And one hell of a show they got.

Heading into The Basement at around 11.30, two rather massive lines stretched in both directions from the main entrance. A ticketing slip up led to hold ups for a fair few people, but to his credit, promoter Ben Marshall apologised to, and explained the difficulties to anxious punters, eager to catch local talent Eli, who kicked off the night. I only managed to catch the last 10 minutes of Eli’s set, but he was rolling it out quite well on a funked-up liquid tip.

Shuey stepped up to the well set up stage next, playing his now customary headline warm-up role superbly. A set that ranged from liquid, to dancefloor, to straight-up bangers, most notably Gridlok’s Tricks and the Pendulum remix of Fresh’s Submarines, Shuey, with The Herd’s Ozi Battla on the mic worked the now nicely rammed dancefloor into a frenzy.

Around 1-ish (it was getting a little hazy here, thankyou very much Mr. VB), the much anticpated arrival of Elhornet upon the decks was announced. Laying down a truly banging double drop of their own remix of Nightbreed’s Pack of Wolves with the Bad Company classic The Nine, legs were flailing, fists were pumping and heads were banging. What followed was an aural onslaught of new tunes, and some amazing dubs, one with a “Back to the old skool, back to your roots” vocal, rumoured to be by Jonny L which quite simply tore the place apart.

However, the pounding B52 sound system got us all into a bit of trouble with the residents above the bunker that is The Basement, with massive, (and yeah, probably a bit excessive) amounts of bass leading to a visit from Chief Whipplestick and Officer Sonny Bonds. The sound was knocked back a notch, leading to some bitingly funny lines from Ozi. It didn’t seem to matter too much to Elhornet, who kicked back into some deeper, more driving tunes. The European tech/trance step renaissance which is taking place at the moment has produced some amazing tracks, and we were graced with a selection of the best of them. A double drop of Pendulum’s own tranced-up Spiral with the Submarines remix hit hard, and led to a much deserved rewind for the latter tune.

A sneaky young devil at the control booth slowly crept the volume back up to around the previous crushing levels, and the mayhem began again. The Pendulum remix of Ed Rush & Optical’s Bacteria, and the Ed & Op remix of Gasmask did their usual destruction thing to the kids, while Masochist with it’s spooky “suddenly, the silence was blown apart” vocals and pulsating bassline, along with Gridlok & Kaos’ shunting Piston gave the dancefloor more reason to get well hyped. The crowd showed their appreciation through the unbelievable heat inside the venue, leading to that ever so enjoyable “club rain” that you always seem to get at nights such as this. But hey, with tunes like that, who cares! A sterling set from a member of what is arguably Australia’s most successful electronic act.

Elhornet being a pretty hard act to follow, Tiddwell kept it firing away with some wicked tunes and tight mixing. Unfortunately, I retired for a post-club feed and a cab ride home before closing time, but the club was still fairly full at quarter to 4, and by all accounts he kept it jumping till the end.

The B52 proved itself to be not only a public nuisance, but also to be the best drum and bass sound system in Sydney, staying loud (bar the run in with the law), crisp and clean all night. The venue, although possibly a little small, with its low ceiling suited the vibe really well. Sound difficulties aside, Elhornet smashed it, and along with the locals, put another notch in the successful party bed-head for the Break and Enter crew.