Following on from the mammoth success of it’s inaugural Australian Festival in 2023 headlined by Kygo and Tiesto, Palm Tree Music Festival set its sights on Melbourne on Sunday December 8th for the final leg of its three date journey with a mammoth lineup that brought in the Australian summer of festivals in an epic and emphatic manner.
With the perfect sun-shining weather glistening across the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, it set the perfect backdrop for the powerful electronica of Gryffin to let loose and get the crowd pumped for the evening ahead. Being his first journey down under, Gryffin gave punters everything in his artillery through a fusing of soaring guitars and penetrating electronic production that set the energy levels extraordinarily high. Fans were treated to some of his biggest offerings such as his remix of Years & Years’ ‘Desire’, even throwing in a taste of Gotye‘s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ and Terriyaki Boyz‘s ‘Tokyo Drift’ right before wrapping things up by bringing out Daya for a superb rendition of his collaboration with Illenium titled ‘Feel Good’ and his Kygo collaboration ‘Woke Up in Love’ that saw the live guitars take the track to a whole new level.
In the lead up to Palm Tree Festival arriving in Australia, news came through that Alesso was not able to perform due to health reasons and that Peking Duk were enlisted to fill his spot, and in their debut performance at Sidney Myer Music Bowl they took full advantage of the opportunity that was thrown their way by bringing the heat from the word go. Kicking things off with Odd Mob‘s recent remix of Sean Paul‘s ‘Get Busy’ as well as Robyn‘s ‘Dancing On My Own’, the crowd were in the palm of Peking Duk‘s hands with a high level of energy right before throwing a tribute to Alesso by spinning ‘Calling (Lose My Mind)’ which was well received by the Palm Tree Music Festival faithful and just a lovely moment of appreciation from Peking Duk.
From here, Peking Duk continued to go from strength to strength with a seriously impressive set that had it all, whether that be both Keli Holiday and Reuben Styles singing and grooving to their track ‘Wasted’, mending ‘Fire’ and ‘Fake Magic’ into each other for the ultimate singalong as well as giving the punters some surprise additions to their set such as Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’, Fleetwood Mac‘s ‘Everywhere’, Travis Scott‘s ‘Fein’ and even Soulja Boy‘s hit ‘Crank That’ right before the duo rounded their set out with their biggest hits back to back – that being ‘Take Me Over’ into ‘Stranger’ then finishing things off with ‘High’ that rounded out a monster set that got the stage nice and heated for the headliners.
With the energy levels of the venue at a bustling level, you can say that everyone was itching for a 100 minute set from The Chainsmokers. Marking their first visit to Australia in around 5 years, The Chainsmokers had one goal from the second they stepped on stage and that was to bring the party to the masses and wasted no time in doing so. With a remix of ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ setting the scene, The Chainsmokers had everyone hooked right before they brought Daya back out to perform the track in its original form that soared across the speakers of Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
From here, the energy levels stayed at their ultimate highs with insertions of their hits such as ‘Jungle’ and ‘Roses’ erupting alongside Adam Taggart’s live vocals. The mammoth hits of the duo continued to be sprinkled across the setlist, with ‘Paris’ a major standout to the crowd that resulted in a mammoth singalong as well as other feature spins such as ‘See You Again’ pouring passion from Taggart to the crowd alongside some impressive stage production for ‘#SELFIE’. Dubbing the reaction from the crowd as reminiscent of a ‘college party’ by the duo, The Chainsmokers gave the crowd a party indeed with insertions of Florence & The Machine, Eddie Murphy‘s ‘Party All The Time’, Benson Boone, Daft Punk and even Linkin Park ensuring the sense of euphoria maintained long into the night.
With standout moments coming from some of their biggest tracks, such as ‘Something Just Like This’ having the crowd reciting those vocals word for word, it was clear that fans had been waiting a long time to see The Chainsmokers and that notion was well and truly appreciated by the duo throughout the set. Wrapping things up in style by fusing ‘Fast Car’ into arguably their biggest track ‘Closer’ was a moment of brilliance that gave the faithful the perfect send off to what was simply a beautiful day for music in Melbourne.
