When I heard that Atomic Hooligan would be doing a second show on a Sunday at the Cottesloe Hotel, it was very much a case of killing two birds with one stone – enjoying the summer party vibes of a Cott Sunday session, and catching a breaks act that has been on the top of my ‘to do’ list for a good while. There was really no choice in the matter – it just had to be done!

Reports filtering through my phone (most of them in the very early hours of Saturday morning – cheers guys!) about the Atomic Hooligan/Backbeat show at Geisha on the Friday night had me chomping at the bit to finally see him play – the feedback from the above mentioned mates who were in attendance was all glowing praise, strongly reinforced with language that won’t be repeated here. Needless to say, Sunday night just couldn’t come quick enough.

We arrived at the Cott just after 6.30pm, and made our way upstairs to be greeted by an ice cold beer and the sounds of Backbeat maestro Gully twisting his way through some quality broken beat. Gully’s seamless mixing combined well with some electro flavoured breaks, providing a fantastic match to good company and a slowly setting sun over the ocean. Some DJ’s doing the support slot would slowly build the tempo of the evening up, but let’s face it – that just isn’t the Backbeat way! Gully kept the rapidly filling dance floor jumping on their toes, dropping some cracking beats that would often find their way into a peak time set, including ‘the’ track of the moment, Hook n Slings’ remix of ‘He Doesn’t Love You.’ Czar jumped up to go back to back with Gully for the lead up to main event, and the pair dropped some ‘hands in the air’ tracks that lifted things just that one notch higher! A very enjoyable set by both guys that would have left this reporter more than happy if they had been the only DJ’s playing for the evening.

However, 8.00pm saw Gully and Czar hand the reigns over to the headline act for the night, the UK’s Terry Hooligan, one half of breaks act/producer duo Atomic Hooligan. Since the release of their album “You Are Here” in 2005, they have firmly cemented their reputation as one of the best breaks acts going around…after witnessing Sunday night, I can tell you that reputation is well justified. Terry threw himself into his set which had everyone dancing hard straight from the get go, weaving together some seriously chunky breaks that were both harder edged and yet remained damn funky at the same time (sounds a bit contradictory I know, but that’s how it went down!). One highlight for me was definitely the Plump DJ’s new single, Mad Cow, a track that will be getting high rotation on breaks dance floors this summer. The track selection and mixing was first class as is, but what really blew me (and a lot of others) away was Terry’s incredibly tight scratching over break downs and everywhere in between, dropping cuts with clinical precision that had everyone on the floor screaming their approval – some serious skills from one experienced campaigner were on display! Combined with all of this was Terry’s interaction with the crowd, pointing to & clapping with everyone on the floor, and winding them up just that little bit more (if that was humanly possible).

Everyone present responded in the best possible way over the course of the evening – by dancing all over the place, making a hell of a lot of noise and throwing up hands in sincere appreciation of being treated to a fantastic two hours of quality breaks from one of the best in the business.

Without a doubt, this was definitely the best breaks show I’ve seen this year, at one of Perth’s premier summer venues. If you missed the action this time round, make sure you catch Atomic Hooligan when next in Australia. In one word – awesome!