Friday night was the advent of Ben Watt’s return to Perth, a highly anticipated gig for many. I arrived at Shape at around 10.45pm because I expected to have to fight for a position on the dance floor. This was my first visit to Shape and I was really impressed with the venue, at least the upstairs part that I saw. The layout was great; there were some nice comfy couches in one corner of the room which weren’t an obstruction for those wanting to dance, and I also liked the fact that I didn’t have to fight my way across a dance floor to get to the toilets. The subdued décor gave the room quite an intimate feel that suited the evening perfectly, and although I’m no expert, I though the sound quality was great.
Kriece was already playing when I arrived, but there was only a small crowd in the room at this stage and people were hanging around near the bar and chatting amongst friends. Kriece is one of Perth’s premier tech-house DJs and also someone who prides himself on ‘not banging it out and building a nice vibe for the international.’ Tonight was no exception and in the short space of 45 minutes he had subtly, but progressively upped the tempo and the dance floor went from empty to having a small crowd bopping away.
At 11.30pm Sean Chee took over behind the decks. This was the first opportunity I’d had to see him play at a club and I was very curious to see what he would deliver. Overall, his set had a much more driving beat than I had expected, after previously listening to his Robot Summer 2008 Mix, and I was really impressed. The crowd was clearly enjoying the tech-house laden set and it seemed that people were arriving, making a quick stop at the bar and then immediately being drawn onto the dance floor. By 12.45pm there was a sizeable dance floor crowd and a definite air of anticipation.
The crowd surged forward at 1.00am as Ben Watt came on and I was immediately excited when I heard the soft opening guitar strains of Radiohead’s Street Spirit because it’s one of my favourite songs. The first few minutes of the set were a luscious concoction of delicate beats and melody and I felt like I was floating on a musical cloud. Everyone seemed to be standing and watching in awe as Ben Watt was working his magic behind the decks, bathed in a glow of soft red lights.
Then the beats became more pounding and driven and there was a synchronised eruption of a very jerky style of dancing from the crowd. For the next hour everyone was glued to the dance floor as the bar was practically deserted throughout this period. I would say that the first part of his set was very tech-house until shortly after 2am when there was such a noticeable drop in tempo that a few of us were scratching our heads wondering what happened. He quickly abandoned this slower track and went back to something with a faster beat.
In a recent ITM interview Ben Watt stated that he had the “wildcard of being able to play anything,” so it wasn’t surprising that he again slowed the tempo down later in his set, with Bjork’s All Is Full of Love leading into some more deep house tracks. Another standout track for me was Royksopp’s 49 Percent. I was having such a great time that 3am seemed to come around very quickly. Ben Watt was reluctant to play an encore (he did look very tired) but with the crowd pleading for more he graciously accepted and played a mix of Everything But the Girls’ Missing and another one of his own tracks featuring Estelle Pop a Cap in Yo’ Ass.
The whole set was very different from what he had played 15 months earlier, but still an amazing experience and he certainly delivered on his promise to take us on a musical journey. As he was leaving and posing for photos with grateful members of the crowd, my friend pointed out that Ben Watt’s t-shirt said “prefers the night”. And who wouldn’t prefer the night when it contains the magic of Ben Watt?
untitled-1 says...
nice review sam