Events

Published on March 3rd, 2024 | by Daniel

The Chemical Brothers – A Day on the Green! With Special Guests The Presets, Anna Lunoe and James Holroyd review: Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong, (02/03/2024) @thechemicalbrothers

Acclaimed and innovative electronic duo The Chemical Brothers hit our shores last night with special guests, The Presets and featuring sets performed by Anna Lunoe and James Holroyd. Hosted by A Day on the Green at Mt Duneed Estate just outside of Geelong, in Victoria on Saturday, March 2nd 2024. Good music and good vibes was the theme of the day. Come for a family friendly day on the green and enjoy a relaxing afternoon with some good music until it’s time for the little ones to go to bed. With the kids out of the way, the night was free to get loud and wild.

Our Front GA tickets gave us the option to head down with the masses to the area directly in front of the stage. But even before heading down there, I knew it would get especially crazy down there. So my +1 and I agreed we’d enjoy sitting up on the hill overlooking the stage. With a center view, a nice picnic blanket and the shortest walk possible to all the delicious smelling food on offer. It was honestly the perfect spot to sit and relax to the good music and good vibes, we weren’t the only ones with that idea either, plenty of families and couples took the opportunity to pick a spot on the hill and set up their own blankets and fold out chairs. Plenty with eskys and cooler bags of snacks for the long evening ahead.

The was a huge bar with plenty of alcoholic and non-alcoholic options on the menu as well as several different food options available, though I generally advise against these, as they’re often incredibly overpriced. As we found out later when we bought two small hot chocolates and were charged nearly $15 for them! But it all did smell very good and it must have been because patrons were ordering lots of different food throughout the night, between each set.

The evening began with an hour long set by James Holroyd, who played a more chill setlist for his 3 appearances over the course of the night. His music was good, but definitely felt like the warm up/intermission acts for the major players of the event. It was a good chance for everyone to find their places, grab their drinks and get a bit to eat, ready for the next artist, Anna Lunoe. Her set was definitely a lot harder, with some quality remixes and absolute bangers. Her set lasted about 45 minutes and was in my opinion, sadly too short. I would have liked another 30 minute set of hers in place of one of James who had three total sets, The hour at the the beginning of the night and then had a 30 minute set between Anna and the Presets and another after the Presets before the Chemical Brothers. I would have liked to see a fairer split between the all the guest DJs.

After Anna it was James’ second set, once again a very chill vibe, perfect for an intermission and give everyone time to purchase more food and drinks. And that’s exactly what most did. There’s just something special about watching the sun set over the rolling hills of rural Vic, accompanied by good music, chill vibes and sharing a couple of cold ones with a few friends to forget about the stress of the working week.

Before long, James’ second came to an end and it was time for the Presets. I have followed these guys since my teen years and always enjoyed their music. They’re insanely talented Aussie DJs and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to attend an event they participated in. They came on strong with some heavy remixes of their own well known tracks, but that’s not all. They didn’t simply play their own stuff, they’re DJs after all and DJs remix all sorts of different music with their own unique flair. I think that honestly just made their set stand out even more, bias aside, a DJ needs to be able to create their own music as well as know how to remix music from multiple different genres to be the best.

One thing I really look for in a concert or festival is stage presence. I’m not sure if it’s just different with DJs or not, but over the course of the night, I noticed a server lack of stage presence. The Presets were the only one to even call out to the crowd to get them hype up, they were the only ones to openly thank the Chemical Brothers for hosting them and that really struck a chord with me. My last big event being Paramore and the complete difference ins stage presence between them and their audience versus the entire line-up of supporting DJs, even the Chemical Brothers themselves, was so very stark. It’s just something I’ve grown to expect from live events that stage presence, even if small, needs to be a thing. How else will you engage and acknowledge the dedicated fans that have come all the way out to see you? It’s a small gripe of mine to be sure but one I think warrants being mentioned.

It wasn’t a perfect set either, there was at least three times the audio cut out from the speakers. I’m not sure if it was technical difficulties or it was a problem of setup, but this detracted a little bit from the experience. All in all though, the Presets really took the nights’ vibe to a whole other level. I just wish their set went longer.

After one final set from James Holroyd serving as the last intermission before the headline act. It was finally time for the Chemical Brothers and boy did they come out swinging. With three of their biggest hits within the first ten minutes, Go, Hey Boy, Hey Girl and Do It Again, the whole crowd was on their feet. Those in the front, bouncing up and down because it’s all they can do with the tightly packed nature of the front general admission. Those in the rear, lawn general admission, dancing around like they ain’t got a care in the world. And with the sun setting on the west, it cast a picturesque scene.

I’m not as familiar with Chemical Brothers as I am with Presets, but there were definitely quite a few songs in the setlist I’d heard over the years. Mixed with some new stuff that I definitely went looking for and added to my playlists after the event. I don’t think a single person sat down for the entirety of the 2 hour set. And the Chemical Brothers did not stop either, pumping out hit after hit until the very end. Though we did start heading out a little early to beat the traffic on the 90 minute trip back home. All in all, it was a great night out.

I have to give a big shout out to the organisers, despite the sound quality issues during the Presets. The event was incredibly well managed. No one got into any fights, there was plenty of police and medical staff on site to assist anyone. Plenty of lighting when the sun went down, plenty of toilets on site, a great parking setup with plenty of public transport options available for those who wanted to be eco friendly. They even waived the fee if you carpooled with a full car of paying ticket holders which was pretty neat. If I had any other issues, it would be that there wasn’t enough bins around to dispose of the sheer volume of rubbish. But that’s a problem for every major event I’ve been to, it’s probably a case of underestimating the mess that x number of event attendees can make in x many hours.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on events in future!

Chemical Brothers Setlist:

• Go
• Do It Again / Get Yourself High
• MAH
• No Reason
• Hey Boy Hey Girl
• Eve of Destruction
• Feels Like I Am Dreaming
• Swoon
• Temptation / Star Guitar
• Setting Sun / Elektrobank / Believe
• Chemical Beats
• Galvanize
• C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L
• Block Rockin’ Beats

Credits to David Jackson and Mushroom Creative House for the awesome shots!

Tags: Chemical brothers

About the Author

Daniel Hi I'm Dan! 32 and Non-Binary. When I'm not writing reviews. I like to get deeply immersed in the lore of an mmo or rpg, cruise the forest or coastal roads of Victoria, watch anime, read manga, build model kits and do a bit of sketching on the side.