Touted as the Home of the Underground, the Ambar crew need not go to extreme lengths to keep their loyal party people coming back for more. Ambar was in full effect last Friday night as it prepared to welcome back one of the breakbeat kings, and, sadly for us, one to leave our shores for residence in the UK, DJ Friendly.

Arriving around 11pm – an early start on any night owl’s watch – the expectation of a chilled-out start was met, although Marty McFly was definitely enticing Ambar’s small crowd to jiggle to the beat, with a few eager beavers already strutting their dancefloor moves on the outskirts – perhaps more keen on the loyalty drinks specials than outing themselves as having peaked too early.

Flat screens dotted about flashed reminders to the slowly swelling (not in the pants) crowd that this was the first Loyalty Party for 2007, and it was ready to crank! The sad fashion of skinny-leg pants and high heels was sported by most of the glossy catwalk-set (stoopid attire for cutting up the dancefloor, I reckon) and in the beginning the female toilets were shrill with the tunes of vapid bints inhaling helium and swearing at each other like Alvin and the Chipmunks. A major plus was without the basement car park being converted to chill-out or smoking room, smokers were forced to the street above which left this smoking-Friendly-fan surprisingly happy to not smell like an ashtray come home time.

No matter how many Paris Hiltons wearing flimsy negligee and massive handbags (what do chicks really have in those??) walked through the doors this fine crisp night, Ambar definitely remains the best place to nab a party crew out for some amazing music… and not a hint of the Melbourne Shuffle in sight – phew!

As the numbers swelled greater still so did the tunes. Flex and Prizzy worked the crowd into quite a frenzy, indulging us all with a heavier diversion from the funky tunes of Marty McFly. Flecks of industrial sounds and my favourite Röyksopp track “What else is there” brought the crowd to capacity – a thumping mix pumped from our favourite sound system in Perth… “I don’t know what more to ask for – I was given just one wish”

I celebrated 1am by downing my first and last drink of the night – the required JägerBomb – then enter DJ Friendly to the roar of punters. An Aussie ex-pat, always welcome back in Perth having delivered the winner set on one of my favourite nights out a couple of years back.

Friendly quickly moved from some atmospheric highs straight into the land of fat’n’dirty, chunky’n’heavy – and a short-rewind brought in the fuck-it lyric repeated over and over to shouts of approval from the crowd around me… hmmmm, or was that “funk it”? We were fully-sick-rocked with “It’s the Weekend” and a wicked beaten up version of Hendrix’s Foxy Lady – there were plenty of hands in the air pointing to the booth and declaring the #1 man of the night.

Friendly thumped out a rather bass-fuelled and strangely familiar beats driven two hours, and then we were re-engaged with the Röyksopp mix again. A friend of mine clapped with delight, and most definitely nobody was complaining. The solid set was splashed liberally with hints of the Prodigy and other grindhouse sounds, and not at all subtly wrapped up with his own take on the Justice Vs Simian track “Never Be Alone”.

At this point I bowed out, due to throbbing temples… a sign of ageing perhaps? So I missed two more killer sets; I was told from an Ambar insider that “Mr & Mrs Wish rocked the place and surprise guests Audiojack were also deliciously good!”

“Because, we are your friends, you’ll never be alone again… well come on… well come on… well come on… well come onnn!”