Freebase’s Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend Party kicked off late at 11pm with Brad Daniels playing some smooth funky house beats. By 11.30pm, there was a small queue building at the door, but the night was quite late to start with the crowd waiting frustratingly late before filling the dance floor. Perhaps rumours circulating prior to the gig, that Parish was not going to be gracing the decks until the early hours had surfaced, putting people off an early arrival.  

Throughout the night, the larger back room which featured Daniels, Ant J Steep, Zen Paradox and others was never as full as the smaller front room which featured two of the special guests Simon Caldwell (Sydney) and Theo Parrish (Detroit), the man most had come here to see. Unfortunately for the DJs in the back room, one of the monitor speakers was broken, and it caused some discomfort trying to mix. There were also a few complaints that the smaller front room had a better sound system – so no guesses why the international was on this stage.

The warm up sets in each room were quite similar funky house sounds. Fortunately later in the evening, or should I say morning, there was a more diverse sound to each room. While Ant J Steep pumped out nasty electro and house in the front room, Simon Caldwell went for a smoother, rounder sound. This seemed to keep most of the crowd in the front room with Caldwell, and fortunately or unfortunately, it soon became too cosy for any semblance of dynamic dance floor moves.

Old school Melbourne techno legend Zen Paradox was next to grace the stage in the back room. Joined by guest saxophonist, Steve, ZP gave a taste of his solid driving techno sounds with a deep funky edge. Although recently scaling down his kit down to a laptop and a couple of FX boxes, no quality was lost in the transition from analogue to digital. Alas, for ZP, his set clashed with the main act for the evening, leaving just a small, yet enthusiastic crew of people on the dance floor.

In the front room, Theo Parrish moved effortlessly through funk, soul, house and techno in no time. His ability to bridge these sounds smoothly and throw in some unfamiliar tunes, left you wondering what more you could ask from him. Strangely by 4.30am, only an hour or so into Parrish’s set, the crowd seemed to thin slightly, and despite the quality sounds and DJs, I left the building feeling like there was something missing from the evening, pray tell what though?