With the performances of Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk now nothing but a fleeting memory, the months of April and May were always going to present difficult times for Sydney’s trance lovers. Enter Josh and Friends with their latest offering of A Night of Trance, Electric Blue.

With a game of AFL to play on Saturday, meaning a less feverish night than normal, a mate and I arrived at Arq just before 11pm, hoping to get in a decent dose of searing trance. Upon arriving we were greeted by a plethora of individuals who looked for the best part like a selection of smurfs; either that, or they’d be going extra hard on the Electric Blue Gatorade. On entering, we found the club pretty much empty, with Patrick Carrera finishing up his set with a rendition of U2’s New Year’s Day. Nice.

Marishka and Jayde then took over, the former bedecked in appropriate electric blue top. Having not seen Marishka play before, it originally looked like she had just jumped up out of the crowd to join Jayde, in a sort of live guest mix type thing. Whilst I wasn’t overly familiar with most of their set, the two of them went back to back for the next 90 minutes in an epic display of beat matching and mixing, coupled solidly with a lovely selection of vocal, uplifting stuff, highlighted by Dogzilla’s Without You, a tune that always promises me so much, yet delivers just that little bit less.

At the same time, we did take the opportunity to pop downstairs to check out the Vortex room. Around 12,.15am, Karvan and Condivi were doing their best; set up on a tiny table, with laptop and mixer squashed in tight, sounding out a blend of pure trance, with tunes that cross into the progressive and electro realm. With a much younger crowd in tow, including one guy who we could only assume was French, dancing manically in his lovely blue and white hoped long sleeved skivvy (minus the baguette and beret), Karvan and Condivi stonked out a stack of hands in the air moments, and a selection of tunes that for use of a better word could best be described as “highly danceable”.

Back upstairs, Ruby and live singer Annalysse had taken over; Armin/Tiesto style. With the much larger crowd now clambering for the uplifting vocal stuff, up stepped the audience participation, and who better to run the show than the obligatory gay policemen, tightly clad in leathers, wowing the crowd with their crazy antics, pole dancing, and hand-cuffing of the willing. Quality! It was about this point that I ran into some Dutch mates from Armin and sat down to have a chat.

2am came and up stepped Shadower v Tempa. Look out! In a flash the dance floor populace split in half; with only the harder trance lovers remaining. Whilst the change in direction might not have been appreciated by all; I for one loved it. The duo soon pounded out Sandra Flyn – Red is Love, followed closely by the ageless Marco V hit Godd (just love that track), and soon after a great, hard rendition of Café del Mar’s Energy 52.

Before I knew it, it was 3.15am, and it was time to get home for a quick snooze pre football. I left, satisfied with the evening, and happy in the knowledge that Josh and Friends had once again delivered the tunes that Sydney’s trance starved populace so desperately need. Well done lads and ladies, we look forward to your next event.