Attendance generally wasn't spectacular - the poor weather, fact that the thing was only being held in Parramatta for the first time and (hate to say it, but likely true), the fact that the thing was being held in Parramatta at all probably contributed to the mediocre attendance.
Even so, there were enough people present - even at 10pm at night - to give the whole a sense of vibrancy and carnivale, and the figurative fades in and out from the jazzy and uplifting music of The Sousaphonics to the dramatic and thought-provoking As the World Tipped performance to the Taraf de Haidouks & Kocani Orkestar and all the pop-up musicians and weird and wonderful performance artists in between were enough by the end of the evening to give a heady sense of having somehow fallen into the movie Moulin Rouge or stepped across to Venice during the first night of the Carnivale, and so you began half expecting passers-by to burst out into extravagant masks, feathered headdresses and rich silken cloaks.
And this was a big achievement for anything taking place in Parramatta, a city which tries hard to look smart and seem culturally savvy, but which can't quite seem to shake a reputation for druggies and alcos and general unsanitariness. For once, the city came alive at night in a good way as visitors and long-time residents alike not only discovered but lingered on the beautiful Old King's School site on the northern side of the Parramatta River, opposite the recently refurbished old Parramatta Hospital (which now houses the corporate offices of the NSW Department of Attorney General and Justice) - long a bit of a dead zone easily overlooked, Prince Alfred Park was filled with revellers rather than drunks and homeless people, Market Street hosted a series of ping pong tables (I know - ping pong tables! On a street in Parramatta! It was quite lovely, and even late into the evening there were still young people happily playing) rather than drivers cursing as their attempted short cut around the Westfield-bound traffic jam backfired.
Of all the music and lights and general cheerful experience on display, the highlights of the evening for me were as follows:
- The dramatic As the World Tipped performance which opened with an office set out on a stage which slowly tipped up on one side dropping all the office furniture onto the floor before being raised entirely up into the air for the aerial component of the performance which had a strong sustainability theme and made one of the most innovative uses of technology in live performance I have ever seen.
- The number and variety of the pop-up musicians, of whom my favourites were The Sousaphonics, , playing casually on a large square of astroturf planted right in the middle of Church Street, and the Gramophone Man with his 1920s smoking room on a cart, complete with brass and green-glass-shaded lamp, record collection and vast old gramophone which he manipulated with white-gloved fingers in between colourful introductions for each new track, and somehow managed to dance along to the music even while he kept the music rolling.
- Walking through Prince Alfred Park on the way home, past The Sousaphonics as they played "It don't mean a thing", and noticing all the people ahead of me and behind me were getting into the groove and singing or dancing or stepping along to the rhythm.
All in all the evening was a very enjoyable one and I felt quite spoilt to have it all take place right on my doorstep rather than at the end of a long trek into the city. Hopefully the organisers won't lose heart because of the comparatively low attendance and will bring the Sydney Festival back to Parramatta again next year.