Sunburn ‘09- Day 1 at Candolim, Goa.

Sunburn ‘09- Day 1 at Candolim, Goa.

DISCLAIMER

This review does not claim to be an exhaustive review covering all artists and is selective in nature of review and coverage.

Sunburn 2009. An event that most of us reading this review right now have probably heard about, been at, or wished were there.

Fortunately for us at Chordvine.com, we were right there, in the middle of the action, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. This here is our insightful review and highlights of the Sunburn 2009.

The journey to Goa started slightly bumpily, with our VIP access rejected, and a GA Pass to get into, effectively putting us out of the hyped AfterDark sessions that made up half of Sunburn this year. But we didn’t stop, we bought ourselves a VIP pass, rather disdainfully, but we did.  Hmph.

Day 1 began with me and my crew scourging for VIP passes, luckily for us, the apparently sold-out VIPs were on sale, SAME PRICE, with a special dedicated line to do so. So much for creating panic buys online, Mr. Chinapa with your Submerge posts that VIPs would be sold for a premium—IF at all—on site. They were there, limited in number, but very much the same price as the General Access.

So a pink band and a green band on wrist, we entered towards the beginning of Vinod’s phenomenal progressive set that has some beautiful numbers illuminating the Goa afternoon, smoothly warming the day up with his groovy nature at the Shack, which is last year’s Bar Stage rechristened. I’m still waiting for Rithesh and Inferno to put their House Classics set online. Quite sad I missed that opener.

Moving to the Domes, the Sky (Main stage) and Tree (Gatecrasher Stage) Domes, Shubs from the U.S continued Vinod’s good work and belted some powerful proggy and it shows why he closed for Tiesto in the summer of 2008, he eased all of us into the big stage atmosphere before ending with the massive Johnny the Fox to welcome Nick Rafferty (UK) on the Gatecrasher stage.

Meanwhile, the Cartel finished their tech rider on the Sky Dome to allow Sashanti (Russia) to belt out some deep and progressive house, and was refreshing to watch as he jammed with a percussionist and pianist to add several layers and channels that was every bit the sublime you expect in the afternoon.

Back to Rafferty, who’d just flown in for the time of his set, his set was bloody good. His mixing was a bit suspect as you could hear cues and his beat-matching was a bit shoddy—but what he did with his awesome sound selection of progressive and borderline trance was awesome. His set really began hooking us onto the festival atmosphere.

Vachan Chinapa moved into his breaks and drum n bass vinyl routine on the Sky Dome while none other than super-talented Sied van Riel, took Gatecrasher duties into full flow as he banged trancer after trancer to put the faithful to near delirium. His set was assured and consummate, progressive and uplifting (unlike a few other trance acts that were to follow ;) ) and was an absolute delight  to listen and dance and wave your hands in the air like madmen.

What was to unfold however at the Sky Dome after Vachan, was ABSOLUTE MADNESS. Sultan from Canada descended on the Goan sands and BLEW THE EFFING PLACE APART. His manic mixing, those blonde dreadlocks, the infectious sing-along crowd control. This guy is a performer, and he had a set to match. Right from his mix with Ned Shepard of This Is Our Night, to the unexpected inclusion of Nadia Ali’s Love Song- his brand of tech and progressive was unbelievable. Quite simply the set of the day, and for this banger he wins our No.3 spot for my overall listings of the set.

Back the Gatecrasher, Tuhin Mehta zipped in with a hard, intense banging trance set for an hour with beauties like SOS and I *thought* I heard Lethal Industry somewhere as he made way for the Dome’s headliner. Mr. International Resident at Sunburn, John 00 Fleming.

After Sultan was done banging our innards and psyching us out, walking into the Sky Dome’s headline slot were our very own Jalebee Cartel. To be quite honest, a little disappointed with them, but then again, I’m a bit partial to their DJ set and a 2-hour live set isn’t my idea of mad-liner. Unfortunately for them, their set was strewn with technical glitches and errors that didn’t let them get into full flow till about 20 minutes and the rest was typical Jalebee, good vocals from Ash, nice energy from Ashwin and Arjun and some sick basslines courtesy G-Force.

On the Gatecrasher, J00F had just flown in to a massive audience, which I believe was a lot more than the Cartel, and his bassline-driven psy was aggressive, entertaining and utterly trippy.

Move off the beach; let’s see what this AfterDark hoopla is all about. After a quick wash, we zipped off to Butter, home to the night segment of Sunburn and when we walked in, we could smell some good tech and progressive house. Vijay and Dominic from Chennai were spinning with a wicked edge. It was fast and pulsating. Maybe this stuff isn’t that bad after all. The set was really good.

Spoken too soon. Initially Boombaba’s set, it was taken by DJ Whosane (swapped rather) who frankly, needs Botox at two places. His ears and his face, his set was outdated and one-dimensional. An utter disappointment.  Heck we even heard a fellow journo for a youth-based magazine from Mumbai have a go at Whosane. Off the record of course.

“He plays at birthday parties in Bangalore,”

I don’t doubt those words. We left soon enough and sunk in our beds. Ears still aching.

P.S—Mr. Chinapa again, a friend with a regular GA pass walked in paying 1000 and he was a stag. Again, a contradiction of what you predicted could happen on the Submerge forums.