With the memories of Mr Oizo at Onelove still fresh in my mind (hands down, one of the greatest sets I’ve ever heard, it still gives me goosebumps), I was really looking forward to Crookers.

As I arrived at the club I was treated rather shabbily by security, but once inside the venue the door girl and clipboard guy were nice enough, which made up for it. Give those two a raise! At this stage the venue was warm and absolutely rammed. Ajax was ‘Sweatin It Out’, giving us subliminal ads for his new record label by having two towels handy to wipe himself down.

I love Ajax, but tonight I was really hoping to hear some music from his label. A friend on the dancefloor tells me he’d been playing Crookers remixes. Whether this is to be believed is another story, but I must say he had the crowd absolutely jumping.

The venue at this stage was 90% guys. Although I wish I was exaggerating, I’ve gotta say I’ve seen more girls at Love Machine (read: the Melbourne gay club, not that I hang out there or anything…) Andee Van Damage was servicing the back room at this stage, and he did his best to keep a handful of zombies grooving. He delivered some rad tunes, such as a remix of Miss Kittin’s ‘Requiem For A Hit’.

Finally the ‘Sic’ (sic) ones hit the wheels of steel to the Mafia-esque theme song from the Godfather as their intro. Crookers had rather spiffy white headphones that were both jacked in to the mixer, making it a truly symbiotic DJ set. All the faves were dished out, and the crowd was absolutely lovin’ it!

Of course they played material off their new EP on Southern Fried, as well as a fresh mix of the track that crossed them over; Chemical Brothers ‘Salmon Dance’. The track that really got me grooving, though, was Don Rimini ‘Let Me Back Up’ (Crookers Tetsujin Mix), on Mental Groove. It’s a rad tune, and I’m listening back to it as I write this review!

It would have be nice if – in between plugging the latest ‘Onelove CD’ – they had live footage of Crookers on the massive screens so people didn’t have to kill each other with elbows to the head trying to get a glimpse of them. That being said, Crookers did a great job of smashing the dancefloor.