PUBLISHED August 26th, 2014 04:00 pm | UPDATED January 20th, 2016 02:28 pm
From the headliners Ellie Goulding and Empire of the Sun to up-and-coming Malaysian talent like Paperplane Pursuit, the Good Vibes Festival 2014 was a veritable gathering of contemporary musicians. Alas, we got off on the wrong foot with this festival this year, which was a pity because the lineup held so much promise for the 8,000 people who turned up.
Things began to go awry with the heavy rain that started a couple of hours after kickoff. We, like everyone else, scrambled to the only fully tented stage, where Malaysian DJ collab Indiego & Co made an impressive effort (and succeeded fairly well) in keeping festivalgoers in the mood with groovy beats despite two power outages.
The adverse weather conditions also caused homeboys Electrico and other acts like Bittersweet and +2db to cancel their set.
It was still raining after sunset, so we headed out to the entrance get ponchos (if the event organizers are reading this, please have them in stock for purchase within the festival ground next year!) so we could catch Banks at the other stage. This Californian singer-songwriter has us obsessed with her hypnotic blend of beats, pianos, echoes, and her sultry voice – try Drowning and Waiting Game if you don’t know her yet – and thankfully, she didn’t disappoint live.
If we had to pick our favourite act of the night, even with the one-hour delay due to the rain knocking the lights out, it would be Empire of the Sun. Staying true to his flamboyant stage persona, Luke Steele put up such a visually and aurally stimulating performance that we felt like we were in a mini concert instead of a festival act – awesome! The crowd went especially wild when Luke jumped off the stage and leaned over the railing holding everyone back, and of course, when he trashed a guitar (we’re pretty sure it wasn’t his) and equipment on stage.
In order to satisfy our complaining stomaches, we skipped dance-punk band !!! (aka Chk Chk Chk) and stuffed ourselves silly with pulled-lamb empanadas from Crzypuff, Nachos Region’s beef chili nachos, and artisanal popsicles by The Potong before returning to the stage to wait for Ellie Goulding. Food usually ain’t too good at music festivals, but we actually might just hit up these vendors when we’re next back in KL.
Kicking off with Figure 8 and ending with the crowd-pleasing Burn, Ellie’s first performance in Malaysia was marred by what seemed like the onset of a throat infection (okay, we played detective with the amount of water she consumed and her struggle to hit a couple of notes). Nonetheless, we have to say that she’s come a long way as a live performer; that and her Brit humour had everyone laughing and dancing till the end.
Overall, Good Vibes Festival would have been a lot more awesome if it didn’t rain – sorry if we sound prissy but getting stuck in the mud with all the creepy crawlies worming out was not cool – but if the organisers manage to score a lineup of this calibre next year, we will be back.
Image credits: top image by Aloysius Lim, Banks and Ellie Goulding by Alvin Ho, Empire of the Sun and crowd by All is Amazing.