- Outdoor parties in Melbourne's inner suburbs are increasingly rare. Rapidly expanding residential areas and the sound restrictions that come with them have pushed most events out to the bush, forcing those promoters who do brave the conditions to get creative. Following a successful session in December with Floating Points, Freedom Time returned on Saturday, March 5th to Coburg Velodrome, a space that doesn't immediately scream party. Located a short taxi ride from the city, it's an Olympic-sized concrete cycling track.
Disco reverberated between the surrounding warehouses as I approached the Velodrome. The main stage had been built on a lawn in the centre of the venue, turning the enclosing cycling track into a raised seating area. A smaller second stage, fitted with the locally crafted Heartical Hi Powa Soundsystem, boomed out dub and reggae throughout the day, before Sofrito's Hugo Mendez DJ'd in the evening.
Local party crew Wax O'Paradiso kicked things off in the Velodrome with an energetic mix of disco and funk, neatly setting the tone for Chicago veteran Sadar Bahar. Shortly into his set, the volume dropped considerably following an on-site reading from a council representative. The energy was temporarily zapped from the dance floor, and revellers crowded round the speakers in an attempt to lift the vibe again. Some choice tunes helped, too, as Bahar mixed Bileo's "You Can Win" into Chicago's "Street Player," allaying any previous concerns.
As the sunset filled the clouds with lush pinks and oranges, Jeremy Underground took to the stage. The Parisian laid down two hours of straight-up house music, which, after a sunny afternoon of disco, really suited the mood. Towards the end of his set, though, he diverged and dropped a Brazilian boogie cut—Rabo De Saia's infectious "Ripa Na Xulipa (Charles Maurice Version)"—and the audience threw their arms wildly into the air. By this point, the day's earlier sound issues were but a distant memory.
Photo credit: Steb Fisher