Well its that time of year again: temperatures are getting warmer, shorts are getting markedly shorter and huge events are tempting us to leave the house almost every weekend. This October long weekend trance fans in Sydney were spoilt as the Godskitchen tour, one of the names synonymous with huge parties, rocked through Home nightclub. Starting off as a rapidly successful series of underground trance parties in the mid 90s, it went on to establish itself as one of the biggest brands in the global dance music scene. This has been cemented by their involvement in some of the world’s biggest arena parties, countless quality releases and compilations and most importantly, backing some of the biggest and best names in the progressive and trance music scene. The annual event in Sydney has an impressive following and if previous years were anything to go by, punters were yet again in for a treat. The line up featured some huge names including Rank 1, M.I.K.E, The Thrillseekers, Richard Durand, Alex Gaudino and many more.
After a day in the sun at Parklife we finally rocked up at the club just before midnight and much to my surprise, The Thrillseekers had just started after the set times had been changed. Helstrip wasted no time and we wandered into the dark room we were greeted by immense rolling melodic trance. Helstrip is a main stayer in the uplifting trance scene for over a decade now and has produced countless classic tracks, remixes and compilations, all the while managing his Adjusted Music label and playing at some of the biggest venues and festivals around the world. On the night he banged out a flawless set and showed some amazing energy behind the decks. For two hours he was bouncing around, geeing up the crowd during every build-up and just generally looking happy to be there, adding a lot to the energy in the room. He played a number of huge tracks starting off with an uplifting sound then meandering between killer vocal tracks, huge classics and latest melodic bombs. The crowd lapped up the euphoria accompanied perfectly by the amazing lighting and lasers that was showering down on the main floor throughout the night. A couple of the highlight tracks during his set were Super 8 vs DJ Tab Suru, Chicane Saltwater early on and Synaesthesia (Ferry Corsten Remix) to finish the set.
After a brief break to let the crowd show their appreciation, next up was a man that many were waiting to see in action, none other than Belgium’s M.I.K.E. This pioneer producer and DJ can definitely be labelled as one of the most successful names in the trance scene. Kicking off his career as Push and also producing under the moniker M.I.K.E and many other different pseudonyms, he has been responsible for countless remixes, productions and lately storming collaborations with all the biggest names. His kicked off his set on a tough and techy feel, slowly building to solid driving progressive. He seemed to lose the crowd as he worked in more techno and consequently in the second half of the set he picked up the pace dropping some electro influenced trance bombs and huge Push style trance. Other tracks played included Bedrock Heaven Scent, John O Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson Remix), Mike vs Andrew Bennett Into the Danger and the classic Push Strange World.
The beefy line up continued as 3am rolled around with Rank 1 stepping up to the decks. This veteran of the scene immediately rolled out the heavy artillery synth monsters much to the crowds delight, including his latest collaboration with Alex Morph Life Less Ordinary, that has been smashed at clubs all over the world. The set was quite banging with a lot of arena-style anthemesque tunes, but this fit in well for the time of morning. Other memorable moments during the set included Armin van Buuren This World is Watching Me, Vincent De Moor Fly Away (Cosmic Gate Remix) and Rank 1’s own classic Airwave to close which the crowd lapped up. After much clapping and cheering the start of Durand looked quite promising, however after being out since early in the day at Parklife it really was time to make a move and chillout at home.
Lighting and lasers were on fire all night, really adding the euphoric vibe on the main floor. Surprisingly the club was not packed to the rafters with the bottom floor comfortably full, but there were plenty of areas you could retreat too if you wanted some space to chill. Two of the smaller rooms billed for the night were closed with only the 1st level Icon room open playing some of the supporting DJs. Sound was pretty good but distorted at times later in the night, probably due to red-lining the mixer. The crowd definitely added a lot to the out-of-control atmosphere, with punters ready to put their hands in the air and go crazy at every drop.
All in all, this was a top night that really hit the spot after the the fairly chilled sets I listened to during the day at Parklife, but this could be due to my bias towards trance. Highlight of the night was by far Thrillseekers who played the best set for my taste in trance, closely followed by M.I.K.E who also laid down some serious quality. It was good to go out to a trance night and hear significantly different DJs all belting out interesting sets with variety between them all. This really gets me excited about the countdown to Gatecrasher coming up on the 30th October at Home nightclub. See you there.
TRASHBAGS says...
I was really disappointed withthe Godskitchen Party. Compared to previous ones, this was all over the shop and the music was no consistent. Thrillseekers was excellent and had the play jumping, but after that everything was up and down. The tempo would be cranky and then it would just drop off, and as for the last DJ THAT WAS CRAP!!!
khas says...
I wouldn't put the night down to a disappointment by any means (Hell Rank1 signed my record and my lady-friend flashed him!) but I have to agree it was a step down from last year. The production volume itself was the problem. It didn't feel like GK, there was no angel this time, not a single banner was put up to let you know where you were. As for the trance played, if you were disappointed, you clearly went for all the wrong reasons. Thrillseekers clearly owned that night
aphamox says...
Yeh it was abit slow to begin with my, thrillseekers somewhat did disapoint me - i was expecting a little more oomph from them, but i think the highlight of the night and the crownd king or that night was Richard Durand, played an excellent set, wish it didn't have to stop.
Rica13 says...
Trillseekers....amazing :) Spweing that i missed the first hour...but his last hour was orsum!!!