It was the night before Australia Day and it seemed as if no one was out and about. It was apparent that people were saving themselves for the big day of national recognition to follow. That is of course until you took a right down Murray off Pier. An array of punters were out the front of Ambar, either having some time out or obliging their hankering for a smoke. Approaching the club, the muffled and heavy lows of the bass emerging from the confines of Ambar below could be heard. Inside, it was all happening and for such an early point in the night it was quite promising to say the least.

Markey’s early set greeted the eager early birds as they made their way into the club and following on from him was Jon Noonan who proceeded to play a quality round of progressive numbers which ranged from straight up prog to the lighter end of the spectrum. His mixes were right on and as the club began to fill, he had many of the up for it’s dancing on what seemed to be a newly laid (or at least newly cleaned) dance floor.

Kriece then stepped up to the plate and well and truly delivered the goods with a no-holds-barred-one-hundred-percent-quality-all-the-way set. His mixes were perfectly executed every time and the result was a kick ass outing which was so fitting for the warm-up to Dave Seaman. By the time Kriece’s set had drawn to an end, he had the dance floor literally packed. And busting out. Big time.

As soon as Dave Seaman dropped his first tune, it seemed as though he couldn’t wipe the smile off his dial as he eased his way into the swing of things and played track after track of top notch tunage. The first third of his set was absolutely the best thing, with relatively well layered mixes and what seemed like an endless barrage of wicked and upfront tunes. Playing for four hours is by no means an easy feat, especially when you think about the number of tunes you’d have to have to play for that long. Let alone actually really good, quality ones. So, by about the second third of his set, you could tell Seaman had either run out of killer tunes or just decided to steer in a different direction. The result was a fairly apparent shift in sound which didn’t seem to bother anyone on the dance floor, but it was definitely still a pretty obvious change. Winding his way through a range of lighter tracks, Seaman’s mixing never once got on the really messy side which is always a positive thing. Finishing his set with a totally downtempo track with lack of any consistent bass, Seaman looked just as stoked as about every other punter in the club as he acknowledged the crowd with some grateful waves of respect.

It was Sean Chee who had closing duties and he immediately mixed straight out of the low key track Seaman had ended up on and then reintroduced a solid 4/4 sound which kicked the party back into full fledge mode straight away. Playing straight after a headliner at any gig is probably one of the tougher sets to play as you’re dealing with a crowd who has been totally mesmerised and stoked with the headliners set (Well, usually that is. Depending on who the headliner is, it could be quite contrary) for the last few hours. Chee managed to work with what Seaman had laid down prior and build up a new energy and fresh sound which was perfect for the time of night. Everyone else seemed to think so too, as the dance floor was moving until close.

It was one of the rare and unexpected nights where the music is good, the people are cool and everyone just has a damn good time. Props to those involved.