Deep Dish has often been on my wish list for many years – much to the surprise and confusion of my peers. However it is in their admittedly impressive back catalogue and driving sets that I appreciate their work. I loved Junk Science and when I first started getting into dance music, Yoshitoshi was one of my favourite labels. And although my taste has changed dramatically over the years, there was still that quivering moment of excitement and anticipation when I discovered they were coming to Canberra. Meanwhile I always knew Danny Howells would elicit a good time, having witnessed his rock star set and antics two years ago at the ANU refectory. And although Academy would seem like a quaint choice for such names, the club surprisingly worked wonderfully providing a debauched playground for all types of fanciful folks who were there to enjoy – what would undoubtedly be – one of the biggest and most talked about nights of the year.
Entering the club, there was a sea of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Clubbers I had not seen in two years had re-emerged from retirement and new faces from interstate had made the trek up from Sydney to pay homage. And as everyone walked down the stairs of Academy, they were greeted with the fresh sounds of Jeff Drake and Mikah Freeman. Having not heard these guys play in quite a while, I was surprised and delighted with their set consisting of twisted acidy sounds with phat basslines and tweeky vocals – If this is the sort of stuff Mikah and Jeff play these days, then I’m very impressed and I’ll have to come check them out more often.
Reminiscent of the last time Danny played in Canberra, Jeff’s set drew to a close with a specially made acapella loop repeating the words “Danny muthaf*ckin Howells, Danny muthaf*ckin Howells” to a now very full main room. I looked around and no one could stop grinning. Amidst the cheers of excited screaming fans, Danny’s first move was to mix some slamming beats in straight over the top of said loop, sending the whole room berserk.
Explosive introduction aside, Danny set straight to work mixing in his first record, and from that point on his hands were in continual motion as he worked diligently to craft an energetic and excellently layered set. Despite being busy at work with his programming, Danny always made sure to keep in touch with the punters by winking, smiling, waving, jumping up and down, and generally making it clear to the crowd that he was having just as much fun as they were.
Danny’s choice of the music for the night consisted of plenty of fresh new material as well as several tracks from his upcoming GU:Miami mix CD. His choice of tracks was very accessible and dance floor friendly but still remained thought-provoking and unexpected. One of the highlights for me was when he dropped Abe Duque’s cheeky electro-tinged ‘Give it to her good’ to a packed out room of punters grinding wall to wall. Tracks would build higher and higher in breakdowns and to everyone’s surprise, when the beats hit back in the track it would still be building and climbing higher, til the point where it would explode into sections with entirely new melodic riffs and percussion that – coupled with Academy’s impressive sound and lighting system – created what was quite possibly one the most rocking vibe of the year so far.
After Danny Howells had finished working the crowd, it was time for Deep Dish to step up to the decks and take the reigns of the night. Much had been said about Deep Dish in the lead up to the event, some positive, some not so positive, but after glowing reports from their Melbourne performance the expectation was understandably high. Starting with the Star Wars Imperial March was a sure fire way to grab everyone’s attention, and seemed like it was setting the stage for a show-stopping opening, however from the onset Deep Dish didn’t seem to grab the moment as well as they could have. Playing mostly from CD, I couldn’t spot many of the tunes which were probably yet to be released (owning a major record label would do wonders for your promo collection)
The beats were large, the tunes were big room but there just seemed to be something lacking. While four hours is indeed a long time to play with, and you wouldn’t expect a relentless start to finish explosion, the first half of the set did seem to plod along a bit with only a few standout moments, one of those being when Deep Dish’s latest single ‘Say Hello’ was played. While I expected the reaction to the track to be somewhat bigger, it did serve to reaffirm my suspicions that most people were there to see Deep Dish play Flashdance, and wouldn’t know many other Deep Dish tracks. It wasn’t long though before Flashdance made an appearance, in the form of a mash up with Dire Strait’s ‘Money For Nothing’ which saw many a punter lose it on the dancefloor.
To their credit though, the second half of the set did step it up a gear and really pulled them back into this punter’s good books. The tune became melodic and interesting, and some might say even more listenable, as the previous half of the set, while not bad, would have made for a lacklustre CD mix. Bringing hands in the air with such classics as Roaches by Trancesetters, and Can Costa’s bootleg mashup of Sasha’s Xpander, and even their own remix of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’, Deep Dish made sure the night did not go out with a fizzle, and those who stayed til the end would not feel their time was wasted.
Overall Deep Dish could have done better, but if you expect perfection you’re going to be disappointed a lot, and I don’t think anyone should have been disappointed with the performance Deep Dish gave. Danny Howells was the without a doubt the star of the night and from all the reports, most punters agreed as well. It was evident that by the end of the event, everyone had left the club feeling fulfilled and satisfied. Big ups to the Friction crew for giving Canberra a night to remember once again.
