"Days like what" you ask???

Like a kid in a candy store, with not a person in the house, not even a mouse, I am a child excited beyond belief with an unobtainable jewel in my eye, yet this jewel was safely stowed away in my hot little hand pockets a long long time ago. An item of such rare beauty that many are yet to discover just how powerful it is and better yet, how untouched it is in its beauty. I am talking of course about one of the newest additions to the Sydney Music Festival Calendar. I talk of Days Like This. (Pause for applause) (Hold for jubilation) (Breathe out slowly before beginning new sequence of thought around the prospect of music goodness)

This is a sweet little boutique festival which is for music peeps who love the festival vibe, but sometimes get thrown off by the ever expected, larger than stampeding hoards, crowds. That is however part of the charm of the festival, they limit the tickets so that though if sold out the crowd will create the festival atmosphere, the lines at bars and bathrooms, the gatherings at small stages and the overall crowded mass will not be too overwhelming. Generally you wait for around 5 minutes at the bar and bathroom and can see the stages featuring some of your favourite talents clearly and from a good distance.

I must say I feel so privileged to know that I attended the first ever Days Like This music festival in January 2009 as it is one of the most memorable and fantasticle musical voyages my body and soul have yet experienced. Soul is a key word here as it was the beautiful soulful tones of Fat Freddy's Drop that took me there in the first place, as once I heard I had missed their show I was devastated, only then to be revitalised at the thought of not only seeing them, but seeing them in a festival atmosphere in the peak of Sydney Summer! It was just the motivation I needed at the time as my brothers were trying to inspire me to go along with them by dangling the fruits that were on offer at this amazing festival in front of my face every chance they had, and eventually Fat Freddy and his ultimate goodness got me there. So just like fireflies under the mango tree I took my place in the evolving door of summer festivities and thoroughly enjoyed each moment with the 30 piece crew we got together to enjoy it.

This was easily the highlight of my 2009 music festival calendar and am thus so excited that in only 7 days I will be once again thrust into the vibe that can only be described as personable, yet ultimately festival. By which I conjure the image of being able to reach and touch the vocal chords of your favourite singer, pick up the records of your favourite DJ and rock out on the instruments of each and every musician there, all the while maintaining the vibe that has been created since Woodstock and evolved at each and every festival since. One of passion, creation and ultimately, just plain old caught-in-the-moment happiness. Love it muchly.

The lineup is consistent with last years festival combining Hip-Hop, Soul and I guess Alternative to create the vibe be combining music lovers of all different genres to the one experience and so if there is one thing I have not said that I should in this post it must be, BUY A TICKET AND COME ALONG! Not sold out yet, I don't know how, but worth a go if you like festivals, love music and have nothing else to do on Sunday. A couple of people I will not, and I mean Can Not miss at this festival are Cat Power & The Dirty Delta Blues, Method Man and RedMan, The Nextmen, Cassette Kids, Dilated Peoples, Pivot, Roots Manuva and of course, the unforgettable, un-mistakable, un-un-mentionable Mayer Hawthorne. As a matter of fact, I think I should leave you with this sweet sweet melody from the man himself. Check it and hopefully see you kids there, YEOW!