After falling in love with one of Paul Fernandez’s aka ‘Jumping Jack’ sets from a Trancetribe event some time ago, I was finally able to catch the proven performer live. At the ripe age of 37, and with a residency at Sydney’s most famous club night, Sublime @ Home, I was expecting big things from one of New South Wales’ best.

Being greeted at the door by the lovely Tash at the somewhat early time of 9:30pm it was great to be back at Family. Despite recent criticism of the crowd, the vibe is still there and the staff members are fantastic. After completely forgetting to bring a pad and pen to take notes I ended up hunting down a pen at the Uncle bar and pinching a few drink coasters to write on.

Playing the 9-11pm set in the mainroom was TyDi. There is a lot of hype surrounding this kid and his future, and he surely doesn’t disappoint. Speaking with him prior to the night he wouldn’t let out any secrets about what to expect in his set. I was greeted with some really progressive music with a lot of house elements and a splashing of electro, never leaving the mixer as he constantly tweaked the equalizers and effects. He started with some beautiful euphoric tracks with a lot of female vocals, before picking up the tempo around 10pm with one of my favourite tracks at the moment, Marco V – The Funk Battery! TyDi described his set as being “really housey” as it suited that timeslot a lot better than the harder tunes. After closing with a few melodic uplifting tracks it was time to hand the decks over to Syke.

Something I’ve noticed with Syke in recent times is his track selection, opening with White Sand – Sunlounger was a perfect start to his set and took off right from where TyDi finished. He is definitely one of the more animated DJs to grace the decks with his hip thrusting and hand clapping really getting the crowd going. By about 11:30pm the dancefloor was filling up and he dropped another of my favourite tracks at the moment, DJ Shah & Jan Johnston – Beautiful Glimpse of Heaven. Another track featuring off his Summer Trance 2007 mixtape is Hammer & Funabashi’s ‘Moments’ which kept the crowd pumping as well as Mike Foyle’s ‘Shipwrecked’ (Sean Tyas remix). The euphoria and guitar elements being played throughout Syke’s set were divine and he really laid the icing on the cake with Nic Chagall’s ‘Monday Bar’, another favourite of mine at the moment. Come 1am I was truly impressed with Syke’s set, definitely one of the better sets I’ve heard through the Family system and it was time for the much anticipated Jumping Jack to hit the decks.

‘Jack’ opened a lot harder than I expected and continued to smash out the tracks. He hinted earlier to expect a lot of unreleased material and this was evident seeing as I didn’t recognize many tracks at all. Dropping Ferry Corsten’s classic ‘Punk’ really got the basement moving and was completely unexpected as he didn’t mix it in and caught the punters by surprise. TyDi also hinted that he would be playing the track they composed together, Juliet, which was well received by the crowd, especially a very happy TyDi. Come 3am it was time for me to head home. ‘Jack’ played a good set with tight mixing, but I expected a little extra and thought he may drop some classic anthems.

Even though I didn’t catch Baby Gee’s set I was truly impressed by the residents once again, especially their friendliness and willingness to have a yarn. TyDi’s opening set was perfect for the timeslot and Syke stole the show with his track selection. Big wraps go out to the locals for their absolutely awesome sets and to Jumping Jack for showcasing so much up and coming trance. Thanks for another great night Family!