Good Friday and the Easter Long Weekend is, as we all know, a time when the Christian faith reflects upon the passing and subsequent rising of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The meaning of this holiday is becomes quite irrelevant when writing a review of a trance night, until you reflect upon a statement made by MC Simon Barwood towards the conclusion of the night. “Trance is alive in our city,” Barwood exclaimed into the mic to a completely rammed Rise dancefloor. Indeed, the Rise massive had collectively proclaimed the resurrection of trance music in Perth. I was there on this fateful Good Friday eve to witness three truly magnificent performances from Simon Barwood, Simon Patterson and Sean Tyas.

Symbolic silliness aside, it must be noted that this gig almost never happened. Imagine my elation (and that of many other trance-believers as well) when I first heard that Sean Tyas and Simon Patterson would be gracing our shores (especially given that Tyas did not make it this far West last year), only for the event to be canned some weeks later with it appearing that Tyas had been double-booked. I was crushed. A few weeks after, and it was all systems go once more. I could not believe it! Pure, unadulterated trance, courtesy of two of the sound’s biggest names, was coming back to Perth at long last!

My good friend and I arrived at Rise at around 10:30. I had wanted to catch more of Barwood’s set, but overdue commuting transfers put pay to that. Even at this early stage of the night there were quite a few punters already inside Rise, but not nearly enough to suggest that the place would be rammed shortly thereafter (a prediction based not just on numbers alone, but also by the 3am finish). It had been a long week and an even longer day as it were, so a pre-boogie beer was well in order. Simon Patterson, formerly of Dogzilla fame (recently parting ways with production partner Richie Kayvan) assumed control of the decks at 11pm. I really do wish I could ID his opening track; which featured the hallmark Dogzilla sound (a fusion of emphatic percussion, synths, pianos and rock influences) as it got me on my feet immediately. And I didn’t sit down once until the recovery after the gig! Patterson received a rapturous reception when he dropped his second track; Dogzilla’s remix of Dark Side of the Moon by trance-crossover act Filo & Peri.

Shortly thereafter, Patterson’s set began heading in the direction of pure, summery trance. Dogzilla’s Without You, Deepsky & Jes Brieden’s Ghost and Without You by Armin van Buuren & DJ Shah feat. Chris Jones all providing highlights during the first hour of Patterson’s stint behind the ones and twos. Just after midnight, I left my spot near the bar to join the heaving dance floor. It was not until I had found myself in the thick of the action that I realised how electric the atmosphere inside Rise was. There was hardly room to move, but I certainly did not mind being restricted to vertical movement only (so long as I didn’t fall down the two steps that divide the dance floor across the middle!).

The conclusion to Simon Patterson’s set featured a very rough-and-tumble air as he dropped his very own F-16, and a personal favourite of mine Bulldozer – if you’ve yet to check out this track, with its pummeling percussion, glorious build-up and rollicking climax, do so now! And I couldn’t believe how fast time was ticking by. I suspect that it would have passed even faster if I had have been allowed to buy more Black Sambuca and Cokes! Patterson often faded out the music during climaxes in a bid to get a response from his audience, and it often worked. I looked around, taking in the visual splendour of it all, all the time wondering what everyone else was feeling, remembering or thinking?

Sean Tyas took over from Simon Patterson at 1am, with the both of them receiving a tremendous applause from their audience. And the friendly and down-to-earth New Yorker wasted no time in going full steam ahead with his set. The dance floor only became tighter and the atmosphere stronger as Sean Tyas dropped Lighthouse, Ultima and (once more) Going Wrong. Not even some botched beat-matching (jet lag maybe, it’s unlike Tyas to miss a beat behind the decks) and later, bad audio problems dampening the mood of the crowd. Even though I personally lapped up everything Sean Tyas had to offer, I had to wait well over an hour to hear the track I was most looking forward to – One More Night Out. At that point, absolutely nothing could contain my excitement as I jumped around to this track’s melodic body and piano driven breakdown/build-up.

Naturally, the crowd and I were similarly excited to hear Tyas’ drop his seminal track; Lift. I wanted nothing more than to get up on the podium and dance, but it seemed as though the whole club wanted to do the same. Tyas went from euphoria to deep, dark passion when he unleashed another personal favourite: Carl B’s Diary of Jane, a track whose lyrics I can quite strongly relate to. I am not entirely sure as to what Tyas was doing when things went haywire at a couple of points during his mix: the treble and mid-range dropped out while at others, he mixed in the same tracks twice over. But once things returned to normal, Tyas and his audience kept on rocking as if nothing had happened.

It would be a tremendous surprise, and shock, if Tyas did not drop his 2007 rework of Fly Away by Vincent de Moor. The best was saved til last and fittingly, every member of the crowd gave it their all in showing Tyas their appreciation. I have been to many trance gigs over the years and I don’t think I have ever seen a crowd go nuts in quite the same fashion. And as Fly Away concluded, I took out my protective earplugs so as to fully appreciate the deafening applause given to all three DJs. Much to everyone’s delight there was time for one more track, which was greeted by more rapturous applause.

I believe that a huge debt of gratitude is owed to everyone who helped make this event happen, as well as the DJs themselves. So the question begs: has trance been resurrected? Was it even dead in the first place? Whatever the answer, hopefully Simon Patterson and Sean Tyas’ gig will be the first of many similar shows to be staged here in Perth.