I am a recent graduate of Macquarie University, I had managed to get a day off work, they had a killer all Australian bill for the night show (Pocket, Friendly and Infusion), so I figured…........Why not.

I arrived at around 2:30 PM, just as the bulk of the student body were finishing off their fourth VB. I ordered my first and settled in to the familiar surrounds. Macquarie is a great venue for festivals and the like (the only problem is – it’s in the middle of nowhere!), a huge student building with vast bare rooms and a massive balcony overlooking a grassy valley. The outdoor stages were placed within this valley, this meant you could see, what a great idea!

They also had a dance tent placed about 70 metres from the main stages within an outdoor amphitheater. Next to this was a huge steel dome construction, transparent of course, it seemed to attract those people that simply wanted to lay on their mattresses and chill out for the afternoon and be the centre of attention while doing it.

The first act I saw was The Bird on the main stage. As opposed to their performance at the Globe two weeks ago the two boys were playing straight four on the floor beats – not drum n bass. They produced some superior percussive sounds with the keyboarder laying melodies and synth lines over the top. The crowd was quite active and The Bird once again demonstrated their innovative brilliance.

After checking out the market places and buying a ticket for the night show at a bargain $13 I descended to the ‘crunchy disco biscuit dance tent’ which was emitting the jungle sounds of DJ Blaze. A scattering or people danced, while a large number of people sat around the amphitheater seemingly to shy to dance while the sun still shone.

As the sun went down, the next act I saw was Professor Groove and the Booty Affair on the main stage. If you have not heard of this Sydney cabaret band they play old school funk covers, which is very tawdry but danceable. The lead singer (Roland from Swoop) was sporting a Rod Stewart-like blue and grey wig and sounded like he had abused his vocal cords too many a night. Never the less they funked shit up and got large crowd moving ‘n’ groovin’ to boot.

As the fireworks cracked away and the boozers jumped up and down below them bouncers began shoving people out of the student bar so they could set up for the night show.

Thankfully most of the real drunkards did not hang around for the night show, and after we finally got in (organisation was not the best) the beats being played from the two spacious rooms in the student building were quite pleasing. Finding a very comfy position on the couches at the back of the room my friends and I relaxed while we waited for Pocket to bang his tekky beats.

And bang he did. For one little guy he produces a monumental array of sounds and is so into it while performing! Beads of sweat dripped of his head as he shook around uncontrollably. After cheers for encore Pocket played a remix of the track he produced with Nik Fish – The winner is (fittingly in time for the Olympics). This tune of blinding pace and complexity set the scene for a big night.

Friendly was next, with a live bass player, and although you couldn’t hear him that well amongst the other wash of sounds they did very well. The crowd had obviously come to see the Friendly boys, as maneuverability was limited during their set. Personal favourites were the new remix of Some Kind of Love Song, Movin’ On and the encore tune from Friendly’s previous EP, don’t know the name but it has summery horn samples with an eastern female vocal sample layered over the top.

During the Friendly and Infusion performances I sneaked away to catch snippets of The 5000 fingers of Dr T, Sub Bass Snarl and DJ Illpickyl, each were doing great things but the main room kept beckoning.

Infusion was an understandable reason for this beckoning. I have seen them about five times in the last year, and every time I see them they impress me more. Each new performance is a new Infusion experience. My Infusion favourites were the tunes Spike and the oldie but goody they finished with called Inflinch.

At 0130 hours (while the city clubbers began their dancing) they called it a day. All in all I enjoyed my self immensely and was very pleased that the Macquarie Union chose to put on a dance-orientated event. I was that pleased that I did not need to venture into town and join the city dwellers on the dance floor for more. Satisfaction ends with a good NIGHT of sleep.