After meeting Omid Nourizadeh (Omid 16B) last Friday night at Sugar, it was clear from the first that not only does this new star of progressive house live and breathe music, but he is also possibly one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Citing influences including artists like Hendrix, The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Mission, and being a guitarist since age fourteen, the Sugar crowd was guaranteed more than your average night of house music.

Taking the club on an eclectic journey through tech house, progressive, breaks and electro, local favourites Lachy Pender and Mal Chia (Electric Therapy), did their best to warm up the early crowd. The music certainly wasn’t flat, but the crowd seemed to prefer to sit around and chat rather than take to the dance floor. One over-enthusiastic punter did, however, run back and forth from the dance floor to the booths on several occasions, breaking out spontaneously in dance. Mal even said himself that the set was a bit too ‘all over the place’ for his liking, but I still enjoyed it and look forward to seeing more of this talented young man, not to mention Lachy.

Fenetik’s mesmerizing journey through the outer realms of techno proved to be more to the liking of punters, with the latter stages of the set calling the seated majority to the floor. Michael’s excellent use of Ableton Live, and Jude’s embellishment of Michael’s rhythms was a pleasure to watch- their deep, minimalistic sound slowly working everyone into their groove.

Long gone are the days of that old, cranky frown that had symbolised progressive house during its long reign- Omid’s enthusiasm behind the CDJs couldn’t be bottled if you had a tank the size of the Sydney Aquarium. Jumping around, twiddling knobs, and interacting with the crowd like a true showman, Omid also showed a definitive feel to his sound. Touching base on many different genres while maintaining a deep, funky and sexy sound, the three hour set flowed perfectly. It progressed through most forms of house, and even wandered down the path of minimal techno. Much more entertaining and diverse than most progressive sets I have witnessed in recent times, Omid also proved to be a enthusiastic conversationalist, chatting to me frequently while keeping the tracks cued and pitched to perfection. Once again, Omid is possibly one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.

The highlight for the night was certainly a looped up and extended live edit of Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love,’ which ended the night for me as I had to depart half an hour before close (to make it home). The track had me reminiscing of Danny Howell’s set in Melbourne last year, which I rate as one of the best nights out I’ve had with progressive house, and Omid’s performance on Friday night, most certainly matched it.

Click here to view photos from the event...