inthemix | Event Coverage | Johnny Gleeson @ Sting Bar, Sydney (28/03/08)

As club-goers and house addicts, we can sometimes be guilty of being embroiled in the city club scene and sadly, become oblivious to what happens outside of Sydney’s traditional clubbing areas and huge summer festivals. However, there are a few isolated spots outside of the city centre that support and engage dance music on a level equal to and beyond Kings Cross, Oxford Street and Darling Harbour. In the plucked, buffed and spray-tanned capitol of the Shire exists a clique of DJs dedicated to keeping the spirit of house music alive and well. They have for some years supported the delivery of quality dance music to a discerning public. Deejays such as Dazzla, Cesta, Marcus, Toddy the Body and the boys from Life. Not to mention Loose Cuts, DJ Cel C, Johnny Sommerville; all are keepers of the flame. They always manage to weave spectacular sets for a public that insists on the best in dance music. They owe much to the ‘Godfather of House’ and many would attend his homecoming on Friday night.

The current hot spot to be is called Sting Bar, which is a restaurant by day and a seething crowd of partygoers at night. Their resident is DJ Magoo and he is developing into a prodigious talent. This is borne out by his recent gigs at Yu and his large fan base that is increasing from month to month. His combination of driving house and accessible electro sends the patrons into a frenzy, and the floor is never empty. This bar and this bar alone is why many Cronulla residents don’t get to the city until well after the new 3am witching hour.

Sting Bar has always been a local favourite with me, so it was with great delight that Magoo told me that the Shire’s greatest export was dropping in for a one-off set. I think most people are aware that for me, Johnny Gleeson is Australia’s finest DJ. I have been around dance music for some twenty years and although many may not agree with me, many will also agree that he sits quite comfortably alongside the doyens of house music like Carl Cox, Danny Rampling, Roger Sanchez, Robbie Rivera et al. There is absolutely no one to compare him to in this country especially when it comes to establishing the founding pillars of funky, uplifting house in Sydney.

Sting Bar starts early, around 9pm and due to licensing restrictions in this part of the world, shuts at 1am. Therefore the DJs on deck have only four hours to build and create a vibe that satisfies all that enter through its doors. On this particular night, Magoo was assisted by one of Wollongong’s best spinners DJ Ace. He started off his set with some warm gospel house and soon took us off to a heavier electro sound that kept apace with the quickly filling bar. Normally this venue is populated by the young and the restles,s but tonight the old school were back in town. There had been no advertising for this gig as word of mouth was all it took for the cognoscenti to turn up in their droves. This was going to be the biggest night this year for house aficionados in Cronulla, and a generation of house lovers were representing.

Magoo took over the reins and dropped in Paul Harris’ Better Days, Kaz James’ Breathe and some absolute foot-stompers; all in anticipation of Johnny Gleeson’s arrival from The Ivy. When the prodigal son entered the bar, there was a palpable roar from the crowd. I am not hyping this up for the sake of it. Gleeson’s arrival here was as eagerly anticipated as Jesus’ second coming. He took up his position behind the decks, dropped in the accapella of Mr Finger’s Can You Feel It? and tweaked the echo until it reverberated incessantly over everyone’s heads. Then, just about when you felt you could not take any more, he dropped the bomb of the moment, namely the remix of Robyn S and Show Me Love.

From that moment on it was one massive tune after another with monster hooks and huge beats. Aged hips gyrated to the sound of Daft Punk’s One More Time and Dirty South’s The End. Main room house was back. Gleeson was bringing Pacha to the Shire and we loved every soul dripping moment of it. Hi-Fi’s Suburban Knights and a massive white label remix of the 70s disco hit Cuba appeared. The latter will surely be a huge hit on Europe’s dance floors this summer.

Gleeson never took his foot off the accelerator, dropping an epic set of house music. Normally a huge crowd can be found on the sidewalk outside Sting sucking on the gaspers. Tonight the street was empty as all and sundry wanted to experience Gleeson on his home patch.
He delivered in spades. Not one discerning voice could be heard as the music faded and everyone begged for more. His set was so memorable that people were still buzzing about it on Sunday night.

I have rarely witnessed in recent times a man so completely at one with his audience and his genre. It is about time we gave the Godfather of Australian house the respect he deserves. I have seen many international DJs this year take their money and run and not really deliver on any of their promises. Johnny Gleeson fulfils every promise ever made and what’s more, the whole evening was free of charge. People should be excited when a legend comes to town. People should talk about the event long after it has finished. People should love the house they are in. This one-off gig satisfies all those criteria. If there was a better place to be on Friday night, it could only have been in heaven.