Once every blue moon, Sydneysiders get to indulge themselves with a line-up that is truly worth getting excited for. On the Sunday night of the long weekend, Mad Classic Fuss was such an event that came together because of an unprecedented cooperation between several different Sydney promoter crews including Mad Racket, Future Classic and Minimal Fuss, with a massive international lineup featuring the likes of Justin Martin, Ame and * Trickski*. After the enormous amount of hype and buzz surrounding the gig, I worked my self into an enormous amount of anticipation on my way over on Sunday night.

I arrived just in time to catch Frank (one half of Ame) playing to a packed dance floor. From the interviews I’ve read and forum chatter, I was expecting Frank to venture into the deeper side of house music, which for better or worse didn’t happen. Rather we were treated to a typical example of the minimal wave sweeping dance floors all over the world. Tracks like Mountain People by Luciano and Serafin with its Latin infused tribal workout, and Jamie Jones The Panic with its wild-pitch drug tendencies were the flavour of the day. While Frank’s set was very dancefloor friendly, he didn’t quite live up to the life changing expectations that I carried in with me. This may have had something to do with the sound system in the main room; normally the Metro is set up for rock gigs, so I don’t know if this was part of the problem but the system was so bassy that it made my ears hurt. Each track Ame dropped was characterised by lots of bass and not much of anything else, which was a real let down.

Due to so many artists being booked to play and many clubbers from Parklife attending Mad Classic Fuss, Trickski was sadly playing at a time that clashed with Ame. After listening to various recorded sets of his and enjoying his unique mix of italo disco and minimal techno, I was keen to see what he had on offer. As I arrived in rhe room he was playing in there was a healthy amount of people dancing to some serious party music, very much of the European tech house flavour. But after only thirty minutes of grooving, his set came to an close and I was left wondering where all the time went.

This was a more appropriate time then ever to venture outside and enjoy my beloved cancer sticks. The new smoking laws have really done a good job of shifting drunken loots from the confines of the club out on the street, and it makes your cigarette breaks all the more interesting. As I went back inside to find Justin Martin from the Dirtybird and Buzzin Fly labels playing to a jam packed dancefloor. His unique blend of bass-heavy house and electronic fart noises (basically) had the crowd in a frenzy, as well as himself, with enthusiasm and mannerisms reminding me of the skater punks that attended my school when I was in year 8. While his musical direction wasn’t really to my taste, it was good to see a DJ having so much fun behind the turntables, jumping around just as stupidly as those dancing around him.

Dave Choe from the Minimal Fuss crew in the other room blew me away with his technical ability. Armed with Serato and Final Scratch, he was doing some crazy tricks with two turntables and a mixer, making me realise how talented the local crews are with their ability to keep up and even surpass the internationals. This also applies to Simon Caldwell and Matt Abusson who continued to keep the dancefloor busy until closing.

With three of Sydney’s best promoters joining forces, there was no doubt that the party would be a hit. Besides the disappointing sound in the main room and set time clashes between the international guests, it certainly made for a fine way to spend a Sunday evening on the long weekend and was a breathe of fresh air from everything else going on around the city.