This was an event anticipated by myself for some time, as it was to be the debut Australian performance of Ronski Speed.  This Eastern German producer/DJ has been making waves in the global trance scene for some time now – either via solo efforts, or as part of Sun Decade.  His remixes and original productions have a distinct, busy but beautiful uplifting flavour, which by now has come to be recognised as Ronski’s signature style.

The weather, unfortunately, could hardly be worse for the night.  Freezing gusts of relentless winter wind and icy rain combination called for a video night at home with buttered popcorn and a thick doona.  However the anticipation, the excitement and my especially purchased white attire finally got the better of me, to get to Space on time to catch most of Stama’s opening main room set of blissful, melodic mellower shades of trance, such as Gabriel and Dresden’s Arcadia.

The White and Black theme wasn’t adhered to at most desired levels – there were a number of people who’d made an impressive effort, however many opted for jeans-and-white, or jeans-and-black, or patterened out clothing.  Disappointing, however it was made up for by the laser/lighting shows.  The laser production especially was absolutely sensational – in both rooms, for most of the night it almost felt like being in the middle of some kind of multi-coloured wonderland.

Taste for harder, more driving beats was catered for by the hard trance, otherwise known as Dark room.  All of the sets featured pumping, tough beats – ranging from harder-edged melody-based uplifting, to darker, dingier trance sounds.  Of particular note were sets by Chia vs Keely and a very talented trance up’n’comer Flip.  Whereas second room was full and pumping all the way through til kick-out time, main room took it’s time to warm up, which resulted in an extra half hour for Stama to play with.

The arrival of Ronski Speed on the main stage however saw a good crowd gracing the dance floor, which unfortunately struggled to maintain its presence towards the latter part of his set.  This set was a musical journey, which by most part was more uplifting, melodic and beautiful than driving.  It featured an amazing mashup of Young Parisians’”Jump The Next Train” over Thrillseeker’s “Synasthaesia”, Ronski’s original “E.O.S” and recently released on Euphonic Mirco De Govia’s remix of Above & Beyond vs Andy Moore’s “Air For Life” (which in my opinion is still not as good as the original, but that still leaves much room to be fantastic!)  Other notable trainspots included Ronski’s rework of the Binary Finary classic – 1998, and Above and Beyond’s take on Delerium’s Silence.

Karvan and Condivi followed on from Ronski with an hour of original, driving trance – opening with their own mashup of BT’s “Remember” and… a dance troupe.  The dancers were dressed in either black or white to compliment the night theme, the 10 minute choreographed routine adding flavour to night’s produciton without taking away from the overall focus on the music.

A notable absence from Ronski’s set was his remix of Aly & Fila’s “Eye of Horus” – a much loved tune for many a trancer.  This was corrected in second last main room set by Jayde to be part of overall a driving uplifting set which paid respect to old classics “5th Dimention” and Tiesto’s Power mix of Balearic Bill’s “Destination Sunshine”, as well as some new gems (eg Climax 69’s “Three minutes til noon”).

Main room was then finalised by a mini-set from Josh van Aalst, whose set was cut back due to set times push back, but had managed to feature some beatiful trance classics including Matt Darey’s “Fly like an Angel”.