Ah Wollongong how you have changed. Lets look back a year and a half ago when all there was to do on a Friday night was cram into overcrowded “clubs”, listening to the Vengaboys while dodging the fists of pissed idiots. Skip forward a year and Wollongong has a great, spacious club with a line-up including Nubreed and Fists of Righteous Harmony. Hmmm… Oh yeah, and Freq Nasty is playing his only NSW gig here in just over two weeks!

We rocked up to Cooney’s at about 8:30 with the music in the courtyard starting off soft and funky for the early few making the most of the cheap drinks and lack of crowd. We grabbed a table with a heater and set up camp for the next few hours.

As the night progressed local boys G-Funk and Sparks housed it up back to back in the winter courtyard. The boys turned it up a notch or two and as the club began to fill so did the courtyard dance floor. The crowd seemed to love the tempo to ease into the night and catch up with friends. Still sticking to our table for dear life (or at least until the cheap beer finished) I missed most of The Henderson Kid’s first set.

Venturing down into the club area at 11, I was surprised at the amount of people that had turned up as it had seemed almost empty an hour before. Fists of Righteous Harmony came on at 11 and began a funky live breaks and house set aided by a drum kit and an iBook. F.O.R.H. gave off a great energy that was refreshing on what is usually a DJ based night. The crowd responded really well to the change and most were jumping around by the end. This was the first time I had seen Fists of Righteous Harmony and it definitely won’t be my last.

The Henderson Kid took over a bit after 12, after F.O.R.H. played a few more tracks for the appreciative crowd. Henderson played a predominately breaks set with some hip-hop thrown in for good measure. Dropping a few Bustin’ favourites such as Benny Benassi “Satisfaction” (Poxy Music mix) he got the crowd well and truly warmed up for Nubreed.

A little background information on the last time Nubreed played Cooney’s (under different promoters):

1. It was Wednesday night
2. There was no promotion
3. There were 6 people there.

It was amazing that Nubreed even agreed to come back at all. But thank god they did! This time Cooney’s was packed, the crowd was jumping and everyone seemed to love every minute of it. Their set ranged from progressive breaks to tribal house, finishing on a drum and bass tip. I think the fellas from Nubreed were pretty shocked themselves and really seemed to enjoy playing and were jumping as much as the punters by the end and extended their set a further 20 minutes. A huge cheers goes to Nubreed for giving Wollongong another chance when many others would knock it back after their last show.

Rounding up the night was A.D.D. who kept up the energy for the final 40 minutes with an eclectic breaks set. ADD laid down a few crowd pleasers like Adam Freeland’s bootleg of The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” and finishing with Coldplay’s “Clocks”, and the night was completed nicely. Such a shame about the 2am closing time though, I have a feeling that everyone could have kept dancing all night! And dammit I like to loiter.

All in all it was a terrific night at Bustin’, but that’s what we’ve come to expect down here now. Cheap drinks, a relaxed crowd and GREAT line-ups. Guys, you can’t seem to put a foot wrong at the moment. Keep it up!

17 sleeps till Freq! Woooooooo!