After only 24 days of counting down to what was set to be the hottest night this side of the new year, the day was finally upon us. Rocking up to Home just before midnight, we found the line-up was still pretty out of control, so taking the opportunity to skip the half-hour line with guest-list privileges couldn’t have come in handier.
Upon entry the place was already pretty filled with early arrivals like ourselves, all keen to get a good spot close to the action. It was still pretty easy to grab a drink without a never-ending line and snag a great spot right up the front in front of the decks, where Jonathan Wall had everyone losing themselves with Digitalism’s ‘Zdarlight.’ Just as Jonathan’s set started to get a little wearing, a polite James Murphy intertwined 10 minutes after his set was meant to have begun. Now humbly helming the decks, he kicked the bridging track up a notch or ten with a few swift moves.
Being a long-time fan of his DFA production work, remixes and of course LCD Soundsystem, I’d been looking forward to his set since it was the news of his DJ tour leaked last year. I knew there was no way we could possibly predict what he drop into his sets, as he’s always had the uncanny ability to change directions, never sticking to one thing long enough for us to catch on. So it was no great shock to see that he wasn’t about to drop an LCD or Rapture track into the mix, that’d just be plain predictable! Instead he flipped out a tight, ass-shaking funk set, which bore a distinct New York edge, slick and funky with an undeniable gruffness, like an innocent debutante in full-couture exposing a rebellious skull tatt on the back of her neck.
The super-producer proved to be a natural wizard on the decks also, his track selections (a mixture of everything from vintage Michael Jackson, ESG, Bee Gees, Daft Punk) and mixing was chillingly precise and like nothing I’ve heard in Sydney over the last two years. Mr Murphy had the crowd up the front wrapped around his finger as he brought the set to a chaotic head several times. That sent the blood from our heads, straight down to our feet, with dizzying effects that had us dancing harder than we’ve danced in a long time. It was refreshing to see a DJ with such a pristine knowledge of sound, come into a venue like Home and shake up a relatively commercial crowd, kudos to you Mr Murphy!
Then before we knew it, the brothers Dewaele (the ORIGINAL Bang Gang, otherwise known as 2manydjs) were up onstage sharing hugs with Murphy and preparing to get the last remaining butts off seats and down front and centre for a real ass-shaking marathon, as they bring the house down over the next two hours. Their arrival was loudly announced by the sexy, cheesy and sleazy electro pop rock mayhem flooding from the speakers. The lethal cocktail really began with Madonna’s ‘Hung Up’, followed up by the first Tiga track of the night ‘You Gonna Want Me,’ which had people flocking from all corners to fight for a spot on the dancefloor.
Tiga seemed to be the flavour of the night for the boys, as they dropped all of his previously released singles, barr ‘Sunglasses’ and ‘Hot In Herre’. Their mixing was slick, tight and fun to watch as they tangled arms and exchanged only looks they understood to bring us a flurry of pure neon goodness. With Benny Benassi’s ‘Satisfaction’, Justice vs Simian’s ‘Never Be Alone Again’, which most electro DJs played to death through early 05, but after a much needed silence from the track, it was good to hear it again, especially in this context, working the crowd into a frenzy of shaking hair, arms in the air and ear to ear smiles.
LCD’s ‘Disco Infiltrator’ finally made an appearance tonight, as did Soulwax’s NY Lipps mix of ‘NY Excuse’, Cut Copy’s ‘Going Nowhere’ popped up a little later, then The Juan Maclean got the floor well-scuffed with ‘Give Me Every Little Thing.’ The temperature just kept rising with the inclusion of ODB & Kelis’ ‘Baby I Got Your Money’, The Prodigy’s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, some specially placed old school Daft Punk tracks, The Clash’s ‘Rock The Casbah’, The Beasties’ ‘Sabotage’ which had us all fighting for breath in it’s wake. But that still didn’t slow the world’s best mash-up DJs down for a second or two, instead they kept the party well fired-up with ‘Don’t You Want Me’, Kaiser Chiefs’ ‘Everyday I Love You Less & Less’, House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’, Weezer’s ‘Hash Pipe’, Felix Da Housecat’s ‘Silverscreen’, Dolly Parton’s ‘Working 9 to 5’ and New Order’s ‘Blue Monday’ all with notable mentions in the set.
But from where I was dancing, the truly standout senseless and breathless mash-up moment came as Tiga’s ‘Pleasure From The Bass’ was fused with Technotronic’s ‘Pump Up The Jam’. With the roof well and truly taken off and our poor, sore, blistered feet begging for mercy -the brothers left a debris of lingering smiles, thirsty mouths and many ‘worse for wear’ shoes in their wake, they can now rest assured that they truly rocked Sydney tonight, giving us something to rave about for the next few months.
