With all the controversy surrounding volume levels, prior residency, and live venues being closed only to be replaced with the far less reputable (but unfortunately more financially viable) spectre of strip clubs, this year's Valley Fiesta was always going to be an important indicator of the health of the Valley music scene. And didn't the punters respond with force!!! Fiesta 2000 was undoubtedly the biggest yet, and if any further proof was needed that the Valley is the heart and soul of music in Brisbane, the doubters need look no further than the turnout over the three day event. In what is perhaps the ultimate irony, much of the revelling took place in the Brunswick Street Closure in front of The Sun Apartments, home of the main protagonists in the war on live music. Hope you enjoyed the show!
	The Brunswick Street Mall was already packed to bursting point as the funky punk horn sounds of Taxi wafted through the crowd, so it was up to the (surprisingly empty) Empire for some refreshing brews to kickstart proceedings. Even at this early stage in the night it was almost impossible to wade through the gathered masses for a decent vantage point. But Broken Head, a Brisbane 'supergroup' of sorts with a lineup containing Ben Ely of The Gurge, Skritch from Gota Cola and Guy Webster, made it worth the hassle with a tasty concoction of dub reggae and dance beats which had everyone in earshot grooving away with delight.
Reddog's love/hate relationship with Groove Terminator once again took a turn for the worse as I finally caught GT's live act for the first time. Maybe it had something to do with the sardine tin dance space (reminiscent of The Chemical Brothers at the Big Day Out, only more so), but I would have to say that I was far from impressed by a man regarded as one of Australia's finest producers. Although the addition of live bass, guitar and keys was a pleasant change from the usual image of someone clicking mouse buttons and pumping their fist in the air (good work if you can get it), the tunes came across as little more than second-rate Prodigy out-takes, and at times even sounded like some of the most un-inspired moments of 70s rock. I shit you not, it was that bad, and as soon as he put up the "Arreeee yooouuuu reaaddyyyy, Brisbane!" call, it was time to get the fuck out of Dodge.
	Back at the street closure, Empire regular Chris Wilson had the crowd dancing with glee to some pumping laidback house. But it was The Visitors I was hear to see, and the lads certainly showed why they have caused a bit of a stir in dance music circles lately with their funky breaks. The funk factor was nothing short of infectious, with the bass player ripping out one fat riff after another, two guys pulling out an assortment of squelchy noises and soothing synth sounds and the skinsman underpinning it all with some deceptively simple breaks which locked in with the sequenced beats to take it all to another level. And the crowd went with them all the way. Soma Rasa be warned - your title as the leading exponents of live breakbeats in Bris Vegas is under threat.....

With any luck the Gods of Sun would have been looking down on proceedings from their lofty art-deco pedestal and realised how much life and vibrancy the music brings to the Valley - if not enough to erase it's image as the seamy side of Brisbane, than surely enough to counter-balance the drug dealing and prostitution which have soiled it's reputation. The punters need music to survive. The Valley needs music to survive. And perhaps most importantly, Brisbane's musicians need The Valley to survive. Hopefully the vote of confidence from the punters for Fiesta 2000 will send a stong message to the powers-that-be - Save the Music.