I had been excited about this gig ever since it was announced on the forums back in December. One of my favourite producers was unexpectedly coming to Brisbane and had been picked up by the Empire, who have been providing a steady flow of quality internationals over the past months. All was set for an awesome night and despite the fact that it was on a Sunday, which is notorious in Brisbane for being extremely quiet, the mood just seemed right for this to be one of those special nights that would forever be remembered.

Upon arriving at empire a little before eleven, with my favourite llama in tow, the gloss on what was to be a best night ever was starting to be worn away. After bounding up the stairs towards the Moonbar, all set to join the crowd that would no doubt be already tearing up the dancefloor, we were greeted by an empty room and some bored looking bar staff. The stifling heat also hit like a solid wall as we were informed that the aircon system was faulty.

We grabbed some drinks and immediately headed for the balcony to escape to some cooler air. While this seemed a winning combination, the lack of people in attendance for someone recognised as being one of the best tech producers of the moment was a bit disappointing and pointed towards how far Brisbane still needs to come before it can shed its small town image. The heat, lack of atmosphere, and what sounded like some really nice tunes coming from the press club next door combined with perhaps a few too many glasses of red at dinner beforehand had us needing an escape so we opted to check out how the rest of the valley was faring. With the Big Day Out also on that day, the emptiness of the valley should have come as no surprise. At least there was a cool breeze and some entertainment along the way.

Midnight and Alex Smoke were quickly approaching so after much discussion it was decided that copy and pasting the tracklisting of Alex’s most recent set from the net and stretching this into a review was not really fair or honest and that heading back to Empire was the right thing to do.

I am so glad that we did! The moonbar had filled up nicely and while the heat was still thick in the air, the music was definitely making it all worth it. While individual track names don’t come to mind the set progressed very nicely through deep, minimal, bleep filled techno for the first hour before the tempo lifted and things definitely started to move into the “phat” spectrum. The crowd reaction and vibe were splendid and my worries that a respected international would be left playing to an empty dancefloor were proven wrong. While the crowd wasn’t huge, everyone there had a smile on their face and a wiggle in their booty. There wasn’t a Supré princess or sleazy jock in sight, which makes for a nice change from some recent nights out. All in all, congratulations to Empire for bringing Alex to town and for the small yet dedicated group of people that attended and made the night what it was. It has definitely gone down as a set to be treasured and remembered and more than filled my initial expectations.