Tonight I am off to review the launch party for the above mentioned event. I have some idea what it’s all about and am keen get busy on the massive dancefloor that is the main room upstairs. I am also looking forward to the $4.40 pints of Becks that you can get from the first level bar. Alas, on this occasion the venue has deemed it impossible to take drinks purchased downstairs to the gig above, so we are stuck with pretty pricey bottled beer for the night.

We head to the main auditorium upstairs where an Earth Dance documentary is being screened. Whilst this did prove informative for a while, my short attention span was soon wandering off to explore the rest of the party space.

The wide expanse of the daunting dance floor was cleverly disguised by an over grown insect object de art making the space seem less intimidating to the small throng. The walls were splashed with digital images that further added visual distraction, but the lighting show was less then spectacular compared to other recent @Newtown events. The sound in this big room is always lucid and loud, tonight was no exception, and the foyer area had its own little sound system operating at a more low key lounge level.

Sub Bass Snarl set the pace with their aromatic blend of housed up dub and electro. The crowd was all to eager to get up and shake out the dead legs: we weren’t disappointed by the quirky left field grooves washing over us out of that mad system. Sub Bass Snarl is always worth checking out, but their set at this gig was far too short. I sincerely hope that they get more then an hour at the real deal in a few weeks: their sound is well suited to a well tuned out door PA with plenty of bottom end.

Sveta was also on the money making some insightful maneuvers down the tech-house main line. She kicked along with the crowd, soaking up the solid sound and made no bones about enjoying herself. Her vibe was catching and soon all booties were shakin to her signature style, wrapping up with that Franz Ferdinand bootleg.

Rif Raf took things in a different direction by swinging us round to his cut up collage of glitch and breaks. The party seemed to fade a little at this point so we ventured back out to the lounge where we caught the tail end of Grey Area aka Loops. These guys were doing some sexy drum’n’ bass with live jazz drum licks over samples and the like. I was getting a bit jack of the hefty bar prices at this stage so we slid downstairs for some of those pints.

At the end of the day, Earth Dance @ Newtown was really just a warm up for the mother event here in Sydney on Sunday 19th September. As such, it showcased a slice of the artists performing on the big day, and offered some insight into the ideology and artistic elements behind the global movement. The launch party, in its own right, was pretty quiet: the crowd was intimate and dedicated but the sheer size of that big room @Newtown would dwarf most gatherings. The short sets by the artists were frustrating and the usually killer in-house lighting rig was all but ignored. Maybe I missed the relevance of the launch night? Or maybe my night would have been improved had I been able to smuggle in that deliciously cheap and cold beer from downstairs. There still is the main event to consider… frolicking in the great outdoors, in the middle of Sydney…I reckon I could even take a few coldies with me.

For more info on the main Earth Dance event at Sydney Park St Peters on Sunday 19th September contact: