News spread early this year that the Earthcore crew would be touring Psytrance superstars Infected Mushroom around Australia yet again. This time Brisbane would be lucky enough to be hosting the Queensland gig, unlike in previous years when it had been at the Gold Coast. Like many of Earthcore’s events, the hype for this one started extremely early. Some might say it was due to the line up – with acts such as Infected Mushroom, Raja Ram/Sphongle and Future Prophecies on the list, it was almost guaranteed to be a big night. I on the other hand think it is partly due to the name Earthcore is built for themselves, in particular with their quality of production. No matter what the size of their parties, punters are always given the assurance that there is going to be a quality sound system, amazing lighting system, visuals galore and décor that makes your everyday event look small fry. This time being set in the city meant that punters didn’t need to follow any ‘dodgy directions or treasure maps’ to find the venue, which Earthcore inturn took on as a smart marketing ploy.

Arriving just after 10pm I was hoping to catch some of Scott Walker’s set before heading upstairs to see Sphongle, but instead was shocked at the size of line up leading up to the door way. If the line was anything to go by, it was going to be a big night. Once inside, I managed to reach the top floor just as Raja Ram started his Sphongle set. Having only ever seen Simon Posford do a Sphongle set, I was a little unsure of what angle Raja Ram would approach the set from. Starting off with the infamous track ‘DMT’, Raja Ram grinned for a moment and then watched as the entire crowd went into a complete frenzy and for as early as 10:30pm the upper level was completely packed. Listening to his set was like listening to all your favourite tracks off of the four Sphongle CDs and I don’t think there was one person in the crowd complaining. When ‘My Head Feels Like A Frisbee’ hit the sound system I thought that a female next to me was about to have some type of excitement fit – never have I heard someone scream out in excitement over a track so loud. I am sure she would have gone home knowing that she had got her money’s worth.

A quick walk back down to the main room revealed that the rest of the venue had begun to fill. Leading up to the event there had been a promise by one of the promoters that there would be ‘fairy bread’ on the night. Those hoping for the digestible kind of fairy bread may have been disappointed; instead punters were treated to a ceiling ‘sprinkled’ with fairy lights, quite stunning to say the least, especially when walking down the stairs. There is no doubt the placement of those lights had many man hours behind them, but the results were just beautiful. Performing up on stage was Brisbane duo Statler and Waldorf, who both looked somewhat uncomfortable at first. Maybe it was the big crowd nerves, but I felt they didn’t seem to be their usual selves until a good 3 or 4 tracks into their set. I know if I had been in their shoes I would have been a little daunted at the thought of playing a mixmash of breaks/trance to a crowd of Psy-orientated followers. However their more upbeat tracks ‘Bass Buffer’ and ‘Reality Hijack’ soon had the main room almost completely filled, no doubt leaving the boys with a few hundred new fans.

Cy was next up on the stage, hitting the crowd almost instantly with some extremely uptight Psytrance. For someone who claimed to be ‘a little nervous’ on the night, it didn’t take him very long before the entire audience was eating out of the palm of his hand. During his set, the crowd were treated to a tantalising display of visuals across the 3 giant screens placed around the stage, which continued on for the rest of the night. By the time Raja Ram came on at 2am, like many I was completely exhausted from all the time spent dancing during Cy’s set and decided to find some couch space upstairs so that I could catch Future Prophecies.

Once settled up there and thinking that the music was a little slow for Future Prophecies and for my liking in general, I realised that I was in fact listening to the end of DJ Lucas’ set. 5 minutes later the boys from Future Prophecies moved on to the stage and soon the air was filled with a voice coder type voice saying “Are you ready for Future Prophecies?” well judging by the audience, the answer was “Yes”. Hardcore-like chord progressions belted through the speakers (making me somewhat worried at first), followed by some thudding bass. What followed was a set very similar in sound to the likes of Australian act Pendulum, including tracks with Reggae-like rhymes over the top and a sample of ‘Smack My Bitch Up’. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw of their set, but it was a far cry from what I had heard on their past albums.

Heading back downstairs to catch the rest of Raja Ram’s set I could hear what I thought were glimpses of Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’, thinking my hearing was playing up, I moved down into the main room, only to confirm that someone had indeed made a Psytrance version of the track. Ram then followed with what seemed to be a continuous stream of tracks laced with mainstream samples including the likes of Metallica and the theme from the Pink Panther (possibly to coincide with the new movie release?). Despite the sample heaven he was dishing up being questionable, it was definitely well received by the crowd and a great lead up to Infected Mushroom. Every second person I spoke to couldn’t get over the fact that they were listening to a DJ that was old enough to be their grandfather. Raja Ram certainly proves that age is no barrier for success in our industry.

Leading up to 3:30am when Infected Mushroom were about to make their presence known on the stage, I was beginning to wonder how my legs were going to hold up for another 1 and half hours. Erez Netz then moved on to the stage and began one of the most prolific guitar performances I have ever seen live, which included him plucking the strings with his teeth Hendrix style. Having seen Infected Mushroom play live 3 times already, even I wasn’t prepared for such a mammoth opening to their set. Aizen & DuvDev then went ballistic with a double build up (up until that moment I never knew there was such thing) into the track ‘Muse’. It didn’t take long for all those Infected Mushroom first timers to see what all the fuss was about. By this stage the main room was about 98% full and the temperature was rising at a very steady pace, even more than it had during Cy’s set. A quick run to the toilet found me rushing to wash my hands after hearing DuvDev singing “We’re going  run, run, run to the cities of the future….” in the distance. Anyone who has tried running through a crowd of hippies bouncing around at 100km/h to Psytrance (let alone Infected Mushroom) would know that you are bound to get covered in bruises as I soon found out. It seemed that in the 5 minutes since my return the temperature had also gone up another few notches. Lucky for the crowd, there wasn’t any sweat dripping from the ceiling as per Infected’s last gig at Trocaderros. Highlight of their set came about halfway through when the boys played ‘Electo Panic’, with its scattered ‘Electro’ lyrics and staccato/cattle prod type melody and the addition of Netz’s riffs over the top, it sounded brilliant over the sound system. Love or hate them, they are nothing short of breathtaking when performing live. I can only hope that on their next return to Australia, Queensland will be lucky enough to see them in an outdoor setting.

A big congratulation is in order to the promoters Earthcore for bringing such an amazing ray of talent to Brisbane for us to witness. The Arena was completely transformed making a perfect setting for a night that yielded not only one of the best performances I have ever seen, but one of the best produced events I have ever seen. It no doubt left the rest of Brisbane promoters wondering how they are going to keep up to a similar standard for the rest of the year.

10/10