At least once a year there is a boots and all dumping on the Brisbane dance scene, pulling in punters from all walks of genre. I know it’s not cool to demonstrate too much enthusiasm: rather, an aloof cynicism is the preferred perspective. Well buggar off! Brisbane has several hard working promoter teams doing incredible work, with amazing variety, and of unimpeachable quality. And hitting the top of the pile of late has been Logic, making the most of a formidable relationship with Sydney club, SweetChilli.

Only two weeks after the excellent sounds and mixing of Paolo Mojo, a set that many missed out on, Steve Porter hit the decks. Due to a prior commitment, I only arrived at the Shamrock moments before Steve Porter slid onto the CD decks. So it with much regret that I missed the earlier supports of Fergus and Mike Redfern. With Daniel C from SweetChilli just finishing up, the dance floor was grooving away well. The crowd, thankfully, was much larger than it had been a fortnight before and it was a fun crowd, who were visibly enjoying the night and the vibe. Ampt put on a wonderful visual show, including ghostly images of the DJ projected onto a back screen.

Steve Porter made a very smooth transition from Daniel C, but then the first couple of mixes seemed a little clunky to me. However, after that he just flew! He calls his music Porterhouse, and it is Party Music. The tracks he plays are self-edited so that they fit easily into his set. He says he uses only ‘good bits’ of tracks. In practice that means he jumps straight into the catchy, up-tempo bits, the energetic parts, the funky parts. There are no intro or outro parts to the tracks he plays, or very little of them. So rather than hearing a track slowly coming in and building, the effect is to be right in the middle straight away. This keeps the energy exceptionally high, and the dance floor bouncing in a happy euphoria. ‘All aboard the Porterhouse Express’ indeed!

His ‘no boundaries, no rules’ approach means that he traverses elements within house, trance, breaks and techno: a “stew” he says. But by editing carefully he avoids a clash of genre, instead creating his own brand of ‘Porterhouse’. In feel, the effect is closest to Desyn Masiello’s high energy sets he has been pumping out of late, but with more variation in sound. It is celebratory, and kept the dance floor well populated throughout the whole set.

For the last hour, BPM took over. He immediately smoothed out the feel with lush trance tinged progressive sounds, beautiful, layered, and enveloping. It was like a warm wave filling the room after the energy of the preceding 3 hours. It is a sound I love, and wish would hear more of in Brisbane. This feel was interchanged with more beat driven tracks meaning that the energy did not dissipate. Unfortunately my days of lasting to the very end are past me, and I had to head home.

With the friendly mood, the broad smiling faces, and the top shelf music on offer, Logic, in association with Ampt productions and SweetChilli have helped make the Shamrock the home of quality dance music in Brisbane. Don’t miss it!