In a continuation of the seemingly non-stop number of quality acts powering through Sydney since the start of summer, last weekend saw progressive house legend Steve Porter slamming down a two-hour set at Home Nightclub’s new Saturday night Famous. The night regularly puts on huge names in conjunction with the Sweetchilli crew and its assortment of resident DJs. Steve Porter is touring in support of his current mix compilation Porterhouse vol. 2, which features his trademark sound and somehow manages to immaculately squeeze 57 tracks onto a double CD (including a few selections from Australian producers Matt Rowan and Jaytech ). Steve achieves this amazingly high track count by editing almost all of them down to their most crucial groove loops, before cleverly arranging them all into a fun, upbeat and cleverly sequenced set. It’s his fourth time in Australian and he has absolutely rocked it whenever he’s played in the past. As a producer he’s also made a significant mark on the genre, having already released over 70 singles and 28 remixes by the humble age of 27 years. Pretty impressive hey?

To ensure we had time for a satisfactory warm up before his set, we got the crew together and arrived in front of Home to be greeted by a surprisingly oversized line reminiscent of the old Sublime days: with the queue stretching far into the distance. Luckily there were several lines in front of the club with one for general entry and another for those with organised door list, which cut down the waiting time slightly. But the door staff and bouncers were far from friendly; they were questioning the sobriety, physical appearance, outfits and most annoyingly, whether the groups of friends (including ourselves) had any more girls joining them as their ‘ratio’ was out of whack. It wasn’t until just after midnight when we all finally made it inside, but as we were cloaking our jackets we were treated to Grant Smillie laying down some pumping electro house tracks that were getting an excellent reception on the dance floor.

We had a quick walk around the club to check out some of the subtle changes made to Home since the last time that I had visited. The seating area behind the balcony upstairs counts as one of the main changes, and it’s been converted to a chill-out room with a balcony for smokers and some seating (and much trashiness of course). Next we retreated to the ‘Infamous Theatre’ where Tim Culbert was pounding out some intelligent tech house over the crisp sound system with everyone in the room getting into the groove-driven hypnotic tunes. This room was a great safe haven from the madness of the main room, nonetheless it was approaching the start of Steve Porter’s set so we made our way back down to get settled in for the next two hours. Surprisingly it wasn’t too packed at that stage and it was quite easy to dance and move back and forth between the bar, bathrooms and dance floor. Testament perhaps to how much new space has been created on the main floor since the renovations.

As Ajax moved through to the final part of his set, he continued with the tough electro house, popular remixes and sampling that he features in most of his performances. Before long Steve Porter stepped up to take over, but he was given the tough task of blending his usual sound into the tough tunes that came before him. But as expected he was all class for the entire two hour set, and it was interesting to see how he flawlessly built a much techier sound before slowly working in tracks more representative of his usual cheeky groove-driven style. Steve was also getting into the vibe and creating a lot of energy in the crowd with his usual presence behind the decks, constantly dancing and communicating with the punters. Due to the tougher style he played on the night there was not as many tracks from the new compilation as I would have expected, but there were still some recognisable tunes littered a throughout the set. Anyone who came with the intention of seeing Porter would not have been disappointed. His usual upbeat and fun sounds were worked seamlessly into the monumental buildups, all the while mixed impeccably with any breakdowns or lulls simply removed from the set, in the trademark style he’s become known for.

After Steve finished we stayed for a little while longer and enjoyed the start of Carl Kennedy in the main room, after which we caught up with everyone in the Infamous Theatre before heading home. Overall, it was a fun night out with great music on offer, and a heap of variety spread across the three rooms. Steve Porter and the Infamous Theatre room were clearly the highlights of the evening, and it was great that all of our crew made it into the club after hearing some worrying stories from other regulars (otherwise it would have been a very short review). But going on comments from a number of other people present on the night, it’s obvious there are a number of things that need to be improved if Famous is to build its reputation in a positive fashion – mainly the behaviour and attitude of its security and door staff. Misgivings aside, I know I’ll be back for more!