When you hear the club name “PACHA”, thoughts of sexy celebrities dancing up a storm on some exotic beach in Ibiza are sure to come to mind. It was with great irony that on this night the world’s most famous club brand was being held inside, at QBH on a miserable rainy day (normal Melbourne weather so I’ve learnt).

Arriving early we were met with a 10 minute wait, not sure why as the venue was practically empty…  Anyway once inside, we were instantly punched in the guts by the crazy mashup of electro and house from Derek K.  I was hoping this was an omen for the night. I personally find it crazy that Derek K is opening, yet this may have been a sly on the promoters part as by the time Derek handed over to Grant Smillie QBH was pumping.

Now admittedly I am not a big fan of Grant Smillie’s production work, however after seeing him DJ live and witnessing the man’s desire to make sure the crowd has a great time (There’s nothing more that pisses me off than seeing a DJ just stand there emotionless), well that certainly isn’t the case with Grant Smillie this guy absolutely gets into his music. Smillie’s set highlight would’ve been when he played a track, I think it’s called “flaunt it” which had the crowd eating out of his hands.

You know the feeling that you get when you just can’t dance anymore then you here a beat that screams at you “Dance Mother ******). Well that’s what happened when Ibiza “PACHA” resident Sarah Main took the stage, although I did start to worry after 30 seconds when she quickly called Smillie over for a run down on the panel. But with that under control we the crowd were taken on journey of hard house, some absolutely brutal hard tech and at times smattering of electro. I would rate Sarah as defiantly one of the finest DJs going around at the moment.

I popped upstairs for what was intended to be a break, but just had to dance to local Mick Newman. There was an obvious reason that upstairs was packed and that was definitely because of Newman… I suggest you look out for this guy as a headliner soon. From there James Belias jumped on at 2.30am and I must admit he lost me, normally I am a big Belias fan but he just didn’t cut it on Sunday for my liking. I had to go back downstairs as I had missed the intro for the Body Rockers. It was evident from the crowds love of there TOP40 hits that many a punter had come to see these lads. And like clock work they churned out there generically driven electro-house, sure the majority of the crowd loved it and I guess that is the great thing about music, it caters to so many varied tastes.

I went back upstairs and walked in on a packed room full of hot sweaty bodies going nuts to Pauli Cutin and within five the wife and I were in the same state. It was really disappointing to only have him for 1hr. Anyway back downstairs, hot tip for QBH install some escalators;) Okay so downstairs for some bloke called Wally Lopez. I wasn’t a fan because I am just an ignorant bastard but after Sunday I’ll be on the lookout for any of his releases. Technically Wally Lopez was in my opinion the most technically sound DJ I heard on the night. His mixing was just awesome, as I said I wasn’t a fan so I didn’t recognize the tracks he played but it was just pure sexy hot shit. That tore the legs off anyone that was game enough to dance to it and from all reports he played a blinder at Summerdayze earlier.

Finally the moment had arrived that 85% of the crowd had come to see the very successful dance duo act Boogie Pimps took the main stage at “PACHA” to a huge cheer. And like the Body Rockers they pulled out there hits songs, “Want Somebody To Love and “Sunny”. Unfortunately they weren’t my cup of tea and I called it a night a short time later. I find it hard to be stimulated after a huge night of track selection so something that I could listen to at home on the radio, as I said it just wasn’t my deal. But then again I am not the one making millions of dollars so well shut up reviewer man. Standouts for me on the night were Wally Lopez, Sarah Main, Pauli Cutin, Derek K and Mick Newman.

The Melbourne version of “PACHA” had all the elements to create an unforgettable party, great venue, sexy DJs, A young up for it crowd and a club name that is associated with all things classy. Yet in my opinion the promoters failed to capture that essence but all in all it was a great night out but not my best clubbing experience so far. Ohh I know what was missing!  The beaches and the celebrities, but if you looked hard on the night you just might have seen a FatBoy.  I know I did, Much love and happy clubbing.