Rain On My Parade: Foreshore 2011

Woodstock ’69, Homebake 96, Glastonbury almost every year: all festivals that have become legend, in part, because of the wet. Foreshore may not be quite on the same stage as those epic festivals but the flooded chaos of the crowds during Boy and Bear’s set on Saturday wasn’t far off.

Unlike the sweltering oven-baked heat of Big Day Out, there was no fear of suffering heatstroke or having my face melt off in the burning sun at Foreshore this year. Despite a sunny start, it wasn’t long before the skies darkened and mosh pits became the ideal location for making mudpies.

Many festival-goers took the morning’s sunshine as a sign of good things to come and ditched their gumboots and jumpers in favour of skimpy summery ensembles. The sun continued into the early afternoon as crowds crammed into the tented stage area to see the wild antics of the boys from LMFAO who didn’t disappoint as they sprayed champagne over screaming female fans.

But upon dusk, the sinister clouds that had been lurking in the sky finally succeeded sending down rain with a vengeance. All optimistic outfits were ruined and suddenly, people in ponchos had all the power.

And so I found myself disoriented, sweating and struggling to breathe through the plastic of my poncho as I braved the horizontal sheets of rain and shin-deep mud pits for the sounds of Boy and Bear.

Masses of revellers crammed into the tented stage to dance themselves dry to the beats of Bombs Away and the always popular Stafford Brothers and Timmy Trumpet.

The weather didn’t wet everyone’s spirits though, with the drinks on offer soon fuelling some childlike craziness. Girls became human relay batons and were happily passed above the pack of ponchos until security forced them down to the ground where they settled for shuffling in the mud.

Ladyhawke was a no-show, with crowds braving the rain for over an hour before finding out she would not be taking to the stage due to illness. But the masses were kept entertained, as a pile of discarded ponchos became a makeshift slip and slide.

The drinks and the rain also oiled the crowd’s dancing bones. Upon dark, several dancers in black morph suits formed a dance circle. Their lycra clad figures blended into the rainy darkness as they danced, attracting strange stares from passing festival-goers. Waving their lanky limbs the morph suits tossed and turned like rotisserie man-chickens to the amazing sounds of soon to be five-time ARIA winner Gotye.

It was extraordinary to see how the combination of a music festival and a spandex suit had the power to create that kind of social freedom, albeit temporarily. In fact, the rain seemed to make everything more fun.

When Pnau and Afrojack took to opposite stages to end the night with two huge performances, the crowds cheered with muddy abandon. It must be that special Foreshore ‘vibe’ that has to be experienced firsthand to truly understand.

Rain: 0. Canberra crowds: 1.