New Years Eve 2004, and Meester and friends are already pumped to be heading out to Kink with French supremos Cassius (Philippe Zdar DJ set) and DJ Falcon – and it’s only 5pm! NYE is the night which every under 50 year old looks forward to. It’s the time of year when Sydney goes off with a bang, and we were hoping that Kink would blow our minds even more than the giant disco ball hanging from the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We arrived at The Arthouse at around 11 so that we could chill out for a while before midnight hit, then dance all night to some sweet French house. The last time I reviewed a Kink night was mid-2004, and I started by saying how great security was. Well the good news is that security on NYE was absolutely top notch. Friendly smiles and jokes on entry and utterly professional in dealing with a couple of incidents. The door girls were lovely, and it was such a change from the dregs we sometimes have to deal with at clubs around Sydney.
But in all honesty, we were there for the vibe and the music – both of which were most definitely present. We walked straight into the Broke-N-Beats room to the sounds of Frenzie kicking out some great party breaks. Unfortunately we missed out on Mean Jean vs Agent 42 who finished at 10.30, but I don’t have to see these guys again to realise that Sydney has some of the world’s most talented spinners.
From here it was a walk across the floor and into the main room where Shamus (who had taken over from Brendan Fing at 10.30) was most certainly pumping out the party house anthems – if you’ve got a Ministry of Sound CD from 2005, you know what I mean! But just because the chin-strokers label it cheesy or simple doesn’t mean that tracks like Mylo’s “Drop the Pressure” and Soul Central’s “Strings of Life” don’t get a party rocking, because that’s exactly what they did. I couldn’t keep my feet still, and had to go and join the ever-increasing number of beautiful bodies jamming the dance floor.
Brief interlude for a countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,3, 2, 1… Boom, here comes Zdar! We took this opportunity, having boogied for a while, to check out the operations in the Attic where John Glover, Sam Serene and Synik were on rotation from 11 until 5. I’d have to say that this room, on the top floor of the Arthouse, was my favourite. The music wasn’t too hard, nor too soft, and the comfy lounges provided the perfect situation for bringing the new year in chatting with mates.
I went for a number of missions throughout the night, with the aim of experiencing as much as I could. While Zdar’s set was attracting most of the crowd in the main room, Auxilary (of Nutshell and Shopliftas) was getting us high on a sweet, sweet dose of charged-up, deep, party breaks. And although the room wasn’t packed, everyone on the floor was cuttin’ sick to a well developed set.
I headed back to check out Zdar again, but was disappointed after 15 minutes, due to the fairly low level of enthusiasm (at this point, and not inclusive of the rest of the night). So I got out my rope and other miscellaneous climbing gear and headed up to the top floor again. I must commend these three boys (though I’m not sure which is which) for playing exactly what needed to be played – I think they had this ability over the internationals downstairs.
I left the Attic once more, when I heard the synths of “So Much Love To Give” by the man himself, DJ Falcon. This song, is one of my favourites of 2003/2004, and I was really looking forward to this moment. I have to say that the version wasn’t great, but everyone around me, seemed to be as keyed up as I was, and we were all jumping around waving our arms crazily. And let’s not forget Scott (Kink’s promoter) who was getting us very worked up on the DJ podium as Falcon showed his wizardry in bringing in track after track ever so smoothly.
Following from DJ Falcon in the main room at 4-5 was Ben Morris, who was joined by Tom Da Silva at 5-7 for a wicked back to back set, which picked up the pace a little and took us to a slightly deeper, teched-up place, but still had the dance floor filled. The breaks room (which I had a brief look at on my way out) was still going hard to the sounds of The Jackal vs James Taylor, who had taken over the wheels from the always-impressive Elroy.
What a superb way to bring in the New Year. A relaxed evening with some great music and great friends, there’s nothing else a young lad like myself could have asked for. Thanks must go to the Kink team, who never fail to put on a great show, and to all the DJs who were superb – especially the Sydney talent that was showcased.
