This was not the first time that this world-renown trance DJ/producer/Darey Products headman has ventured down under.  This time his visit was part of his worldwide tour to promote his latest mix album.  Matt has been around the trance scene since 1994, and is most widely known for his classic trancers “Beautiful” and “Liberation (Fly like an angel)” both of which reached top ten in the UK charts.  Also under his belt are a myriad of remixes and compilations – indeed since 1998 he has sold over 2 million trance singles and albums, and a number of residencies in London and Ibiza.

The night started off yet again via Bohem – however this time I was disappointed with comparatively low level of decor production  in the area.  My previous venture to the club was to see Adam White earlier this year, and the room looked magical with the mood lighting, so it was a bit of a let down to come into a relatively bland environment.  However upstairs did retain the redeeming factor of an abundance of couch (or otherwise comfortable) seating.

Downstairs, Stama and Scott Richardson were busy with the night-opening two hour mixup, which included my personal track of the evening – Above & Beyond feat. Andy Moor – Air For Life.  This was the first time I’d ever it (in a club or otherwise) and it would’ve been worth being out just for the sake of this moment – which was then repeated by Matt Darey later in the night.  Their set started off with mellower sounds, including Gabriel & Dresden’s Arcadia and built up to more solid beats and riffs towards the end.

Cameron O’Shea inherited a half full dance floor and delivered a mellower set with some interspersed vocals, which was a noticeable step down from the end of his predecessors’ two hours.  Notable treats were Moonman’s Galaxia and Josh Gabriel’s “Alive”, however overall I thought the set was fairly levelled – Cameron may’ve been aiming to give Matt the opportunity to start off with the softer end of his trance range spectrum.

Darey confesses to have a varied taste in trance – his sets range from proggier to harder-edged, this time round it was something in the middle.  Matt started off very vocal – in fact, at least first 5 tracks included beautiful, angelic-trance voices of various female songstresses.  Overall the set was energetic and very melodic, with Antilla’s mix of Andy Hunter – Go being the personal highlight, other notables – Tiesto’s take on Radiohead – Street Spirit, and Sublime by Ferry Corsten.  This was delivered to a friendly, smiling and up-for-it crowd on a full, but not packed dance floor.  It wasn’t entirely clear how much Matt enjoyed the night himself however – throughout the set he had somewhat of a superstar aura about him, without, unfortunately, much animation – he did the entertaining via the music.

The sets that followed Darey were more driving and harder, although not as punchy as the upstairs DJs all of whom are known for their hard trance, and all of whom seemed to get a good number of punters dancing for a second room.