On the last night of You Are Here, we held a party to coincide with FM 104.7?s Skyfire. Skyfire is a free fireworks display over Lake Burley Griffin synchronised to the sounds of a special music mix broadcast by FM 104.7.
As much as we would have loved to attend Skyfire, You Are Here decided not to attend Skyfire. Instead to hold a free street party in Civic behind the Merry-Go-Round. Starting out with a contemporary dance performance choreographed by Sarah Kaur to the sounds of the FM 104.7 Skyfire broadcast, FriendlyFire soon kicked into a mash-up set by Dead DJ Joke and DJ Volume. Using the 104.7 mix as raw material, the duo punched out a glorious set of trashy, overloaded pop and FM 104.7 radio call signs (up to and including a remix of a Harvey Norman commercial).
Sarah Kaur’s choreography at work. Image by Holly Orkin.
Was it outstanding? It kind of was. First of all, we were lucky enough to score a swathe of teenagers on their way back from SkyFire (ALL OF THEM SOBER, ALL OF THEM) and charmed them into surrendering any remnants of dignity or self-control to the mercy of the dancefloor. Secondly, we had some awesome family action from passers-by who stopped to dig the atmosphere and ended up staying until 11pm, rocking out with their young children. Thirdly, and best of all, we temporarily canned the event in the face of an AntiSocialFifteenYearOld assault.
So around 10.10pm, about 20-25 boys cruise up to the party, mostly around 14-16 years old. I met them and checked that they had no alcohol, then when they climbed onto the Petrie Plaza garden for a better view, asked them to step down. They straightaway refused, and more climbed up to annoy me. Our genius security guard Mohammed defused the situation with a minimum of hassle, and the teens immediately swarmed on to the dancefloor.
DJ Volume (left) and Dead DJ Joke (right), aka Scotty and Nige, aka Nick McCorriston and Reuben Ingall. Image by Joe Brock.
The thing about a circle mosh is that there’s actually no problem with it. Moshing is both a legitimate and pleasant form of dancing, and a circle mosh is a natural and aesthetically pleasing means to facilitate it. It’s like the dance formations in the drawing rooms of Jane Austen novels, and it has its own rules and structure. The problem is that a bunch of aggressive and hyped-up fifteen year-old boys don’t know or understand those rules, and the result is a clumsy, dangerous mess.
After a couple of minutes of awkward flailing, I was both bored and underwhelmed by their lack of style and technique. In order to draw their incompetent revels to a close, we temporarily cut the music – or rather, cut to Dead DJ Joke’s collection of Call Waiting music. The soothing synth lines and repetitive melodies acted like insect repellent to the tribe of fifteen year-olds, and they swarmed off into the night as quickly as they came.*
Max Barker, also lifting the pace up a notch. Image by Joe Brock.
At this point, Dead DJ Joke and DJ Volume lifted the pace up a notch, slammed into a mash-up of Coolio’s Gangster’s Paradise with Mambo No. 5, and proceeded to take us all the way home.
That more or less concludes the festival – more wrap-up stuff coming in the next few days. In the meantime, huge thanks to anyone and everyone involved – coordinators, artists, supporters, audience… all of you rule, and thank you thank you we are grateful.
Talk soon –
– David
*Presumably making their way to an all-night cafe for a Warhammer 40K tournament.
Image by Joe Brock.
Video by Holly Orkin.
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