Sonne Mond Sterne festival

Has it really been two years since I attended a music festival?! Well the clock was reset this weekend when I went to Sonne Mond Sterne! Held near the village where he grew up in Thuringen, Dunkeldeutschland, Alex has attended this electrofest every year since the first one (19 times!), and with this inside info, it was AWESOME!!!

The party started at 10pm. To be honest, we were a little worried about how we were going to see Steve Aoki who was scheduled to start at 3:30am

But THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS started an hour late (I think it was around 2am?) due to technical issues. When they started though, their light show with these EPIC SINGING ROBOTS was totally worth it! Like a religious experience!

The sun rose during Aoki's set

And I totally would have watched it except I was too busy dancing.

We slept in until around 2pm, although I'm not sure if it can really be 'sleeping in' given that we slept after 7am. Either way, we took it easy before getting into it again. And with a line up including Gestoert aber Geil, FAITHLESS (!!!), Fritz Kalkbrenner, and Calvin Harris, we were going to need all the rest we could get. 

Just like this beach buddha with disco ball

Wayfarers, dancing masks, graphic shirts, flower crowns, duck faces...the uniform for dance parties!

Calvin Harris has come a long way since the Prince of Wales Hotel in St. Kilda! There was no way I'd be able to stand close enough to watch him sing today. Also, he doesn't sing anymore :(

I have to say, a general agreement between us (and the taxi driver) is that unlike other festivals, people weren't overly drunk or drugged or angry. It was all happy moods, as you can see in this photo...

In any case, such an awesome time was had that it was completely understandable why someone would attend for 19 years running. And we've already decided to go again next year!

So here's to SMS XX!!!

FUNDON! Day 2 part 2

After Matilda, Pooey and I had to wave goodbye to Caro & Friend and rush away because...WE WERE GOING TO SEE ONE DIRECTION AT WEMBLEY STADIUM!!!! This is a not a joke. This whole trip was actually planned around the fact that we had tickets to it hehehehe

The excitement started on the Tube to Wembley Park. We weren't the only ones dressed in the gear and holding the accessories!

Pooey jumps for joy as we get closer and closer!

We were waiting for Leesh and Meems and took the time to put some tattoos in strategic locations.

such as a conveniently kissable one!

Pooey greatly regretted not getting a tour shirt when she saw them in Melbs. No such regrets this time.

But please also note the custom-made shirts!

Our great regret was that neither of us notices that it would have been much more fun if one of us had first names and the other had surnames. 

Yes, we were pretty happy. And here's Leesh and Meems showing their level of enthusiasm.

Wembley holds about 90,000 people and they sold out 3 concerts.I'm just going to say that with the exception of the seats behind the stage...it got more full. Such is the world domination of their cult. Of which I am definitely a member. 

We arrived too late to late to see the warm-up act who happened to be Aussie band Five Seconds of Summer :D. But we were in time to listen to the warm up music and watch everyone dance to the Macarena, Single Ladies, and Jump Around. And when I say everybody, I don't just mean the paying audience - even the security guards were getting in on it! 

But then the entry video started and everyone went apeshit

As the tour is titled 'Where We Are', the vid featured the different places 1D have been in the last few years. 

Then Harry came out to start 'Midnight Memories' and the stadium exploded!!!

Niall actually plays the guitar quite a bit. I guess he's been practising

Oh Zayn. What a hottie

But what hey, Liam has grown up and growing up has been kind to him!

And yeah, Louis. 

The great thing about having Zayn as favourite is that, due to his heavy vocal load, he was featured quite a bit in the close ups.

Problem with this was that he often looked uninterested :( It looked as though he was having problems because he kept fiddling with and replacing his earpiece.

But Liam looked really happy to be there and kept saying things like how awesome it was to be at Wembley and not being able to believe that everything started for them a few metres down the road when they auditioned for X Factor. And so now Liam is my new favourite! Sorry Zayn, but at least pretend you want to be there!

Like you Mims! What are you yawning for?!?!

See my super-happy face? At this point I think I'd been bouncing around for at least an hour.

The performance of One Thing. *sigh*

YEAH!!!!

I think this was Little Things. 

HOLD UP ALL THE PHONES!!!!

Hehehe, animated 1D

Leesh had a much better camera on her than me and Pooders

Crystal clear shots of them!

Best Song Ever closed out the night...

And then BAM!!! It was over. 

I will unabashedly say that this was one of the best nights of my life. Not only did I get to spend a few hours bouncing around, singing at the top of my lungs and basically being the teenaged fangirl I wasn't as a teenager, I got to experience one of the most amazing and spontaneous events ever. After the concert, there was (naturally) a bit of a crush as everyone headed towards the tube station to get home. Police were out and monitoring the situation. When suddenly, someone started playing 1D music out loud and the crowd burst into song, even when the song abruptly ended before its actual end. This happened a few times and showed the general cheer of the crowd despite the very uncomfortable situation. As we inched forward, it turned out the source of the music were a pair of policemen, their bullhorn, and a mobile phone! And still high on concert buzz, much to the amusement of people on the street and Smee, Pooey and I walked home from the tube, playing,singing, and dancing along to 1D. Best night ever!

Isle of Summer

Summer time is music festival time and the first one to take place in Munich is Isle of Summer, and EDM minifest. It took place on the Praterinsel for the last few years, but it's now gotten too large and is being held near Kultfabrik this year. It's also characterised by the fact that it's supposed to start at 11am and end at 8am the following day, but Susi, Nicki, Moni, Laura, Haucke, myself, and some others met up at the more reasonable time of 1pm. It was going to be interesting to see how we would do as Susi regaled the others with the story of how she watched me dance for 3 hours straight at Balaton, followed by being the only one to stay awake in the following epic taxi ride.  

I was a bit surprised as to our early start but it turns out we had to get there early because Klingande were playing at a ridiculously early time. 

Just in case you wanted to know what I was talking about

The outdoor part of the party continued on as the sun set. It got a bit cold, but as you can see, the crush of people kept us all toasty!

There's a noise curfew in Munich and this is the carnage at the main stage after everyone went to one of the indoor sections. 

After dancing for a few more hours, Susi and I were the last of our party crew, but we eventually had to give up 12 hours after we arrived - quite frankly, our legs were sore and wanted to catch the u-bahn before it stopped for the night. The next day, I could really tell that I had spent about 9 hours dancing the day before :D

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GUESS WHO'S GOING TO SCREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMM IN JUNE?!?!?!

On another note, I saw this posted on the way to the gym and seriously considered buying a ticket hehehe. 

"...allll my liiiiiife (babeh, babeh)..."

Get lucky

I had decided to start looking for Xmas presents a bit early. This is necessary given that shops aren't open on Sundays in Munich and no concession is made during the Xmas lead up period. This means that the main shopping strip, Kaufingerstr., is completely packed with the slow and the foolish on every Saturday in December. Imagine how unimpressed I was when I ventured there to find Kaufingerstr. already packed with people! This mood was briefly assuaged by noticing a massive crowd around some buskers. And I was even happier that I took the time to stop and listen. 

Unfortunately the audio isn't fantastic, but a violin, cello, accordion, and double bass play Daft Punk's Get Lucky. 

The Fox

One day, as the German Top 100 countdown played in the background as I was doing some analysis, I had to replay one track because I heard a deep philosophical question and I needed to hear it again.

What sound does a fox make?!

Wiesn 2013 - Song of the year

Folktronica appeals to the folky, the drunks, and the ravers.

Budapest - Day 2 part ZAMARDI!

And so now we come to reason why we jetted off to Budapest - our day trip to Zamardi on the shores of Lake Balaton for the Balaton Sound Electronic Dance Music Festival. Except it would actually turn out to be a night trip because checking the schedule a few hours before our planned departure to the town, we discovered the DJs we wanted to see, Alesso and Axwell were playing at 1am and 3am, respectively. 

During the 2.5 hour train ride, we three all somehow crashed and then upon waking, the British and American guys next to us started quizzing me on whether it's true kangaroos can be found on the street and how could I be Oriental if I'm from Australia *slow clapping*. 

We eventually got this sweet view of the largest lake in Hungary from the train and those guys stopped talking!

After a 20 minute walk from the train station, during which the entire route seemed packed with festival-goers having EDM parties on the street, we made it to the festival grounds. It was pretty much the mos relaxed festival I've ever been to - mindful of previous fests forcing people to throw out bottles, we pre-tossed ours only to find that not only were people allowed to bring in bottles, they could bring glass...WITH ALCOHOL!!! Something to remember for next year.

Otherwise, here are some photos!

The festival wasn't just on the lake, it used the lake by having pontoon stages on it.

Gotta say, the effect of dancing on a floating, bouncing floor was an experience.

The crowd for the main stage.

Steve Aoki!!!

My Hello Kitty water.

You can't tell, but this is Prodigy doing Smack My Bitch Up. 

Fireworks over the lake! Wheeee!

Into the main arena to wait for the Swedes!

And for some reason, my camera made this funky effect

Franzi and Susi waiting, waiting...(incidentally, great dj discovery - Julia Carpenter)

AND THE CROWD GOES APESHIT!!!

Axwell's light show. 

At around 4am, we decided that we were a bit exhausted. I mean, we're not young any more and I had just danced for 3 hours straight and my gammy leg was telling me to stop. Susi later said I was like the Energizer Bunny. Anyway. At this point, we made the best decision of the entire trip. Our original plan was to take the 5:30am train back to Budapest but as we were making our way back to the station, we came along a row of cabs. Upon the driver quoting us a price of 30,000HUF to drive us the 130km back to Pest, we jumped in the cab and got back to our hotel around the time the train would have been pulling out of the station. WIN WIN WIN!!!

And I got these sweet photos of the sunrise from the cab!

The other two were pooped and went immediately to sleep but I insisted on taking a shower before crashing.

Because after seeing how dusty my lower legs and feet were, I don't think you can blame me.