Thursday nights in Brisbane are usually a pretty sleepy affair. Occassionally, this city’s legion of dance music fans will turn it on for a big international on a weeknight, but not very often – TV and a good night’s sleep being preferable to beats. The Danny Howells gig last year was a nice surprise, with a few hundred people coming through the door on a Thursday night, but generally speaking, we’re happy to leave it for the weekend.

Until last week.

There was a good vibe about The Crystal Method and Teebee at Family since the gig was announced. The team behind the gig, Ten Pound Crew, have cut their teeth promoting kicking parties of both locals and internationals, throwing their support behind acts like Kid Kay Ferris and Tipper. The hype behind the party was immense, and we were being promised something huge, so like a fair portion of my friends I took the Friday off work and went to check it out.

Arriving early to beat a suspected rush, the queue quickly grew behind us as soon as we lined up. By the time I entered Family, the queue was snaking right down the block to Brunswick Street. From past experiences at Family, there’s only one thing a queue that long can mean once you’re inside – sardines.

After rendeszvousing with friends inside the club and making a quick tour of the familiar surrounds, there was ample time to check some of the stellar local lineup. True to form, opening DJ on the main stage Aniki didn’t play a single tune I hadn’t heard before and even truer to form, he got the crowd on to the dancefloor and dancing. Perhaps he found this easier than usual, considering that by the end of his set there was nowhere for the crowd to go but the dancefloor. By this point in time I was simultaneously astounded by the amount of people in the club for a Thursday night, and frankly, annoyed that punters were being squashed in to Family yet again with little regard for their comfort. There’s a fine line between a “this place is going off!” large crowd and a “get off my foot and can you please let me breathe now” large crowd, and it had been well and truly crossed by the time local live outfit Teschnik hit the main stage.

Thankfully, my saving grace for the evening was some smart thinking by someone at Ten Pound Crew or Family. The Lounge on the top floor, normally reserved for deep house, instead had the sound system switched over to pump out what was happening on the main stage. A very lucky find of some comfortable seating in the Ice Bar ensured I never had to leave the top floor for the sardine/furnace combination on the main stage for the rest of the evening.

Being a fan of The Crystal Method ‘back in the day’ and walking away impressed from their live Big Day Out gig, I was a bit apprehensive about the whole ‘producers cash in on success by touring the world DJ’ing really badly’ thing. Thankfully, they weren’t too bad at all! Opening with first single off their new album ‘Legion of Boom’, ‘Born Too Slow’, Scott & Kirk proceeded to churn out a couple of hours of big, chunky breaks tunes, not unlike their own productions. Not being familiar with their latest album, I presume a lot of the tunes were new ones of ‘Legion Of Boom’. At any rate, the tune selection was top notch, and the mixing far better than expected – a few minor trainwrecks didn’t phaze the crowd. One of the Crystal Method boys hopped on the mic a few times to thank the crowd, rating Brisbane as the best show on their tour, which we’ve all heard before. This time, however, with a crowd reputedly bigger than their Melbourne show, maybe they actually meant it. After thanking the crowd one last time at the end of their set, the music stopped, a grateful roar erupted from the crowd, and – “I guess I didn’t know” – the instantly recognisable first bars of ‘Busy Child’ rang through the sound system. Up in the Ice Bar, where I remained, everyone cheered, and almost everyone danced. It was a cool moment.

Just around the corner from our comfy posse was the Uncle Lounge, where the stage had been set for Brisbane’s most anticipated drum ‘n’ bass moment ever. For weeks beforehand, i’d seen DnB fan friends of mine start frothing at the mouth in anticipation of “Norse God” Teebee’s gig in the Uncle lounge, safe in the knowledge that this time he’d get to play on a very decent sound system, unlike his previous gig at a Brisbane festival. Not having the greatest knowledge of DnB, I was nonetheless excited about his imminent appearance – his reputation had well and truly preceeded him. Warmup DJ’s for Teebee earlier in the evening had done him proud – Static n Lincoln and Noodles had the Uncle Lounge jumping from the minute I walked in there. Awesome visuals adorned the walls from local crew Ion, which was a real impressive addition to the room. While not quite as packed as downstairs, the Uncle Lounge was still heaving with what seemed like every Drum ‘n’ Bass fan in Brisbane by the time Operon & Erther were abruptly finished half an hour early to make way for Teebee to step up to the decks.

Almost every praise and compliment in the world has been heaped on Teebee for the set that followed, and as someone who hasn’t had a good dance to drum ‘n’ bass since a Roni Size gig many years ago, I must concur. Covering a huge variety of DnB sounds, Teebee kept the appreciative crowd smiling and dancing for his 3 hour plus set. From lighter, more ambient tracks through to the dark sounds he is renowned for, Teebee and the Uncle sound system were unrelenting in their quality and plain danceability. Teebee, I salute you.

Overall, it was a good night. Somewhere in between all that was Brisbane showing massive appreciation for Brisbane’s finest live electro outfit Kid Kay Ferris, and a big smile on my face hearing Kazu Kimura’s pumping tek on the main stage. With plenty of familiar faces from all walks of the Brisbane scene, all enjoying a drink and a dance on a school night, it was hard not to enjoy myself. Well done Ten Pound Crew!