Upstairs? Isn’t that off limits – not anymore! In fact the upstairs function room at the Cottesloe Beach Hotel was the beautiful setting for this internationally renowned Chicago house dj’s only Perth show. An intimate setting, classy bar/beer and wine list, suede cubes and sumptuous lounges has this looking like the perfect recipe for an evening of buoyant vocal house. This more mature sound (for the Cott) was matched by a more mature atmosphere complete with sweeping views over the floodlit infamous Cottesloe beach and Indian ocean – definitely a great showcase of WA’s iconic sun, sand and sunsets of which to show off to any international performing artists.

The setup is behind a white baby grand piano and consists of  2 CDJ1000’s, two decks and a mixer. Due to the spectacle that is Ron Carroll (a dj’s that sings live vocals whilst mixing tunes) a microphone stand hung over decks. The evening began with support from resident Jamie Wood and FMT playing back to back. Appropriate but mellow house tunes the likes of “he is the light, the light of the world”.

At 9.15 things stepped up a notch with the sounds of ” I cant get enough”. The versus set had people on the dancefloor, sadly though they were dancing ala fergie from the black eyed peas in the hey mama video. A scene to which Monty Python would have said, bring out your dead (souls). Nicer tunes were to follow namely “I found a place where we can boogie” by Tweet and Martin Solveig’s Madan -the song we don’t know the words to (because its not in English) but all sing along anyway.

By 10:00pm Ron Carroll, as advertised, took control minus his green baseball cap turned slightly to the side he fashioned earlier. One of the first tracks put down, “I can feel it, can you feel it”. By now the dancefloor was full and luxurious lounges abandoned. The room was filled with big beats, big black women vocals, big love and even bigger dance moves by those off to the side.

CC Peniston’s – “Finally” was dropped to a woohoo from the crowd. The gentlemen to my left commenting that “the last time we heard this in a club (outside of connections) was when Lil Louie Vega played it at Globe”. Ron Carroll was twisting knobs galore, dropping out the bass and turning up the mids to emphasise the vocals. So far no singing, but his mouth was warming up chewing gum. Others picked it well before me, but we couldn’t all help but boogie to that fantastic positive melody of “The word is love” by Steve Silk Hurley, who funnily enough despite not making it to Perth last year I’m lead to believe played in a very similar situation (behind another baby grand piano) at Honky Tonks, Melbourne.

The first song to be sung was a gospel sounding number, his own release and very characteristic of Ron Carroll “Come into my life” recorded on the label G High. A lot of praising and more tunes such as “Under Pressure” by Milo, a dj from Scotland, recently featured in triple j’s album of the week, as well as some more commercial sounds too often heard on the radio “I’m a different person, turn my world around” – Shapeshifters “Lola’s Theme” and “Call on me”, dj Eric Prydz.

The highlight of the evening and one that shamefully took me a while to pick, was Ron Carroll’s biggest recent hit, “Back together” on soul furic records. He sang the vocal perfectly, encouraging people (like this little reviewer in the front row) to sing along. The standard track in every Dan Stinton set (and trust me, I’ve seen a lot) had the house oozing with warm fuzzies and a chorus of ” It’s true I never meant to say goodbye, I never meant to make you cry, I want to come back to you, and put things together….. I know they hurt you baby!”.

The venue’s sound quality was excellent! – Absolute clarity which only encouraged dancing of a magnitude that had the polished wooden floor resonating.

Using both cd’s and records tracks that followed were, “The house that Jack built” and “Loveshit” by Martin Ventjoki on Tronic Sole Records.  His sound became deeper  with stronger beats and more tribal grunt. Ron went on to tell a little lesson about house music, which according to him started in 1981. It was a joyous atmosphere, A celebration of house, not self. And a celebration of soul in a suburb that many believe has sold its soul for the price of fashion. Speaking of attire, quite interestingly Ron Carroll’s shirt read – “some call it house, we call it home” – an excellent statement considering.

Ron Carroll finished up but not before singing another song “I want to thankyou lord” which was a very gospel inspired number. Almost spontaneously, Ron Carroll handed the decks back over to resident Jamie Wood at 12:30, half an hour ealier than his scheduled set end and closing time. Jamie’s first track was Martin Solveig’s Madan (again) and Ron Carroll stayed on the microphone, plugging his cd’s for sale and the upcoming Solveig gig on NYE at the Cott. All the time the gracious guest giving props to resident Jamie Wood who musically took it back to comfortable radio house the likes of Junior Jacks’ “Stupid Disco”.

I do strongly believe in a performance that how you finish is how you are remembered, so Ron Carroll’s early retirement in the evening was somewhat of an anticlimax to the brilliance that had just been.

Not the Cottesloe’s first official attempt at a legitimate dance music event but definitely an exquisite preview to what looks like being a summer full of promise for this excellent sunset coast venue. Notable events to come being Jay J and Latrice for the Heineken Sunset Sessions and Martin Solveig, John Course and Sean Quinn on NYE.