It was party time at Toast on Saturday night as the crew and fans of Ug Beats got loose to celebrate their fifth birthday. There was no fairy bread or creepy old Ronald McDonald’s at this party. Rather, the ice cream cakes were replaced by a consistent flow of alcohol and the karaoke moved aside for a huge line-up of local DJs and banging live music. Ug friends and regulars Pornstylus, Not You, Hancock Basement, Jemist, Bec Paton, Alistair, Milkbar Nick and Miss Universe were the bringers of much fun and entertainment.

The night began at 8pm, possibly when Toast clubbers are just waking from the night before. Pornstylus got a minimal crowd into the party mood with some uplifting beats before passing the spotlight over to Not You. I got the idea of how broad the music was going to get as I was unexpectedly slammed by some heavy rock music coming through the speakers. There were four people on the dance floor and Not You obviously wasn’t concerned with making it grow. What he did was grab everyone’s interest and provide some great, albeit different tunes from what you would normally expect. But hey, that’s what those attention seekers at Ug Beats are all about.

As the night was finally starting to kick off, and our mood was already in the rock n roll zone, we were treated to some live garage punk from Canberra boys, Hancock Basement. The trio gave the growing Toast crowd a good reason to get up and jump around as only a live band can do. Throwing these guys on stage worked out to be a great way to mix up our expectations for the night. Not to mention how amusing it was watching everyone’s dance styles change between DJ’s and live band. Hancock Basement and their funky hairstyles did a great job of uplifting the atmosphere and got the dance floor moving.

After our live music fix for the night, our attention was turned back to the DJ booth where our little Canberra ‘Jem’ changed the styles up once again. Jemist busted out some booty shakin’ RnB and funk, taking the dance floor from Homebake to ghetto night in da hood. Yo. His beats made everyone get down and dirty giving us girls an excuse to do our best stripper impersonations and the guys became instant honorary gangstas. Jemist was true Ug style indeed.

By the end of Jem’s set the dance floor really did need to be transported back to dance club reality. Well, at least as ‘real’ as the Toast plus Ug experience can get. Bec Paton was just the girl we needed. Bec once said in an interview that her inspiration is taken from art and different cultures. After witnessing her set you can definitely hear why. Her music is an awesome blend of various styles and sounds and she’s a very graceful musician – now there’s an adjective I never thought I’d use for a DJ! Her work on the turntables was coming out of the speakers as intoxicating rhythm and by the time she had finished, the dance floor was well and truly on a roll.

By now we thought we’d heard it all. Rock, funk, RnB, dance, what more could there be? Alistair saw something missing. The smiles across people’s faces were absolutely massive as Paul Simon’s voice overcame the club with You Can Call Me Al, giving us all that ever-wanting chance to do our best trumpet impression. It was time to get silly with some light hearted pop music. And thus, we did. The mood was fun like a Cindy Lauper music video and by the time Alistair had finished messing with the last few decades every face in the room was beaming.

Following Alistair’s awesomely cheesy set, we were treated with some laughs as Jemist and Pornstylus joined him behind the turntables for an ol’ school scratch-off. The competition ending with a ‘behind-the-back-and-show-off-to-the-max’ move pulled off by Jemist, getting a roaring cheer from Ug fans.

Milkbar Nick then took it back to business. One of Canberra’s busiest DJs and Ug superstars, Nick always brings that extra life to the dance floor. His signature electro sounds are a favourite with dancing feet and Saturday night was no exception. He wound down the night’s peek time by giving us all a final fast beat to move to before our tired bodies collapsed onto those wonderful squishy Toast chairs.

With the final few keen beans still on the dance floor, Miss Universe took to the closing set, belting out some heavy dub-step. It wasn’t electrifyingly happy music. It was, however, fitting for the hour and quite possible the only genre we hadn’t yet heard.

The night was surprising, shaking and great from start to finish, the party high lasting until the Toast lights came on. Congratulations to the Ug Beats crew on turning five and for throwing a fun, successful celebration. Watch out Canberra, they now have an excuse to act like a bunch of crazy kindy kids.