Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: Jason Rosewarne
Right Here, Right Now … last night we finally lived out a dream and ticked off a bucket list item seeing the incredible Fatboy Slim for the first time. We made the roadtrip down to Geelong to Mt Duneed Estate Winery to experience the amazing Fatboy Slim Loves Australia 2025 Tour on a perfect evening for an outdoor event!
Fatboy Slim has had tongues wagging as he has been in and around Melbourne over the past week spinning some tunes and making an impression at the F1 Grand Prix and even performed a surprise pop-up set in Northern Soul Chip Shop (English-style fish & chippery) in St Kilda on Wednesday night before kicking on at Revolver Upstairs.
Fatboy Slim is the stage name of English DJ, musician & record producer, Norman Cook who came up with the name back in 1996 as an oxymoron (a word that can’t exist) as he thought it was ‘goofy’ and ‘ironic’ and suited him.
During the mid-80s, Cook was the bassist in the indie rock band The Housemartins who achieved a #1 hit in the UK with Caravan of Love. Cook has played in a number of different bands over the years and he gained moderate success with most of his music endeavours. Cook is recognised for pioneering the big beat genre and in the mid-90s he adopted Fatboy Slim and created remixes of songs that elevated his career and gave him a string of hits and worldwide success for almost 30 years now.
We’d made good time and had a couple of travellers on the way down to Mt Duneed to loosen up the body in prep for a big afternoon of dancing and that we certainly did. The afternoon kick started with Toronto-born, Melbourne-based electronic DJ and producer, Jennifer Loveless who presented a wonderful set of tech-house music that warmed up the crowd and had many of us dancing from the get go.
Courtney Clarke better known as CC:Disco from Cobram, Victoria was on next. CC:Disco is a radio announcer, Club DJ and has played some of the world’s biggest dance music festivals. We really enjoyed CC:Disco’s set with her electric signature disco, boogie and house set which incorporated songs by Gorillaz and Yothu Yindi. The backdrop was a large plain orange screen and we felt having a theatrical backdrop would have enhanced her set.
All the way from Sweden was Armand Jakobsson, better known as DJ Seinfeld who played a set of infectious grooves that kept the feel-good vibe going. We loved his mix of Empire of the Sun’s Walking On A Dream and Daft Punk’s One More Time. The crowd had noticeably built up down in the Lawn Front Standing area where we were dancing and looking back at the hill (lawn area) it was a sea of bodies. I believe there were 13,500 attendees at the show.
Fatboy Slim (FS) emerged on stage and set the feel-good, atmospheric, party vibe right from the first song and this incredible level of high energy continued for the next two hours with him playing a set filled with classic hits and remixes. We were completely immersed in the show and were right down the front in the thick of it, dancing and singing along with everyone else. It was great to see how Slim’s music brings people of all ages and genres together in a peaceful, harmonious environment, all out to have an enjoyable time together. You could see everyone was loving every minute of the show. It felt like a Full Moon Party! There were inflatable beach balls being hit around the crowd, people getting up on their friends shoulders, fist pumping the air and a purple haze from that distinctive organic aroma drifting around us. The show had everything from pyros to lasers and confetti cannons.
The crowd was mesmerised by all the wonderful visuals on three giant screens throughout the entire show which was chaotic and friggin’ awesome. The visuals included many famous people singing along to the songs (created in AI) along with many other cool pop-culture visuals, animations and total madness (melting brains, gorilla playing a guitar, giant eyeballs, dancing cartoon babies, smiley faces, the dude from the ‘You’ve Come Along Way, Baby’ album cover). There was even a special tribute to George Foreman who had sadly passed away today.
Throughout the set, it was very clear that FS is a master at building up the music and energy to the peak and then he drops them at the right moment creating a euphoric climax that has the crowd oozing with enjoyment and ecstasy. What sets him apart is the seamless flow between songs maintaining the energy and atmosphere, perfectly executed, overlapping phrases (chorus, verse, etc) of the same length to create coherent and flowing mixes. The music was intoxicating.
FS projects a lot of charisma and manages to interact well with the audience considering he is standing behind his mixing desk. He still manages to command the crowd and keep them absorbed in the moment.
The smooth transitions between songs and FS combining a great track selection set the mood and put the crowd into a hypnotic trance creating for a magnificent outdoor rave sensation.
FS played his signature dance-floor bangers like Right Here, Right Now, The Rockafeller Skank and Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat. Mixed in the set were some Talking Heads, Underworld’s Born Slippy, Bodyrockers I Like The Way You Move, The Doobie Brothers Long Train Runnin and The Killers Mr Brightside.
When you thought it couldn’t get any better, the show peaked when Praise You came on elevating the crowd to a whole new stratosphere.
Overall, FS set was superbly mixed and he certainly has a unique and outstanding flair that stands out in the DJ world of music making him the loveable and iconic superstar DJ that he is most famous for worldwide. A truly magical evening and one we will all remember for a long time to come.
