my phone.

I get a huge pash from a girl who was off her face.
I was in the Armin room at the front looking for our friends. Theres a girl dancing with her mates, and she sees me. An ‘Arr’! later and after a photo – she plants a big wet kiss on the cheek. Her friend says ‘kiss him, hes a pirate!’. I just stood there as she absolutely tongued me – pwoar! Friends were in a bit of a shock – I don’t think they’ve seen me kiss a random girl before. We do the heavy grinding and more making out. Then just as quickly, she turns to the guy next to her, then sticks her tongue down his throat and makes out with him! Jesus christ!! What was she smoking and  how many other guys has she shared saliva with?? UGH! My playtime was over, and I left the Arena.

Girl who was off her chops

General Photowhoring
I just did a quick count, and I photo-whored myself with about 60 random people who asked for a photo of me. I really can’t be bothered putting them up, since they didn’t dress up like pirates, but most of them were hot hot chicks. Damnnnn, life sucks being a photo whore. Maybe once the gallery is up..

I get told pirate jokes!
People came up to tell me their pirate jokes for a larrrrrgh. Here they are

Pirate joke 1:
Right after we got in, a girl comes up and tells me this pirate joke:
Her: ‘Where does a pirate keep his jam?’
(I had no idea..)
Her: ‘IN A JARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!’

Pirate joke 2:
A guy comes up to me in the afternoon -
Him: “Why are pirates called pirates?”
(I had no idea..)
Him: “Because they ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
I should have seen that one coming.

Pirate joke 3:
In the evening, a guy comes up, and he’s intoxicated. He tells me he “has a pirate joke!”:
Him: ‘Why… why… .why are… ahh wait… I remember this one! .. WHY.. ARE .. pirates.. ‘

(This time I had an idea..)
Me: “Because they ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
Him: (shocked look, then a big smile) “HAHAHA you know that one! YEAH wooo!”
Of course I knew; It was the same guy from pirate joke 2!

Coda (I lost my phone, then I found it again)
I was in the other big room where armin van helden was playing. It was 9pm. I wasn’t a big fan of the music, but I don’t think I was going to make it back into the Armin Arena after leaving it. I walked around, and somehow I lost my phone. It was in my bag, then it was gone. Friends wanted to leave 9.30pm to beat the traffic, but I made them stay until the end. After everybody left the room, my phone was nowhere to be found. They called my phone, and suddenly my bag started vibrating!

Woohoo! I was so happy! My friends give out a collective groan and give me a collective cursing for holding them out. I was saying sorry for a good half hour as we walked all the way back to the city.

Bloody awesome 10 hours it was, for me anyway