On the back of their highly successful album ‘Raw as F*ck’, the Freestylers (Matt Cantor and Aston Harvey), with the help of MC Sirreal, opened their Australian tour last Friday night with a DJ set in Newcastle that will go down in Nutshell history. With pre-sale tickets selling out and perfect weather, a huge night was always on the cards and Newcastle’s breaks loving community turned out in force to witness one of the most memorable Nutshells to date.

Patsan opened the night with his usual style and class giving the early arrivals plenty to groove to, even having punters on the dance floor before 10 (a rarity at Nutshell).  Next up we saw D*Steady vs Breakwell, with the two keeping it up front and funky, dropping in some very cool acapellas to give their set a unique touch and flavour.  The two combined well to get the swelling crowd out of their seats and onto the dance floor.  By the time The Jackel stepped up to the decks the room was more than half full of dancing Nutters, lapping up every second of The Jackel’s set.  The Jackel threw in a heap of cool bootlegs including the classic Yazoo - Don’t Go. Of the support acts The Jackel definitely received my vote, his track selection was superb as was his mixing, top work. Auxilary, as always, banged out a super high class set, working the now packed room to boiling point, literally, with so many people dancing the A/C couldn’t keep up, making it a rather sweaty evening, not that anyone really cared (or could remember).

It was now time for the breakbeat fans of Newcastle to… fasten their seatbelts!  With the Freestylers (Matt Cantor up first) exploding onto the decks, opening the set with their own track, produced with Pendulum, Fasten Your Seatbelt. This track had all 400 plus punters jumping around like late 90s ravers, a truly inspiring sight. With the crowd at such fever pitch the much hated but inevitable needle skipping occurred, but like the true professionals that they are it was hardly noticed by the crowd with MC Sirreal quickly piping up to divert attention whilst a quick backspin or beatmatch was done. Which brings me to MC Sirreal, easily one of the most charismatic MCs going around, his rhythm and rhymes were faultless without becoming a show stealer, once again top work. Just when I thought their set was starting to lose direction, the Freestylers dropped a whole bunch of drum & bass, featuring numerous top quality Pendulum tracks, which injected a new energy into their set.

Kato did well to maintain the hype and close the night out so everyone left on a high note.  Personally I prefer seeing Kato play earlier in the night, but the big man has the skills to keep a crowd dancing no matter what time it is. Highlights from the evening included; one punter trying to head butt the decks (he came pretty close too), MC Sirreal taking the piss out of the guy who tried to head butt the decks, the crowd’s response to Fasten Your Seatbelt, and the Jackal’s set. From the massive turn out it is clear that Nutshell Breaks is moving from strength to strength, and with a host of big internationals coming over the next few months it seems Nutshell’s momentum will continue to grow.