Rise was sonically devastated on Friday the 18th of May by the sounds of hardstyle DJ/Producer extraordinaire Raoul van Grinsven, known to the world by his moniker Zany. His return to Perth after a 2 year absence heralded the launch of the new Transmission Magic City double CD mixed by him and fellow hardstyle DJ’s Bas & Ram. Hardstyle boffins were treated to a massively energetic, heart pounding assortment of the latest and greatest hardstyle tracks to come from Europe along with older anthems that had peoples feet and hands constantly pumping throughout the course of the night.

Hard, dark & dirty each of these adjectives can be used to describe the wild gut-wrenching sound coming through the speakers. DJ Techen and Steve-Tranzor the local hardstyle and hard-NRG talent warmed up the crowd and the sound system with incredibly hard and heavy baselines, which shamefully are so rarely heard in Perth. They were perfect mood setters, with the crowd now knowing what the night clearly was about.

Holding nothing back, the Dutch DJ jumped onto the decks to a loud applause and immediately showed why he is a major player in the hardstyle scene. The sound system at Rise felt as it was stretched to the limit with horrific melodies and piercing four to the floor bass lines that made the entire club vibrate with every hit. Zany’s set was crafted perfectly to keep the energy flowing high, with every so often him taking out a track, which shook Rise to its rafters and made you wonder if this building was designed with this type of chaos in mind.

The sound system at Rise never ceases to amaze me, and only seems to get louder every time I attend a gig there. It coped very well with both the sharp stabbing bass hits and higher frequency melodies, whilst really focussing the sound onto the dance floor, allowing for everyone to completely feel every bit of the music literally shake them to the core.

Although the temperature may have been only a few degrees above zero outside, inside it may well have been a sauna. The Rise crowd danced and stomped the night away, with everyone going, for lack of a better word, crazy to the sounds of the harder style and taking in all the night had to offer.

Living in Perth sometimes feels like your living at the end of the world, so it is always amazing when superstar DJ’s such as Zany arrive to show us their craft. Major thanks must be given to Simon Barwood and the rest of the Rise crew for constantly bringing some of the biggest names in the music world to our little city. With everyone clearly having a good night, the only thing we can hope for is that Zany’s next return to our humble city will be sooner rather than later.