Good Vibes plays it cool

The summer festival season has kicked on with some of the biggest names in R&B, indie rock and dance music at the Good Vibrations curtain raiser in Sydney on Saturday, despite a strange cold snap and a lot rain.

 More than 30,000 fans turned out for the first show of the four-date tour at Centennial Park in Sydney's East, seemingly blase that the main act, Cee Lo Green, had pulled out only months ago.

The party had already begun before the gates opened, with festival goers sipping away on their hip flasks and discussing how they would juggle time clashes amongst the headline artists.

With Australia's summer festivals offering an array of awe-inspiring line-ups this year, including headliners like The Chemical Brothers, Iron Maiden, Ke$ha and Iggy Pop, Good Vibes was no different.

The 10-hour music binge kicked off with a selection of DJs, including Kid Kenobi, playing at all of the five stages.

The first major act of the day was British drawcard Friendly Fires, who attracted a colossal horde of fans after cancelling on the very same festival last year.

 The crowd sang along to hits from their 2008 self-titled album but hit a road block when the three piece pulled out their new tracks.The boys from St Albans in England shared songs from their forthcoming album, Pala, which they say should shatter the stereotypes they found themselves saddled with after their first album.

Rap legend and sometimes-actor Ludacris, 33, embarked on his first ever Australian show, offering hits from his seven-album collection to a massive crowd.

R&B poppette Kelis, known for her hip hop pop tune Milkshake, has earned herself some serious dance cred with her new album Flesh Tone.  Her change in musical direction shined in her set as she pumped out original urban hits and wound up dance music fans with new collaborations from her fifth studio album with artists including Benny Benassi, Boys Noise, David Guetta, will.i.am and Diplo.

Unfortunately for festival goers, British electronica band Faithless played at the same time as the two other major players, Ludacris and Pheonix.

The scattered thunderstorms that had threatened to rain on the Good Vibrations parade mostly stayed away and, perhaps because of the light downpour, the bikini-clad girls and the bulked-up blokes actually kept their shirts, and in some cases, jumpers, on.

Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth, you have a very good day ahead of you.