In today’s increasingly commercialised and fickle dance scene, the fact that one local party crew has managed to put on quality events for five years is quite an achievement. Darkbeat has toured a number of international acts over the years, and to celebrate their birthday they decided the only fitting way was to put on a 24-hour party involving a four-hour boat cruise, followed by all-night shenanigans at Brown Alley. The last boat party I attended was a blast, and while I was a little hesitant at first (thinking that I may have used up all my naval-related bad joke material covering the Interview boat party), with Dave Seaman on the lineup I thought it should be a piece of cake. With a reassuring “Watch out for drunks and going overboard!” from my mum, I was ready to get my timbers shivered for the second time in as many months.
Arriving just after midday there was a sizeable crowd waiting to jump on board. Upon boarding the vessel I was greeted with the sounds of Harley Augustine who was putting out some nice proggy beats. I really enjoyed his set, and so did the massive crowd consisting of, well, mostly me. It didn’t stop him enjoying it though and I think he did a good job of getting things going. As things got underway, I was chatting to a friend about what we were looking forward to when he dropped the bombshell: Dave Seaman hadn’t made it onboard. I was stunned! Not only was I actually looking forward to hearing him play, but all the classy material I’d been planning on working into my review had been swept away, like a piece of driftwood in a furious ocean storm. Luckily for us Chris Fortier was ready to step up to the plate but I couldn’t help but think “Chris Fortier? What the hell am I supposed to do with that??”
After Mr. Augustine was done, it was time for local hero Phil K to take the wheels of steel. Taking a more tech-house approach he got the building crowd bopping away. Perhaps it was the style of the music, but most people early on seemed content to hang out outside or chat with their drinks instead of dancing. There was a loyal group up front busting out the moves though and that kept me entertained at least. To be honest some of the tracks just weren’t grabbing me, but I always enjoy seeing people work the mixer and CDJs and Phil K does it like the best.
By about 1:30 it was time for the main event and the crowd was gathering upstairs. Chris Fortier took over and did a good job of, well… holding the fort. He built things up nicely and while the tunes sometimes seemed indistinguishable from what we’d been hearing earlier on, there were plenty of feet-moving moments. Some nice driving beats and rocking off-beat bass lines had me moving with a smile on my face, mirrored by the rest of the crowd, which unfortunately dwindled slightly towards the latter part of his set. I was surprised to see him giving the good old vinyl a go as I haven’t seen many touring DJs using it lately, but it must be proof that it isn’t quite dead yet.
After Chris it was time for the birthday boys themselves, Rollin Connection. And what birthday would be complete without everyone singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and indulging in some nice chocolate cake, courtesy of some loving loyal fans? The crowd had built up again, including a magically teleported “Dave Seaman”, disguising himself in a hat and accepting free drinks from slightly slower punters, to hear these guys do their thing and with some more CDJ wizardry we were rocking again. The setbacks caused by Dave Seaman not showing didn’t seem to affect the guys at all, as they were really enjoying themselves. At times though the rocking was made difficult by not actually being able to hear the tunes that well, there seemed to be too much bass and I was reminded of those VL Commodores you see on Chapel St with the vibrating boot.
While the Connection was Rollin up top, Lister Cooray was taking care of things below decks, following on from a very enthusiastic Matt Hofman. I really loved Lister’s set supporting Andy Moor about a year and a half ago but he has moved on from then and this time it was more tech house. Unfortunately slightly earlier than expected the birthday fun was over with the boat returning, but since this was the start of a 24 hour party, there was plenty more to come. It was a good entre to the main event, but I thought there could have been a little bit more variety in the choice of DJs. Full credit to Darkbeat though for attempting such a massive undertaking and I hope there are many more years to come. Happy Birthday!
ladyinred says...
"And what birthday would be complete without everyone singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and indulging in some nice chocolate cake, courtesy of some loving loyal fans?" HOORAY!!!! 2kgs of 80% cocoa solid chocolate and a 1kg of butter and a fair dose of Brandy went into those cakes and icing. Good review Rocca. Did you stick around for the rest of the shenanigans?? that was only the first four hours!!!
Azzir says...
As the accidental Seaman impersonator, I'd like to say thanks to everyone who bought me drinks :-D A bigger thank you to the Darkbeat crew who not only put on one of the best gigs I have ever been privvy to be a part of, but who made me realise the potential for personal injury of being confused for a DJ who was responsible for throwing months of planning into disarray ;) Well done guys!
Rocca says...
2kgs of 80% chocolate?? /dies in my own drool yeah i made it to brown alley for a little while! i didnt see any more cake there so i left :p nice one azzir :D