Rock bands aside, what truly clinched it for me was the excellent techno- Freddy Fresh, Neuro Flapjack, Pound System, Dan Woodman, and Psyburbia were among the talent that would DOOF it through the night. Yep, it was gonna be a lovely last few days on earth.

The publicity that the change of venues bought was almost enough to over shadow the oncoming millenium - not quite, but almost. Having said that, if it hadn't been for a message left on one of our crew's mobile we would never have knownádistractions I suppose. Still, we managed to overcome that hurdle and were soon tootling our way to the site.

When we saw the line of cars stretching for kilometres we knew we finally found the right place. They say that you can't judge a book by its cover but I think that you can get a fair idea of a party by the line of punters waiting to begin. The side of the road was already dense with empty liquor bottles and partygoer's patience was tested to varying degrees. There were people that figured the line would speed up if they leant on their car horns and even shifty buggers who decided to just overtake stationary cars to their own advantage. Though I'm glad to report that us chumps who sat patiently eventually overtook those dastardly cheats.

Once inside the actual grounds things weren't much simpler- no glass was permitted on the premises so no alcohol was to be smuggled in. It was amusing to see people either sculling what they had bought or desperately trying to find a fool proof hiding spot. It was almost futile though, as there were 6 people searching every car from top to bottom. Cars were completely emptied of luggage and rifled through which saw them net quite a lot of treasure. If some of these people were working at customs there would be a hell of a lot less substances in the country, I can say that for sureá.the words "Search and Destroy" sprang to mindá..

The grounds filled up fast, with tents being shambollically erected everywhere possible. It was quite a sight to behold, and the few people who'd bought caravans were the only ones not worried about the threatening weather. To say it was windy was like saying that Pauline Hanson is a little misguided: a huge understatement. But what the hell, this is rock 'n roll and a fair majority of the punters would soon be too smashed to notice.

The bands didn't start until that afternoon, with work being done on the stage up until the first band played. With all the rigmarole everyone had been through they were in the mood to just listen to some good live music and forget all the dramas of the day, which everyone set about doing. ALEX LLOYD was one of the first to play in the amended line up and did very well. He's not really my thing but he and his band sounded good (apart from the poor guy playing an old analog synth that would come in for a few bars and sound amazing then crackle and disappear) and it can't be said that he doesn't have a good voice. He played an extended version of his single "Something Special" to finish on and with the aforementioned analog synth working it's bugs out sounded great. The crowd responded accordingly and he made way for KILLING HEIDI.

I don't know who this Heidi is, or what she did wrong, but if that's how they make killing someone sound, I'd love to hear them trying to make good music- it would be incredible. They were really good, a lot of energy and thankful to the crowd who'd been through a fair amount of crap just to get there. Once again the singles rocked out hard, but their entire set went down very well and they can probably look forward to a good future in the business.

Sydney act PRIMARY had a lot of fans in the crowd, a lot of the older folks (possibly fans of the Fonti brothers' previous outfit Caligula) came for them and despite their early set (it was not yet even dark), really caned it. They have a great blend of tech-rock, which I think would've gone down better a little later as many of their tracks have a real depth, and darkness to them that would've been great as the sun went down. They didn't seem to mind however, and set about getting people going. I don't know the name of their female vocalist (I'm a heathen) but she is certainly in the right job. She screamed, strutted, looked scary, and generally did everything a good front person should do. Yes, Primary are good indeed, and if they're on next year- organizers take note: put them on later!

The next few bands are a bit of a blur, as I went off to hunt for food. There was little else than exorbitantly priced crap. $3 for a bucket of half-fried chips? I've heard of captive audience but that is pretty crazy. Thank heavens for the Hare Krishnas, whose superbly tasty and well-priced food was a welcome excursion. Give or take a few bands, Regurgitator were up, sporting a new drummer in the form of ex-Front End Loader tub thumper Peter. He didn't miss a beat, and there were plenty of nuts in the crowd who would've noticed if he had've. Nothing new can really be said about The Gurge that hasn't been said already- they consistently rock, are varied, amusing, have a huge catalogue of crowd favourites and always get people jumping. So much so in fact that I was quite content to sit on the hill nursing a plastic bottle of beer while enjoying not being in the rabid dry root that is the mosh pit. Bleurgh. The thing that I was most impressed about Regurgitator was their ability to translate their tunes live. All the parts of songs we all know and love were here tonight thanks to some handy use of the sampler. Tops, as always.

But no match for the presence of the Tea Party. The time was perfect for them to play late in the night and from their very first song till their last they had the entire crowd in their hands. Their musicianship is probably rarely beaten with sitars, obscure drums and effects being used brilliantly. They played a great mix of old and new tracks with "Fire in the Head" being a highlight for me. Another great thing they did was to do medley's of songs that seamlessly blended into one another- they even broke into refrains of Moby's "Why does my heart feel so bad" in an altogether wonderful performance. I'm pretty sure that I'll bore my grandkids with how damn good they were. It was almost eerie.

It would be a tough act to follow for anyone, but especially hard for one of my favourite men Fred Schmid, aka Freddy Fresh. People had been solidly consuming for hours by the time he took to the stage with his decks and a lot of mullet haired rockers just didn't get it. I can deal with that- fear of the unknown and all, but to be so belligerent as to throw bottles is just fucked. I was getting really mad as mindless wankers threw refuse, and the champ on stage was even more pissed off. But to his credit he stuck to his funky guns, flipping the bird and still mixing tunes that would give a lot of other dj's a real challenge. The tightblack jean wearing freaks eventually passed out or became bored and left the man to do his job, and I'm glad he stuck it out. He played a good selection in his style, even throwing in some of his own tracks including the Norman Cook collaborated "Badder Badder Shwing" which is really great to hear and see. He wound up the set with Apollo 440's "Stop The Rock" which I saw as a reference to the morons in the crowd being dicksábut my girl friend thinks I'm just a sad train spotter. Who knows? I do know he earned his money and made appreciative people happy. His wife even danced all the way through his set.

The next day probably came too quickly for some but if you do the crime then you'll do the time. The days lineup wasn't as messy as the previous ones, but after getting a taste of what I came for in Freddy, I really wasn't in the mood to get back into the pit too soon to hear guitar music. There was a steady amount of people who were up for some of the lesser known bands, and I'm sure they had a good time. My friends and I spent a good portion of the day watching a side show that everyone found impossible, aside from the operator who took great delight in showing people how easy it really was. Pratt. By the end of the weekend his bum-bag was loaded and I bet no one won the $50 prize money all weekend.

Later on I tore myself away from the rip-off and actually listened to some bands. Mach Pelican played their interpretation of rock complete with Japanese accents and were amusing- not to disrespect them or anything. Toe to Toe also played and had the crowd going but didn't do too much for me. Maybe I'm too old (though there were some really old people in the crowd, which I thought was cool. Always smiling which is a nice departure from angst.)

The Fauves played really well- they have a unique sound and a good sense of humour and a lot of their well-known tracks made an appearance along with some of the lesser known ones. I'm glad I sat down and listened to them.

28 Days played next and although they kept talking about being nervous I don't think any of their fans noticed. If the amount of T-shirts worn during the weekend account for anything they were one of the most popular bands. They sound like a better Australian version of Limp Bizkit to me (turntables, distorted guitars, et al) but got the crowd hyped, though I don't think their Simpsons impressions were too good. Still, as I said the crowd dug them and I suppose that's all that really matters.

Something for Kate were also up that night and they have some great songs: intelligent writing, good clean heavy sound, and a very good voice. They went down a treat with the crowd and although they don't exactly play jump-up-and-down music that is exactly what the crowd was doing. Good on 'em.

You Am I are rock and roll. Tim Rogers swigged Jack Daniels (so glass was ok if you were a stará.) and thrashed his guitar until his fingers bled. They played a good range of songs from some of their earlier albums and stuff from Rogers' solo album and had the crowd going spastic. Their songs sound different live and heaps more frantic. They really put in a lot of effort and everyone was stoked. My girlfriend couldn't even think straight after coming out of the pit. ROCK 'N' ROLL!!

This was a perfect time for headliners the Violent Femmes to capitalize on a crowd that were well and truly psyched up. They even had the honor of counting in the new year. Not so simple. They took a hell of a long time to come out from back stage (much longer than anyone else did) and by the time they did they played a quick song and counted the new year in. I heard people saying later that they did it early which would be pretty goofy, though what would it really matter I suppose? They played a few more songs (I never really knew how depressing their lyrics are. The Tea Party are certainly morose but the music still rocks. The Femmes have real slash-your-wrist lyrics on top of catchy tunes. Maybe it has something to do with juxtaposition. Who the hell knowsá.)? But the crowd were being naughty by throwing things so they left the stage if a huff. I didn't notice too many actually going near them but I suppose it was too much for them to endure. As soon as I heard them making threats to leave I'd had enough of them. What the hell? It didn't seem to me that they wanted to be there at all which is a shame, because everyone there had played so well leading up to this point, yet this would be what people would remember. On top of all that Freddy Fresh put up with a hell of a lot more crap and didn't become a prima donna. Bloody rockers.

After them was Magic Dirt and as much as I dig them I didn't feel like going back to crapulence that was the dusty mosh. I sat down and waited for the REAL music to start. Freddy Fresh was up first and although he played a similar set to the night before, he mixed it up and with more people genuinely getting into the music it was really good. He dropped Fatboy Slims infamous "Satisfaction Skank" (the guitar solo from the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction" sampled over "Rockafella Skank") and it rocked hard though he didn't play it all. As well as that was Le Tone's "Joli Dragon" and some retro hip-hop cuts. He was really in his element with a good crowd getting into and tonight he managed to smile. Wonderful.

Following soon after was the irrepressible Pound System and pound they did indeed. Despite some early technical difficulties ("áthe millenium bugs got to our instruments"), they soon sorted it out and whipped the crowd into quite a frenzy with their banging single "Big as yer like" going off rather nicely thanks. It really is great to hear a live techno act go hard and let the music take over from studio perfectionism. The crowd, many of whom were a tad boggle eyed with jaws moving as fast as their hands (much more endearing than boozed up Neanderthal's asking for kisses "ánah, on the MOUTH!") really appreciated the jumping around that they did as many techno-ers are content to just nod their heads and twiddle knobs. Not Pound System! Why I came.

After being taunted by these acts of greatness it all fell down a bit by mix CD's being played over the P.A to the punters instead of actual acts or DJ's. The rationale was that a license for noise only went to 2:00 am or something like that but there was no one around to really explain it properly. Which kind of sucks when you think back to the half dozen people pulling things out of your cará. But we kept dancing- make the most of a bad situation is another thing I'll tell my grandkiddies. They were some nice mixes but I'm sure the likes of Neuro Flapjack could've whipped up something even more impressive. It was good to hear the Chemical Brothers' mix album "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" through some large speakers. It was still better in my opinion than some of the actual bands but it was easy to tell who got priority for the weekend. Most of the people who were dancing from the start of the night stuck it out till the morning, which created a good vibe.

After watching the sun rise with my new friends I trudged off back to my tent to get an hour or so of sleep and then it was time to make like Jack and hit the road. Exiting was much easier than entering and we were soon on the open road, talking about the time we had and trying to get our heads around the fact that it was the year 2000. I was wrong about the world exploding I guess and I've only just come to terms with not hearing all the DJ's I expected. All in all it was pretty good despite all the much-publicized cock ups and occasional sketchy weather. Thanks to my friends that I went with and all the ones I met (South Australians really are nice people) and the next time an over-hyped date rolls around I'll probably spend my dollars on something that doesn't have it's fingers in quite so many pies.