You gotta love living in a city that has a public holiday for a horse race, and the subsequent public holiday eve parties. For many, Cup Eve heralds the start of the big summer parties (not that it’s been quiet on the dnb party schedule over winter!) and this one was sure to be the start of the 05/06 season.
Consistently bringing out the big names has been the Intrabeatz collective, and this time was no exception with Mampi Swift and MC IC3 on the bill, alongside the usual all star local lineup (Blanco, jps,Fiction, Seven, Keir).
This time the venue of choice was the HiFi Bar, a venue that has been host to a number of d’n’b parties of late. Set up with the signature white camouflage netting and big screen visuals, the place certainly looked the part.
When I rolled in, it was the sounds of Adelaide’s Fiction bouncing around the filling space. I was glad I got in just that little early to hear the majority of his set, which was a journey from some vocal/disco sounding tunes through to a more techy side of things. Already there were bodies on the dance floor-quite a feat so early on in the night!
At the conclusion of his set, Melbourne’s own Seven graced the decks with his usual solid mixing skills and heavier track selection. Once he gets started Seven’s sets roll along with a cohesion that draws you in and maintains that level until the conclusion of the performance. Without a doubt, one of my favorite locals!
But of course the draw card of the night was Mr Mampi Swift (who was spotted enjoying a bit of Seven’s set) in the crowd. The opening mash up of Pendulum’s ‘Voodoo People’ remix and Bad Company’s ‘Mo-fire’ was an indication that this set was gonna be hard up on the party tunes and tight on the skills!
Continuing on through the introductory phase of the set it was almost a wrap of the years biggest dance floor fillers (Subfocus, more Pendulum etc). Switching between tunes, double dropping tunes and MC IC3’s verbal encouragement hyped the fairly moderate crowd up enough to give the set an atmosphere that filled the cavernous HiFi bar.
Further into the set Swift (as he was once known) took his audience back through time, mixing in some vintage Bad Company (‘The Nine’) with some less older tunes (the distinctive ‘Torpedoes’) as well as the Shimon/Andy C classic “Body rock.” It was good to revisit some massive tunes such as Logistics’ “Together” and Pendulum’s breakthrough “Vault.” Whilst some may have been less than impressed with the track selection, the technical skills and trickery more than made up for any disappointment in that department. IC3 played a complimentary role and certainly had the crowd in control, even getting in some crowd participation.
Although a little down on numbers, the party certainly had great atmosphere. Once again thanks to all involved in bringing out such legends from the dnb scene, and bring on the summer parties!
