Amongst the big names in trance such as Armin van Buuren or Ferry Corsten, there are the young guns who are rapidly launching themselves ahead within the DJing and production scene. Simon Patterson and Sean Tyas are two relatively new talents headlining events these days, and after Sunday night’s performance at Trance Nation, it’s easy to see why.

Queensbridge Nightclub is a fashionable hub for dance music, acting as the home for regular Future Entertainment or Majik parties. The grandeur of the venue is spectacular for a night like Trance Nation, and it truly is a shame that other rave events aren’t held there. After quickly getting inside, we saw that the crowd was the standard Famous crowd – some of whom might have been a little intimidating and unfriendly. Regardless of this, we positioned ourselves in good spot on the dance floor, and enjoyed the fantastic stage setup. The DJ was surrounded by two wings of colour changing lights that cocooned the DJ table. Behind was a huge screen of pretty visualisations, mirrored on each side, and above the dancefloor were several coloured lights that spun around constantly. This really is one of Melbourne’s best venues.

Local Melbourne DJ Charlie Zee was playing the massive tune of 2007, Fly Away (Cosmic Gate remix) by Vincent de Moor. At 12am, he was relentless with his track selection and not holding back one bit. Mixing very well, he also played very pretty trance tracks such as Activa’s Remember, John O’Callaghan’s Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson remix), The Doppler Effect’s Beauty Hides in the Deep and Bissen’s Quicksand to name a few. Charlie Zee definitely knew how to get the crowd’s hands in the air, and very quirkily MCd for himself, talking in third person.

We anxiously waited for Simon Patterson, who humbly approached the decks and quickly won our hearts. His charming yet energetic presence and professional DJing skills highlighted his natural talent. As I got closer to the front of the stage, you could hear an awful amount of delay from the monitors and main sound system, so it was quite impressive to see him mix with ease in such badly tuned conditions. He incorporated his own tracks which are techy trance bombs that can stun a crowd, and intertwined it with other harder techier tracks as his set progressed. Hearing his own works such as Smack, Bulldozer, F16, We’ll See and his remix of Fallen Tides by Matt Hardwick & Mark Pledger were an absolute treat. He is no doubt one of my favourite producers and the set he played won me over even more. Many of us were hoping he would play anything from his Dogzilla alias, but things were looking dim until he dropped the Dogzilla pure filth remix of Ernesto & Bastian’s Dark Side Of The Moon. The entire crowd frantically screamed and danced to the tough, deep track featuring the vocals everyone seemed to know the words to. Going harder at the end of his set was really enjoyable; he dropped the Fred Baker track Lunar Eclipse, as well as Total Blackout, Marnix’s Intuition and closed with the John O’Callaghan remix of Thomas Bronzwaer’s stunner Constellation. His simple and tight mixing style worked well for him, and he reacted well to the crowd’s cheers and appreciation.

Sean Tyas shocked and encapsulated hundreds of people last year at Palace nightclub with his massive debut Australian set at Transmission. His high energy performance that predominantly consisted of his productions generated big expectations for the friendly and fun DJ. Following on from Patterson’s set, Tyas brought the pace back down and opened with some gorgeous trance which got the crowd smiling. We got to hear the new Aly & Fila tune Lost Language, as well as the Onova remix of Nyctalopia and the new Armin van Buuren & Shah track Going Wrong. Tyas’s style had certainly changed since last year, communicating a matured and slower paced approach. A highlight during his set was hearing him play a Melbourne boy’s remix named Imagine by Andrelli & Blue. Mike Nichol – the remixer – an uprising star producer supported by Tyas, Armin, and many more appeared on stage with Sean, and sung the amazing lyrics. Sean was very kind and took a lot of people’s requests during his set, including his remix of Diary of Jane which many had anticipated to hear, and came up to greet fans frequently during the break downs of tracks. We also were treated with his famous tune Lift, his remix of Oxia’s Domino, and the Aly & Fila remix of If You Should Go.

Two massively marvellous sets in the one evening was all I could’ve dreamed for, and I thoroughly loved both DJs in different ways. Patterson dominated consistently and, to be cliché, really took us on a journey that was powerful and inventive. Tyas delivered most of the tunes we were dying to hear, and interacts with the people on a level that no other DJ does… However, it didn’t have the same spunk as Patterson’s, so currently I cant stop thinking about how much I admire Simon and his (apparent) innate ability to work a crowd and set so expertly. Well done to Majik for bringing such quality, I hope to see them back on our shores.