Although you may not have been able to tell from the ITM roll call late last week, one glance at the line outside of the capacious Queensbridge on Saturday night, and it was obvious that this Saturday night of Famous had got quite a few people excited. Grant Smillie had come to play where he has recently taken residency, and based on the fact that it was a full house two hours before he was due to come on, well, enough said. Needless to say, there was a lot of ‘discretion’ being applied as to who was and wasn’t getting in, but unfortunately, that can sometimes be bit part and parcel with the venue. Such was the sheer madness at the door, that even this humble ITM reviewer was having his own problems, but eventually, chaos was averted, and it was a return to normal scheduling.

Not sure if it is the venue, or just my luck, but every time I wander up those stairs, the place kind of hits you smack bang in the face. This was no exception. The place was buzzing, and the crowd was well and truly alive. Mark James was warming things up, but kept it to a level just above a strong simmer; pumping out enough commercial material to keep the masses happy, but also enough of the left-of-centre stuff to keep everyone guessing. As one panned the crowd, it was typical of Famous – young upstarts draped in all the colours of the fluoro rainbow; headbands, singlets, footwear; yep, anything goes. On the whole, James played to the masses, and did it well, albeit being interrupted every fifteen minutes by a most enthusiastic MC who was hell-bent on counting down to Smillie’s arrival.

Finally though, that moment arrived – and with people literally almost hanging off the rafters, Smillie landed, and threw all and sundry into quite an opening medley. Interestingly, it kicked off just the way his pre-Morillo set a few weeks back ended; namely, with his own material. Comprising of his TV Rock collaboration with the Dukes of Windsor in The Others, he looped it into a progression of dance floors monsters; We Are Your Friends by Justice v. Simian, Born Slippy by Underworld and Rippin Kittin by Golden Boy. All up, this was a solid start, and Smilie was getting everyone nice and juiced up; hell, one punter decided the wetness was all too much, and that an umbrella was required. Yes – in the middle of the dance floor. Each to their own I guess, and who knows, maybe he thought he was at Home in Sydney. Importantly though, the tunes kept pumping.

As always, Smillie was well received by the crowd and in a 3-plus hour set, he pumped them out one after the other; the guitar-prodded Around The World Again by Van She and Dangerous Dave and La Musique from Riot in Belgium ensuring that fists kept being punched into the air. Showing a bit of old-skool wares, he took us back to the 90’s oh so briefly with some solid bass courtesy of the Chemical Brothers’ Block Rockin’ Beats followed shortly by a Prodigy medley of sorts – looping Smack My Bitch Up and Breathe into each other, then wrapping up the step back into time with Smells Like Teen Spirit. Yes, even Nirvana got a run on Saturday night. No doubt keen to remind everyone of his own style he offered up the Dirty South and TV Rock remix of Josh Wink’s Higher State of Consciousness – keeping the bass pumping, the floor rocking, and the punters looking very happy.

And happy they remained. Solid set by the Melbourne boy that has increasingly taken all before him, and who is well and truly making waves overseas. Was great to have him back in Melbourne, and it was a typical Smillie set, although not necessarily a criticism. Will be interesting to see him hopefully keep things different in coming months in what will be semi-regular Famous visits. All up though, a solid night.