I arrived not long after 10pm and Kris-Ko was kicking things off nicely for the small crowd that had so far arrived. The Empire can often take a good couple of hours to fill and Kris-Ko was doing a great job of keeping the early arrivals grooving away around the bar as well as those eager few who had already taken to the dancefloor. As more people started to trickle upstairs there was a definite feeling in the air that the night was sure to be a great one and that the return of Matt Thomas (as King Unique) was going to be even better than the previous year when King Unique played the Middle Bar as the proper duo.

With upstairs at the Moonbar starting to fill noticeably faster than the still sparsely populated Middle bar, Murray Antill took to the stage with much cheering from those who where there, with many equally as excited for the local supports as for the international headliner. It wasn’t long into Murray’s set, with the Moonbar now a mass of gyrating bodies, that it was easy to see why Brisbane’s local live acts have garnered the followings that they have. As always, Murray defied any strict genre labels with elements of techno, acid, trance, breaks and house throughout his set. I guess the common element is simply the relentless bass lines, which always seem to be coming hard and fast, without losing any of their soul. His reworking of a track by fellow Brisbane live act D-KO was a highlight, with the vocals bringing a smile to everyone in the room.

However, it was all over a little too soon, with the previous hour seeming to have just flown by and the focus shifted back to the decks for Nat Monaghan. After having Murray smash it out a fair bit and lift the tempo for early in the night (as was to be expected and appreciated by the crowd), Nat took to the decks and did a great job of pulling things back a little in preparation for King Unique. She started out rather nicely with some deep minimal that flowed together really well and let everyone relax into the mood of the night. Things definitely stepped up a notch with The Punisher by Zen-Kei which definitely drew more people to the dancefloor. The Killer by Luetzenkirchen continued on this electro tip not long after and was definitely a hint of the expected direction that King Unique would take. A smattering of tough dark and dirty breaks was a nice reminder that we were upstairs at the Moonbar, Brisbane’s long stand home of all broken beats, but things soon returned to the electro theme of the night as the first few bars of Mouth to Mouth by Audion started coming in. This was a sure sign that tonight was something special. As the waves of distortion rolled in and out of every build up in this 12 minute epic track, the crowd was there lapping up every beat and the anticipation for King Unique was definitely reaching a peak.

As Matt stepped up to the decks, with what was to become a signature effect of the night, he proceeded to create a filtered wall of high end sound that built the crowd into a frenzy and he had them in the palm of his hand as soon as the first bass line dropped in. Testament to both Matt’s track selection and mixing, as well as my lack of keeping up to date with new releases, my trainspotting skills for his set were woefully poor and there are no absolute dancefloor killers that I’m able to divulge here. What I can guarantee though is that Matt played a blinding set of dirty electro, much dirtier and tougher than I think anyone had expected, and the crowd lapped up every minute of it. The Moonbar now noticeably, yet comfortably full; the vibe in the crowd was electric. Each heavily filtered and effect laden build up was matched by relentless bass on the other side. Unfortunately though, nearing the end of his set, one too many of these filtered build ups, which seemed to push the Moonbar system to its limits, had my ears and headache crying out for a break unless I wanted to gain some permanent damage.

By the time I had returned from a quieter time outside Segue had taken to the stage and were already getting into their set. King Unique had left the crowd wanting more and Segue definitely delivered and then some. As much as I was enjoying it though, it was time for me to leave as my headache wasn’t getting any better. All up it was a very memorable Elements and the perfect closing party for the year, I’m sure everyone who attended on Friday night can’t wait for the return of Elements in 07. Congratulations to all involved on an awesome set of events over the previous 11 months.