The Closer Arena for the Innercity party was featured upstairs in the Zone 5 area of The Deen, which was the best and perhaps only place in the venue it could have been situated. The Deen itself as a venue is fairly questionable. As a multi-roomed pub, it works fantastic but as a venue for a big dance music gig, it fell short of delivering a good atmosphere. The problem is much bigger than just the Deen though. Perth itself is void of a good range of venues, so after the usual suspects had been booked for the Easter long weekend, the Deen was perhaps the only place it could have been housed. Anyways, it worked. Albeit not as good as it could have.

What kicked some serious ass was the fact that due to Closer being located in the Zone 5 area, cocktails were being made. And I for one was pretty excited about that. Beer on tap and cocktails at an event are quite uncommon, so this was very much in the gigs favour for sure.  

Onto the music, Closer provided a variety of beats for those that love their stuff to the roll of a 4/4 line. There was plenty of house, some techno, tech house and an act with live vocals; something for all the house lovers out there. Locals Simone, Declan and James A laid down their house grooves nice and early and those present were mostly out on the balcony, enjoying the beats whilst checking out the view of Aberdeen St below.

Ralph Lawson was the first international DJ up and he proceeded to fill the room with some deep and textured beats. Despite the other rooms being packed and having other big name acts on at the time, Lawson still managed to pull a decent crowd and those present were busting it on the dance floor or chilling outside. The sun began to set at the end of his time, and by that stage, he had managed to attract a good amount of punters to the room. Not many were dancing, but they were in the room. So, that’s always a good thing. Steering away from his renowned funked up sexy house grooves, Yousef opted for a more house inspired approach which involved perhaps a few too many piano rolls and girl vocal samples. It was more of a filler set, than a feature set and testament to this was the sparse dance floor and empty room. Towards the end of his set though, many eager Voorn fans made their way into the room and before long, it was nicely full.

Performing a DJ set rather than a Live PA, Joris Voorn still kept his sound close to that which he emanates in his live sets. His beats were unrelenting and solid, and although they sometimes bordered on too heavy and hard; he never allowed them to cross over the line and a good balance of tracks ensued. His mixing was flawless and he opted for fast and regular transitions which kept the crowd interested for the entirety of his set. The room was heaving and at a few points some punters appeared to be worried that the floor was going to fall right through (it was actually seriously moving a few cm’s at times).

Bugz in the Attic were very much a hit and miss thing. If you were a fan, you were stoked and would have thoroughly enjoyed their set. However, if like myself and many others, you didn’t dig their sound, then the next hour and a half was a very ‘different’ experience. The live vocal action seemed to be appreciated by many and throughout their set, the balcony was constantly full; it seemed as though people preferred to enjoy their set from a distance.

As the clock struck 11, the man like Stacey Pullen fronted the decks and after a moments silence in between sets, he got stuck straight into some deep and techy house grooves. He kept it there, at that perfect level for majority of his set. Somewhere in between techno and house, slightly taking it either way and then just cruising. As always, his mixes were impeccable and you could tell he was truly enjoying himself for the entirety of his set. Towards the end, he played a few tracks way off the line to where he was, but he thankfully brought it straight back, once he’d noticed that the Perth crew was digging the tech-house ride he had started out with. His ability to read and work with a crowd always impresses; and you could see that Perth was more than stoked to have him back again.