Enormous queues. Angry doorstaff. Crazed youth. Fluoro avengers. Where were all these terrible things I’ve been hearing about? I’ll openly admit to being a Famous virgin, partly because I have wanted to avoid being part of the clubbing cattle that is mustered into Home every Saturday night. You must imagine my surprise to find an orderly line, moving at moderate speed with gracious hosts welcoming punters in from the freezing Sydney winter. An auspicious beginning to a promising night.

There was certainly a buzz surrounding Paolo Mojo’s second visit to Sydney. His tour last year was in support of his Balance release and having caught his set at Candys Apartment, I easily rate it is one of my musical highlights of 2006. So it was with much anticipation that our little posse entered Home expecting bigger and better things from the prog-house don.

The club was already remarkably full by 11.30. Carl Kennedy was on warm-up duties and was playing an entirely appropriate set given the musical stylings of the main act. I was expecting mainstream club cheese, but Kennedy was playing a tech-infused blend of big-room house, with early highlights included a big remix of The Automatic’s Monster.

Paolo Mojo eased behind the decks on cue at 1am. At first I didn’t recognise the boyish good looks – sporting a clean shaven face, Mojo looked nothing like the graveled press shots I was familiar with. But nothing needs to be said of Mojo’s technical abilities behind the decks. His mixing is sublime and he’s one of the few DJs who genuinely can take you on a musical journey. And Saturday night was no different as Mojo traversed his way across a dazzling array of sounds.

The first hour of his set sparkled with melody and included the cracking King Unique remix of Tracking Treasure Down. An hour in and things were getting deeper and more driving, with the relentless of energy of Pryda’s Storm belting out of the speakers. In fact, Mojo’s sound has obvious synergies with his Swedish buddy Eric Prydz as tracks from all his pseudonym’s – Prydz, Pryda and Cirez D – featured heavily in the set. There were washes of acid and lashings of tech layered over his distinctive chugging basslines. The deep and sublime beauty of Deadmau5 Faxing Berlin was a highlight of the middle of his set along with a storming Deadmau5 remix of Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

Now, a cautionary tale to any youngsters out there. Drinking vast quantities of energy drinks mixed with various types of white spirit may seem like a good idea. However, it is possible to have too much of a good thing and rather than stay awake, find yourself keeling over from a gaurana/taurine/caffeine/ginseng induced bout of lethargy. Also, while the music was sublime, this reviewer’s old ears were having difficulty coping with the incredible volume of Home’s sound system. I’ll admit to not staying as long as I had planned, but just long enough to know that Paolo Mojo certainly delivered on the hype and justifies his tag as one of the new breed of progressive house talents.

While part of me is ecstatic that someone of Paolo Mojo’s quality is able to play to such a large audience, another part of me craves the intimacy of some of Sydney’s smaller venues where you can make more of a connection with the DJ. It is to Famous’ credit that they vary the line-up each week and push the musical boundaries. There is no doubt that many people are being exposed to artists and music that they would otherwise not experience and that definitely can’t be a bad thing.