Well it had been a long time coming, but the crew at Famous had finally lured Junior Jack and Kid Crème back to our shores, and do we have a lot to thank them for! The Belgian-based DJ duo are the most celebrated act to come out of that country since mayonnaise and chips, and they are a whole lot more palatable! And the venue itself: Home Nightclub has at all. Courteous security, ample service at the bar and a sound and lighting system to die for, you name it. We rolled in to catch Ben Morris who turned in a storming set to fire up the crowd. He dropped the excellent remix of Born Slippy that is doing the rounds at the moment and the crowd responded in kind. Manic dancing and fervent hand clapping were the order of the night and he was rewarded with a great ovation from the packed dancefloor at the end of his set. However you could be left in no doubt why we had gathered on this particular evening…

It had been some four years since Junior Jack and Kid Crème had been to Sydney, with their absence the source of speculation from many music fans, but as they quietly slipped into the DJ booth you could really taste the anticipation in the air. The bespectacled Kid Crème began twirling knobs and easing in the juice while Junior Jack, resplendent in his customary beanie, took on the decks. After such a driving set from Morris, the Belgian house masters started the show off with a much more sublime and understated set of house, but they soon began cranking it up. And this brings me to my next point. What price a vocal?

The recent move in house has been towards a much more minimalistic electro sound, minus the drifting vocals of a soulful diva. Well this pair reminded us what exactly house is all about. Half way through the set they dropped a version of the classic Finally by Kings Of Tomorrow, which was worth the admission fee all by itself. And underneath the accapella they mixed in a chunky driving bassline to let the dancefloor know exactly where they were at. House music was back, and the crowd was loving it. The reaction from those on the floor was proof positive that the extended vocal is not dead, and at no other point in the evening were the crowd so animated as at this moment. More importantly, it drew a rare smile from the rather stoic Junior Jack.
Classics were thrown in with the new, and this was what we had come for: there wasn’t a dud track on display as the club joined in some house rejuvenation. Tasteful licks of Groove Is In The Heart were interspersed with new bass lines, and glorious grooves shone from the sound system. Thrill Me made an appearance and I am sure we were hit with an updated version of Hypnotised as well. Throughout the entire set, the E Samba rhythm of timpanis weaved their unique kind of magic. They sat, hovering just on top of the bassline and then finally came rushing in to bathe both those on and off the dance floor in a swirl of Latin beats.

Maybe to some, pure house music and vocals are a bit dated or unfashionable at the moment; but Kid Crème and Junior Jack showed us how it can be done without sounding cheesy or trite. Thank you Famous for giving us such an excellent slice of Belgian house! Let’s hope they don’t wait another four years to come back. They are far too good to go missing in action.