Being a newborn Perthian, I could be forgiven for not knowing where Bar Open is, so when I asked my friends and got blank looks of ‘what the’ I started to get a little bit nervous. Walking up and down Northbridge looking for the entrance and reminiscing about my first outing to find Ambar we walked past some ‘Fasionettes’ and figured they would know, turns out they did. It also turns out that we walked past the entrance twice but thought it was people getting into the nearby strip club.

Having been to a D.Ramirez set at The End in London, I had very high expectations. What I couldn’t help shaking though was that where it not for In The Mix this event would have gone past with not even a blip on my radar. According to the ‘Fasionettes’ there was and advertisement in the street press.

Getting there at about 10:30 was always going to be early even for Perth. Which is a pity as Ben Mac was doing a solid effort of building a set and warming the growing crowd up. Often the DJ playing this slot goes too hard too soon which leaves the 12-2 slot with nowhere to go. Promptly at 12 the venue filled up with B.Mac cranking it up a notch.

D.Ramirez came on at 12.30 to a full dancefloor. I know a DJ often doesn’t like to mix into the preceding DJ’s last track, but to totally stop the music was a bit much.

The next two hours were a blur of tracks that were mixed seamlessly. The first half building up for a cracker of a set. Everytime I wanted to go get a drink another riff, sample or break would come on which meant my feet had a mind of its own. I thanked myselfe for bringing the missus who true to Perth form doesn’t often stray from breaks, but was thouroughly enjoying herself. Thought at times a bit commercial a solid set of dirty-techy house with pounding baselines. Well done Mr. Marriot.

Mind Electric followed, and with no disrespect you could feel the tempo drop a bit. Nothing wrong with the tracks, just not quite mixed as well and the flow was a bit off. We left a little after four to a crowd that had sparsed out, but was still right in it. I heard later that the night was fully rounded of by Adam Kelly.

As we were walking home I wondered how many people were there, 200, 300, I couldn’t say. The venue was intimate yet friendly. All The staff, including the bouncers seamed to really want you to have a good time. The only criticism of the venue was the air-conditioning, or rather lack thereof, at times during the night. I don’t think that a bigger venue would necessarily have been better, but then I don’t know if anyone was turned away from the door or not. All in all, to the organisers, Job well done.

How many events like this have I missed I wonder, time to get that radar fixed