PALM TREE FESTIVAL: THE CHAINSMOKERS, PEKING DUK – SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL – MELBOURNE – 08.12.2024
Review: Craig Eriksson. Photos: David Harris
It was a perfect Melbourne day for the Palm Tree Festival at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. The sun was shining, putting everyone in a jovial mood ready to dance and sing along to some quality electronic dance music (EDM). It has been quite a while since we last attended an EDM show and this festival reminded us of how much fun they can be. The Chainsmokers headlined the festival and the line-up also included Peking Duk, Gryffin, Austin Millz, Daya and Darley. Unfortunately, Alesso was a late cancellation with Peking Duk added to the line-up.
We were fortunate enough to secure a good spot, nice and close to the stage. We were literally in the eye of the storm of what was about to come. The crowd rapidly built up around us over the next hour or so, with patrons all trying to get as close to the main stage to see these DJ’s and artists perform.
Darley
Hailing from Australia, Darley is from Melbourne and has gained rapid popularity. Darley has made a name for herself in the Australian club scene and her music is dynamic and exciting with songs like – ANTIDOTE, DOING MY THING, ALL NIGHT (featuring Queenie) and BUY LOW SELL HIGH. Darley supported The Backstreet Boys on their Australian leg of their tour and has toured internationally and played nationally at some of the biggest venues in the country.
Daya
Daya performed a short dream pop set. Daya is an American singer/songwriter from Mt Lebanon, Pennsylvania. I read where at just 3 years of age, Daya first began learning to play a multitude of instruments – piano, saxophone, guitar, flute and ukulele. Her self-titled debut EP was released in 2015 which included the hit song HIDE AWAY which fans heard her perform today. Daya has released a plethora of singles and released her debut studio album Sit Still, Look Pretty in 2016. Daya has also done some collaborations with both Gryyfin and The Chainsmokers who are on todays line-up. Her style of music is synthpop/electronic/pop. Daya performed a half hour set– I WANNA KNOW; SIT STILL, LOOK PRETTY; HIDE AWAY; BAD GIRL and DON’T CALL. The crowd really enjoyed Daya’s fresh sound, sonic texture, dance and electronic elements as she sang her pop melodies. Daya engaged well with the crowd and made everyone wanna get up and dance.
Austin Millz
Austin Millz is an American DJ, producer and songwriter from Harlem, NYC. He started as a DJ back in 2013 and in 2016 he gained popularity after he DJ’d Beyonce’s Homecoming Coachella performances. Millz released Breathwork EP in 2023. Millz played a 1-hour set and performed several songs from his EP such as INHALE/EXHALE and played his latest release NEED I SAY MORE. Millz is a cool lookin’ cat with his wild dreadlocks and white sunglasses as he stands up on stage behind the console and spins some wonderful remixes of popular songs that the crowd were familiar with like Nina Simone’s FEELING GOOD; The Killers MR.BRIGHTSIDE; Empire of the Sun’s WALKING ON A DREAM. There were cameramen at the front of the stage filming fans having fun, singing and dancing and this was displayed up on the giant screen behind Millz. Alternating on the big screen was Millz spinning tunes. A basic but effective backdrop.
Gryffin
Gryffin is an American musician, DJ and music producer from San Francisco, California. He started out in 2013. Then in 2016, he released his debut single HEADING HOME and also WHOLE HEART. In 2017, Gryffin went on to do a collaboration with Daya called FEEL GOOD which the two of them performed together tonight. Gryffin classifies himself as a melodic house artist. He incorporates sounds of piano and guitar for a hybrid of electric and organic musical style. We loved how much he gets into the music, sings along to every song and oozes with personality. The crowd absolutely loved him and when he also played guitar on a few tracks, the crowd erupted. He had billowing smoke cannons and pyros throughout his energetic set. Gryffin played a solid 1-hour set consisting of both his own music and some remixes: SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW (Gotye & Kimbra cover); DANCE THROUGH THE NIGHT; SANDSTORM (Darude cover) and FREED FROM DESIRE (Gala cover).
Peking Duk
Peking Duk is a successful Australian DJ duo from Canberra, ACT. Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles are DJ’s and record producers and have become a very well-known and popular act in Australia. In 2014, their song HIGH reached #5 in the ARIA Singles Chart and achieved triple platinum certification and won the ARIA Award for Best Dance Release. They have performed at many Australian festivals such as Falls Festival, Splendour in the Grass, Spilt Milk and Big Day Out, but they announced it was the first time they’ve performed at the bowl. Their music style is house/electro house /alternative dance. These rebellious party boys were loads of fun and there was a lot of crowd participation throughout their show. During one song they asked everyone to crouch down and then leap up and dance like crazy. They told fans to get up on your mates shoulders knowing security had been stopping it all night. They were drinking beers while spinning tunes and Hyde had a smoke on stage knowing security had been telling fans to stop vaping and smoking joints. During one song, they asked everyone to wave any piece of clothing they had in the air and if you can visualise thousands of people all waving clothing in the air at the same time, it looked amazing. They had both smoke and pyros and a great stage back drop of fans and themselves while performing. They performed a few songs but are predominantly DJs spinning and ripping out some killer songs that have guest singers on them such as STRANGER, HIGH, FIRE and STOP THE MUSIC. They acknowledged Swedish DJ Alesso having to cancel due to health concerns and said how much they love his music and then played a cover of one of his songs and wished him a speedy recovery.
The Chainsmokers
The Chainsmokers are Drew Taggart and Alex Pall. They are an American DJ duo from NYC and over the past decade they have become massive in the EDM world. They’ve done collaborations with artists such as Coldplay, Tiesto, Juice Wrld, 5 Seconds of Summer, Daya, and Charlee.
Tonight they played a 2-hour set with a bunch of say 50-60 fans on stage standing behind them for the entire show. Right from the get go, The Chainsmokers had the crowd in the palm of their hands dancing and singing along to every single song.
The Chainsmokers infused the bowl with their signature sound and energy. The majority of their performance is DJing where the duo stand behind the console, twiddling knobs and twisting dials creating some mega cool dance tunes. Now and again, Taggart will hype up the crowd by jumping up on to the console stage or head down closer to the crowd and sing their hit songs, mostly to backing tracks. One of the songs he sang was SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS which was definitely one of the crowd faves tonight. Other songs they performed were PARIS, SICK BOY, #SELFIE and DON’T LIE. Daya joined them on stage for DON’T LET ME DOWN. They also mix in other songs that everyone loves and played some old mixes like ONE MORE NIGHT (Daft Punk cover) and FAST CAR (Tracy Chapman cover), which they fused and blended into their hit song CLOSER, being another crowd favourite.
There were bits and pieces of everything including SEVEN NATION ARMY (The White Stripes). The Chainsmokers played a wonderful mix of house, electro, trap, dubstep, hip hop and hardstyle which makes their music so wonderfully diverse and not one particular genre.
There was an amazing feel-good vibe looking around at how incredibly happy everyone was and how much they were enjoying themselves. It was a predominantly young crowd dressed in their club-going outfits and busting their dance moves. The show contained a bit of everything from confetti and smoke cannons, laser show, synchronised fireworks and pyros.
Overall, there was so much to love about the Palm Tree Festival. It was a dynamic live experience and it had an infectious, feel-good energy, creating a euphoric vibe for the audience. It looked like the artists had just as much fun onstage as the crowd.
