Old Berlin featuring Lucien Foort, Tomcraft, Christopher Lawrence and Green Velvet by blonde007
The Occasion:
It seems with almost every evening that passes there is a must see clubnight, or never to return international playing, making it not really necessary to have an occasion to go out. Going out for the sake of going out is enough. So this past weekend being a long weekend, what was the occasion? Well, it was Labour Day. What is Labour Day you ask? Why is it celebrated? and what does it mean to you and I other than a Monday off work. The answer: Labour Day is a public holiday in recognition of when workers won the right to a reduced work day of 8 hours. Their struggle was founded under the philosophy that each day should consist of 8 hours for work, 8 hours for recreation and 8 hours for sleep.
Two Tribes 2004, promoted by Mellen Events in conjunction with east coast mob Future Entertainment has consistently been a standout show over recent years with the likes of Tiesto, Junkie XL and Armin van Burren putting their stamp on Perth event history. This year the lineup was considerably lacking when compared to the east coast shows. Despite this ticket sales were unrelenting and the people of Perth showed up for their deserving 9 hours of recreation for what was promised to be “one perfect day”.
Venue History:
The Old Berlin has a rich past in the Perth Clubland history books. At the time of its peak, the early 90’s, Berlin was “the place to be”. Electronic music in its pure form was still considered underground and residents the likes of Darren Brias and Miggi consistently had the club filled to the brim on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. You had to pay to get in, there was always a line, and some of the world best dj’s played to a small but loyal and knowledgeable crowd. The club closed in 1992, bought out by a group planning to build a world class superclub facility on the adjoining land (now Metros City). Used only in recent times as a once off special venue for multi room large scale events, the Berlin was closed and left idle for almost 10 years.
Venue Description:
Broken glass, peeling paint, dirty and worn graffitied walls were masked with black drapes for Two Tribes. The scuffed and stained concrete floors showed marks of where parking bays had once been. A truly industrial feel. The room is a large square, with a small unlicensed bar to the rear and paved courtyard featuring council pick up couches and portaloos accessible through a short passage to the right. The club has a high ceiling, enabling three mezzanine platforms, two at the back, which I’m told were in the old days for the dj, and the vip area, and one to the right, for dancers or patrons whom performed practised routines, where now a large red lit skull sat. Lighting at the event was mainly several large polished steel beams suspended from the ceiling in a zig-zag pattern with red and blue lights. There were several other white moving lights faced down to the floor which seemed impressive when the club was empty but proved unnoticeable when full. The dj stage ran the length of the room and was raised 3 steps. Behind the turntables setup hung a large black sheet onto which it seemed four rotating triangles were to be animated, however after early testing and setup the display didn’t eventuate. Creating quite a banal backdrop for the headlining international superstars.
The dj’s:
9 – 10 Darren Brias vs Adam Kelly
A surprising change to the published lineup had the three local dj’s split up with a back to back set from Adam Kelly and Darren Brias starting out the night. First up were symphony sounds and Enya style vocals followed by more progressive beats and the distant sounds of trademark scratching tricks. Opus 3 – Fine Day (Phil K remix) saw Darren return to play where he had once been one of the residents. Other tracks heard being the new delirium track (previously famous for “silence”) – truly (infusion remix) and another track by Sander Kleinenberg – buenos aires. The pair finished up with a tribute to the history of the Old Berlin by finishing with the old school acid track acsperience by hardfloor (hybrid played a breaks version of this later on in the night!). An assertive at times aggressive tightly mixed set had Adam Kelly touching buttons, twisting knobs and as always bopping profusely. The set was a little too hard for the given timeslot but very few were even in attendance to witness.
10 -11 Choice
Choice’s first mix was shaky however after a short time he managed to find his feet pumping out those familiar tunes we have come to expect from the popular Perth dj and local rag editor. If his gum chewing was any indication John was having a ball and the small growing dancefloor was happily joining in. There was a notable shift to some more funky tunes on a break beat tip, and the inclusion of some off beat scratching. Choice’s set was filled with diverse energy and spin backs with a small venture into epic territory towards the end with some Armin style gestures to the small but gracious crowd.
11 – 12:30 Lucien Foort
Holland’s Lucien Foort was the first international to take the stage making good use of the CDJ-1000s. The crowd was still ambivalent and there was plenty of space on the dancefloor. The last time Lucien played in Perth was at the Ministry of Sound – Zilch Tour where he headlined alongside faux dj Smoking Jo at Metros City. Lucien’s last memories of playing at Old Berlin were when he was still the front man for 80’s success Quadraphonia. His set started off mellow but steadily built to capture the attention and commitment from the eager crowd. Lucien sampled vocals from Red Hot Chilli Peppers – By the Way, baselines from Josh Wink’s – freak, and Coldplay’s – god put a smile on your face. The energy in the room was bursting. Lucien had his hair out, shaking it all about and doing crazy air guitar moves. The cool dark shades/gloves were off and the dude with dreds behind the dex was going off. Towards the end of his set the baseline from the 80’s tune by Adonnas- No way back or better referred to as “one hell of a ravey number” by the gentleman to my left could be heard. Lucien flicked through his record box revealing a multitude of green covers later revealed to be “Multitracks Recordings or MLT, his own label. Of which one likeable track unknown possessed the vocal “I will not, I won’t stop”. Unfortunately after what was an awesome first class but exhausting hour and a half Lucien had to.
12.30 – 2.30 Christopher Lawrence
A one hour hole was created due to the late cancellation of Futureshock, cited due to medical reasons. This resulted in an extra half hour set time for each of Christopher Lawrence and Tomcraft. Christopher Lawrence’s set raised the tempo a few more notches making it unbearable for some. Lawrence pumped out the hard trance from the get go. Unfortunately his set was marred by the sound system struggling. The heat coupled with the humidity had the speakers cutting out left to right. Later the sound techs were forced to put fans on the ground facing the amplifiers to control the situation.
2.30- 4.30 Tomcraft
Hot off the back of his latest release Brainwashed, Germany’s Thomas Bruckner aka Tomcraft stepped up next to deliver some pounding acid baselines. Much to the pleasure of the crowd Tomcraft played a techno mix of “lonliness” and Junkie XL’s – beauty that never fades. The vocal proved like the outdoor courtyard to be a welcome break from the intensity of Tomcraft.
4.30 – 6.00 Green Velvet
All the way from the US and having last visited Perth for Gatecrasher Summer Sound System in Dec 2001, Green Velvet was next up. An interview before his last visit he was quoted when asked what we could expect from the show, “we are trying not to freak out people”. That was obviously the mantra for the last show not to be repeated this time around. Curtis Jones aka Cajmere started his set waiting out another five minutes for Tomcraft to unwillingly and quite uncourteously give up the spotlight. Once settled Velvet dropped early on his latest release, a catchy track called Midnight. It boasts a lingering vocal and had more than one checking their watch to confirm it wasn’t still 11:45. Curtis himself later commenting that he thought the new track was going to be big. Next to come was the James Brown sample “Clap your hands, it’s party time”. About half way into his set, five sweaty face towel wipes and another 5 degrees celcius room temperature increase later, Green Velvet played the now infamous tune the crowds had come to hear – La La Land. Curtis surprised us all playing the dub edit and singing live into a microphone. The sweltering but enduring crowd was all to pleased to join in chorus “who’s gonna give me a ride to after show – me”. Snaps for the unexpected live element in a publicised dj set. Velvet balanced pleasing the masses with playing a quality set by using the big recognition vocals like in answering machine layered briefly onto other new tougher sounds. In this way Green Velvet always manages to assemble a complicated fabric of sounds which have even the most intellectual of listeners scratching their heads (for a change) whilst keeping the mainstream listeners engaged with the familiar. Velvet finished up on time with no encore for those left waiting.
A fair to good event. Some outstanding performances early on and at end but loosing its way in the middle. Unacceptable venue conditions tarnishing the experience.
Metro City feat Koma & Bones, Hybrid, BT, Fergie and Mauro Picotto by Bec Watkins
After the success of previous Two Tribe events, expectations were high, crowds were plentiful and I was defiantly ready for a boogie!! This was only highlighted by the massive lineup including the well-known and appreciated Mauro Picotto. After canceling his last two appearances (much to Perth’s audience disgust and my own) that boy had no choice but to show.
I arrived with many of the greatest ravers in Perth for my final attack on the dance floors of Metros. I was quickly disappointed by the lack of lineups available (one stuck on every ten walls) and more to the point to the fact that it seemed that none of the staff knew where anything was! But nothing would spoil my mood and I entered the venue in time to see the Nova DJ Matt Bern ‘burn’ up the tracks. Originally from New South Wales this club DJ was also made for radio, forming beats that would outlast the night. He may compare himself with Dr Claw but he had the go go gadget styling that drove my to the dance floor.
The next local talent Kenny L with an amazing background stepped up to take over the controls. What else would you expect from a DJ that claims that music is his life but also a lyrical and musically spatial journey. Not limiting himself to a specific genre he played an uplifting and energetic mix, packing the punters in like bees to the honey! This was looking like a full crowd attendance.
After this movement it was time for the group acts to start, starring Korma and Bones, the well known and incredibly skilled breaks players. Some funky, slightly dirty basslines started to form and the crowd reacted accordingly, these boys really get into their tunes. With their own label (Forged Recordings) behind them this UK outfit knew which buttons to push and since it was my first viewing of them I was left with only positive thoughts and I eagerly await their return.
Enter Fergie....one of the main entertainers I had come to see. After such a start this boy from Belfast, who has been in the business since the age of 12, snapped into action. Perth punters should defiantly feel privileged to witness such an amazing night that seemed to just be getting better as the hours ticked on. Predominantly known for his hard house methods, he mixed in other genres well baked them for a few hours and ended up icing off a epic track recipe enough to have the crowd begging for more.
Continuing the UK demolition was Hybrid, an amazing concoction of talent who I’ve seen before and would always see again. Beginning the story with some well known crowd pleasing mixes these guys were ready to party and carried this through to the eager crowd. Blending their preferences of progressive, house and breakbeat this duo from Swansea were a definite crowd favorite, a force to be reckoned with! Then along came BT.
Ok I must admit he isn’t completely my style but after a stuff up with the power, this man carried on with grace and style. Taking the audience through the motions and a journey of fearless experimentation this talent had some amazing followers who were magnetized to the dance floor (or they just wanted top spots for Picotto). I admit to being persuaded away from the room at some point but I was back for his finale, and what a finale it was, perfect for what was to follow.
The man ‘Mauro Picotto’ entered to an almighty roar, this man had a reputation to live up to. Although he’s better than the average bear my expectations were not completely met. Sticking to many classic hard house notions this set seemed to be missing a vital ingredient. As the night drew to a close the crowd had slightly diminished leaving only the brave to fight it out to the end and then it was the DJs turn to fight – with the ‘bosses’ that is! The Picotto trademark and tradition had been destroyed – a complete sign of disrespect to an international DJ and to the raving nature in general (lets hope this wont deter him and other talents returning to Perth). With a quick rendition of Kumbiyah by all present the crowd regrettably dispersed into the morning leaving with memories of REM and Groove Armada remixes, and a thirst for more of that tribal feeling.
