Kink pres. Future Music Festival After Party feat. Erick Morillo @ The Arthouse, Sydney (04/03/06)
Sydney was the place to be Saturday night: Mardi Gras, Future Music Festival and the Waratahs playing at home. With thousands of people at Future, the two after party venues – Arthouse and Home – were bound to be packed. With the lineup of Erick Morillo playing an unlimited set, Arthouse was bound to be crazy.
Boy was I wrong… It was insane!
Having never been to Arthouse before I did not know what to expect, with the door staff very courtious and helpful, like they say, first impressions last. Now I had heard that Kink had increased their budget to have more speakers, and it was definatly obvious this was true the second I walked in to the main room at Arthouse, the sound was deafening, but perfectly clear. The crowd was continuing the party atmosphere from Future, people dancing, laughing and enjoying themselves. The vibe of the venue was very comfortable, the lighting was fantastic, a great looking, sounding and working venue. Bar staff extremely quick with the drinks and the security always helping people find their way around the venue. High ceilings look fantastic with the lighting helping it along.
A group of people were walking in front of me on the way to Arthouse telling each other that two sets of Morillo was going to eventually bore them. Obviously they’ve never seen this man behind the decks before. He loved every moment of playing at Kink, playing not one, but four encores, I swear that every time he turned around after flicking through the records there was a tear in his eye. He appeared to really love the crowd, and the crowd loved him back, his manager needed to drag him away from his decks so he could get a plane to Perth.
Having only got there just in time for the beginning of Erick Morillo’s set, I had missed the opening DJ which was a shame. When I arrived the crowd was already warmed up and ready for the great man. That’s when the venue came alive. The lighting was fantastic and with the 3 screen visual set up was great, 2 in the main room and 1 in the breaks room broadcasting Morillo live, making sure no-one missed on this master behind the decks. While Morillo was spinning his stuff, MoRpH was working magic combining the the stunning new style kink visuals, with a mix of live camera and custom made subliminal footage that was specially made for the night.
With the added budget on speakers, even though I was in the middle of the crowd I still felt every bass hit, the sound was perfect and crisp. I loved every moment of Erick Morillo’s set. I couldn’t sit down, I wanted to keep on moving the entire night. I could tell I was not the only person who felt this way. At around 3.30am the crowd thinned out a bit, giving everyone more room to dance. Yet at 5.30am, it was still packed with people dancing and having a good time. It was insane, both the breaks room and the main room had people all through it.
It was fantastic seeing the entire Kink team with so much energy to produce such an outstanding event considering they were all at Future before the after party. Most importantly, it wouldn’t have been a great event without Erick Morillo, massive props to him for continuing the energy from Future, having been at Future nearly all day, performing just before Arthouse and still having the energy to go for as long as he did, it was a feat only a God like him could muster.
Yes it was a bit “cheesey” at times, but I loved that cheese, nothing beats a crowd singing along to a tune. Great track selection, great crowd interaction. Erick, come back to Sydney and do us another encore set. I will line up for a week to see that!
nabs says...