Had it really been a year since the last Mad Hatters Ball? It didn’t seem that long ago I was sitting around post-Mad Hatters, nursing a coffee and my sore head, and lamenting the fact that I was going to have to wait a year until the next one. Yet here was the announcement of the 13th annual Mad Hatters Ball, with a masquerade theme. Great! It’s time for my annual excuse to pull on a costume and run amok on the dance floor.

After a few last minute costume dramas, my friends and I arrived at Ambar around 11.30pm. We were just in time to catch the last half an hour of Micah vs Ben Mac. The crowd was already buzzing with the energy from this set and we raced straight onto the dance floor to join in. Ooh look, Micah’s got a black mullet this year. Stylish as always Micah!

One of the hallmarks of the Mad Hatters Ball is the friendly vibe of the crowd and this year was no exception, with a great party atmosphere prevailing all evening. I think wearing costumes encourages people to interact much more than they do on other club nights. There’s also something about having a costume to hide behind that encourages people to display their playful side. Although, some people’s costumes reveal more than they hide.

After staying glued to the dance floor for the remainder of the set from Micah & Ben, I wandered out into the back room. For the uninitiated, Mad Hatters sees the carpark out the back of Ambar converted into a second room, complete with bar. Also out the back is the chill out area with its comfy lounges and subdued mood lighting, but it was mostly empty at this early stage of the night. Footage of the DJs was being projected on to a large screen at the rear of the second dance floor. A small crowd was dancing to some great electro house from DJ Markey and I was soon back on the dance floor myself.

Rephrase was playing in the front room from midnight so I went inside to check him out. There was surprisingly little noise overflow between the two rooms, which was great. Rephrase was dropping some very funky tracks and I was soon grooving away again. I was particularly enjoying the sax featured in one track when my friend nudged me to point out that Rephrase was playing it live on stage. It was fantastic stuff and I hope somebody gets him back over to Perth soon to play a longer set.

Ambar was pretty full by now and there were people everywhere in costume and/or mask. Kudos to the guy in the scuba gear because he was lugging a tank around all night. Another standout was the guy in the orange robe with the elephant head mask. I like to think he was dressed as Homer Simpson impersonating the Hindu god. Heaps of ladies were wearing fantastic sparkling or feathered masks. Amongst the females my personal favourite was the lady in the pink panther costume.

There was great music being played in both rooms all night. Wish was playing a fantastic set in the front room. The crowd was jumping when he dropped the Hook & Sling remix of “He Doesn’t Love You.” I went out the back to sit down for a minute but Fritz & Mali had other ideas and dragged me onto the dance floor with a remix of Royksopp’s “What Else Is There” which the crowd around me also loved. I heard a couple of different Hook n Sling tracks dropped during the night, which is fine by me. There was a lot of electro house being played, the tracks were all thumping and everybody seemed to be dancing and enjoying themselves.

Headliners Q45 and MC Amy B came on in the front room at 2am and the crazy party that is the Mad Hatters Ball was in full swing. I must admit that my memories of their set are a blur of dancing, conversations with friends and other randoms, and more dancing. I was very busy having a good time. I remember them playing a remix of Freaks’ “Creeps.” I really like that track so it stands out in my memory. I also remember MC Amy B adding some very soulful vocals to a few of the tracks Q45 was playing later in their two hour set.

Things were showing no sign of slowing down when Flex vs Prizzy started playing at 4am and they kept the tempo going, much to the delight of the dance floor. I was starting to get tired, but the music was making it hard to drag myself away. I found my friends and made some noises about going home, but they twisted my rubber arm into staying for a bit longer. Not that it needed much twisting.

I spent this morning nursing a coffee and a sore head, with fresh memories of great tunes and Mad Hatter’s craziness still buzzing around. I wish I didn’t have to wait a whole year for the next one….