WE LOVE SOUNDS winter music festival, held on June 4th 2010.

We Love Sounds saw an interesting lead-up week to the show itself, facing a massive hurdle just days before the Auckland show. Promoters were on track to lose a lot of money and possibly the festival's reputation. So naturally, my curiosity for the show's outcome grew, along with a lot of expectation. Having dropped two main acts and a downgrade in venue, I wondered how the We Love Sounds ticket buyers would respond.

Due to ticket sales, the Perth tour was cancelled just days before the Auckland show. Which in return, was the cause of two main acts being dropped - Underworld & Crookers. The promoter did however, attempt to make do with what they had in Auckland, and to the attendees dismay, downgraded from The Waitakere Trust Stadium to three bars on K’ Road - the Studio, Ink and Coherent.

Although two of the main acts were dropped, it still left room for an elite line-up of international and local acts, such as Laidback Luke and the all entertaining Steve Aoki. This is where We Love Sounds proved its worth, as the people really just wanted to listen and dance to some freaking good music!

Capacity problems did arise at the Studio and music-goers were being turned away, which lead to a very vocal wait outside. No surprises here, the majority of the public weren't happy in the slightest, as the Studio was host to the only two remaining international acts on the We Love Sounds tour.

While I waited for the Studio line to die down, I headed to the mighty Ink and Coherent where I saw Greg Churchill play to a somewhat minimal, yet energetic crowd. Next up, Bulletproof fresh from the release of his latest album 'Soundtrack To Forever'. Bulletproof shook the room with his bubbly, tribal influenced Breaks/DnB and Dub step.

However, I wasn’t there to see local acts I could hear on George FM. I came to see one of the greatest DJ/producers in the world right now, Laidback Luke. Playing mainly Dutch house and vocal/melodic anthems, he displayed his class with crowd-reading-skills and precise mixing /eq’ing. This showcased why he headlines some of the biggest festivals in the world. Playing various mash-ups/bootlegs and edits, the crowd was left bouncing to some big room house. I could only imagine how this would have gone down at the Trusts Stadium.

Steve Aoki, who isn’t really flying high on my force majeure DJ's list, definitely worked the crowd. Kudos to him for the entertainment, however he could have laid off feeding the audience vodka and his head-to-toe dancing. Respect would have come from him spending more time behind the decks, where I believe all the magic happens. This however, did not stop the crowd eating up his little stage act.

All in All, Sidekick Nick did get down for a boogie or two, and I must take my hat off to the promoters and organisers of the event. For me, Laidback Luke made the night worthwhile and this was the general feedback from other We Love Sounds attendees. The promoters faced huge odds, but still managed to put on an amazing show for the New Zealand public and we should all be grateful. I hope we get to see We Love Sounds next year with a full line-up and possibly even a stadium!

Sidekick Nick - over and out.