Let me warn you upfront, this isn’t going to be one of those trainspotting reviews, where I’ll try and list as many tracks as possible that I recognised Jeff Mills play.  I don’t quite cut is as a trainspotter, and given the number of records it’s estimated Jeff often plays per hour, who could list every single track? 

It was the first time that Jeff Mills played in Sydney at a standalone show since 2000, and, despite the party being on a Thursday night, there were a lot of excited people counting down to the night.  In my opinion, it was worth being on a weeknight to be at Home; the club is big enough, the aircon works, and the setup there is quality and could handle the demanding technical rider Jeff requested.

I arrived shortly before 10pm to the sounds of some bass heavy sounds coming out of the main floor speakers courtesy of Josh O’Dwyer.  Unfortunately, I missed out on paying much attention to the warmup DJs and acts until it was time for Jeff; it was one of those nights where you just keeping on running into different people you have to chat to.  What I did hear I really enjoyed; Emass vs Methodixxx rocked the floor, TechiOne impressed a growing crowd on the dance floor with some live melodic techno, and upstairs Elroy and Jonathon Wall gave some relief to the ears with more quirky, electrotech-based tracks. 

Finally, at 12:30am, it was the moment that everyone had been waiting for, when the legend himself was due to DJ.  As Jeff took over on the decks, a change occurred.  He took down the pace a step, starting with some quirky spacey sounds, before launching into the classic Strings of Life, causing the entire dancefloor to explode. 

Jeff began off with a more melodic and layered style, playing a lot of spacey tracks, before getting harder.  One of the most amazing things about his set was the ground that he covered.  Not content to stick to just hard techno (disappointing for those that like their techno thumping, but a treat for many more), he moved between minimal beats, slamming techno, acid squelches, housey stuff, plus lots of 909 in the middle.  And when he was playing harder tracks in the middle of his set, he’d also throw in more melodic tracks like the classic Jaguar and Octave One’s Blackwater (Anne Saunderson Vox).

His mixing wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly amazing.  Cueing up tracks in a matter of seconds, he often had three records going on the decks at the same time, let alone how often he also had CDs in the CDJs.  He also had at his controls a DVJ, and someone later pointed out that at one point he mixed in the Exhibitionist DVD, including sound, and then looped it to mix back out of it. 

It’s no surprised then that all the while he was concentrating hard, as serious as a robot, with no time to dance around like a trance DJ.  Not that the music coming out of the speakers was mechanical, rather it was generally fused by a wonderful feeling of warmth (which I assume just wasn’t due to the dancefloor being so packed!) 

For the final part of his set, he returned to more eclectic ground.  One marvellous moment was when he played I Have a Dream, and then went straight into the driving beats of Murder Was the Bass, before returning to a more melodic minimalist track.  The Bells was another wonderful touch, and definitely got a reaction.  Finally, however, at about 3:30am, Jeff brought his set to a close.

No-one was complaining; we’d already had him play for an extra 30 minutes past what was scheduled.  But, as Biz-e took over on the decks, plenty of people wanted Jeff’s autograph or simply to thank him for an amazing night.