glitch: a sudden interruption in electric service, sanity, continuity, or program function. Sometimes recoverable.
Having witnessed the complete mayhem that ensued on the dancefloor of Club 77 at around 2am last Saturday, I can personally testify to the fact that the operative word in the above definition is without a doubt ‘sanity’. How did things get so out of hand? Perhaps I should begin at the start…
The build up for this one had been pretty huge. Having played three parties in Sydney over the past couple of months, it was plainly evident that Tyler Stadius had expanded on an already well established fan base. Online forums were buzzing and plans were being made weeks in advance. It seemed like everyone wanted to see Tyler one more time before he departed our shores.
I was no different. In my quest to write an informative, impartial and most of all fair review, I conscientiously took Friday off work to recover from the events of the night before. This turned out to be somewhat of a bad move – instead of having work to distract me all day, I was left to my own devices. And so by the time we were ready to leave for the club, to say I was a little excited would be a massive understatement.
Rolling up to the ever familiar Club 77 right on eleven o’clock, I descended the stairs away from the seediness of William Street to be greeted by smiling and courteous door staff. After sacrificing our wrists to the chunkiest, inkiest stamp I can ever recall seeing we entered the bunker-like surroundings where I had danced away far too much of my misspent youth. Ajax was spinning some choice tech house to a somewhat sparse crowd, however by the time he finished his set half an hour later and handed over to Matt, 77 was starting to fill nicely.
Continuing the tech house beats, Matt Aubusson was the perfect warm up for Tyler. Over the next hour and a half he delivered a really cohesive set, the whole thing just flowing together. One by one smiling punters were drawn to the dancefloor so that by the time that Tyler ‘T-Bone’ Stadius stepped up to educate us one more time about house music, the dancefloor was packed and right from the his opening track, you could tell that this was going to be something to remember for a long time to come.
Over the course of the next two hours the man touted as the finest house dj from Vancouver served up what I can only describe as an absolute stormer of a set. Now I couldn’t name any of the tracks to save my life, but what I can tell you for certain is that Tyler took some hard edged tech house, threw in a heap of aciiiiieeeeed and then added a dash of serious funk to cook up a set that in most people’s opinions blew his previous Sydney gigs well and truly out of the water. As his set progressed the crowd lapped up each and every track, showing their appreciation with cheers, whistles and of course the obligatory hands in the air. And on and on it went – track after track of funky, driving tech house complete with wailing 303s. By the time three o’clock rolled round, Club 77 had well and truly reached breaking point. And then sadly it was over, the end of his set marked by thunderous applause and massive cheers.
It was at this point we decided to retreat to the safety of the couches for some much needed re-hydration. Dave Choe seamlessly took over from Tyler and did a damn fine job in continuing where the Fabric resident had left off – in much the same way that Matt had built the mood up, Dave ever so slightly took things down a notch, but kept the beats coming thick and fast to keep the kids dancing the night away. As for your fearless reviewer, what became of him you ask? Well, to put it eloquently, the pandemonium and chaos of the preceding two hours had taken its toll and it was decided it would be a good idea to leave before someone (most probably myself) got seriously injured. And so I was whisked away by friends and as exhausted as I was, I had a smile beaming from ear to ear the whole way home.
You’ve really got to hand it to Matt and Dave for managing to create what is definitely one of Sydney’s top nights. Managing to deliver an international of Tyler’s status for the ludicrously low price of ten dollars, is it any wonder that the punters keep coming back time and time again? I’m sure that the other two hundred or so punters that experienced the events of Friday night/Saturday morning will agree – Glitch is going to be around for a fair while to come.
