It’s been a while since I have attended a DNBBQ... an easy 6 months. A staple in the Sydney drum n’ bass scene for a few years, the foreign dub crew have provided many good times, quality acts and memorable evenings, and with the highly anticipated return after a break for a few months, I was looking forward to catching up with old friends and having a boogie. As I walked through the uni grounds at about 9pm in the direction of the Manning Bar, you could smell the BBQ wafting in the breeze. It smelt good. Really good.

As my friends and I got upstairs, we saw the last of the food disappear off the BBQ. A lesson learnt, the food is extremely popular. Wandering inside, the fluid sounds of the lighter side of drum n’ bass filled the room. B.Hopps was on stage, and warm rolling basslines shook the room, but the thing that caught my attention the most, was that there was a live trumpeter up on stage. The distinct sound of the trumpet went really well over the music being played by the DJ, but while this was something a little different and kept me amused for a short while, it didn’t captivate me. So found myself wandering outside to the massive balcony once again.

The move from the Abercrombie to the Manning bar was one of mixed feelings. The Abercrombie has noise restrictions, is small and smells like vomit, while the Manning bar is large, clean, has a bigger, more efficient bar, no noise restrictions and is generally a ‘nicer’ venue. But something did not seem quite right. Maybe it was the cleanliness, or the mountains of uni students just sitting outside on the balcony; or maybe I am just stuck in my ways, but the BBQ just didn’t have the same feel and vibe as previous events held at the Abercrombie. But one of the good things about the Manning Bar, as mentioned before, was the lack of noise restrictions. This meant the Foreign Dub crew could bring in the speaker god himself, Mr Paul Hijack, to provide the sound for the night. As always, the sound was perfect, loud, crisp and punchy, with a heavy bottom end, with balanced mids and highs. What does this mean to the general party goer? That the sound is loud enough to give you that funny feeling in your stomach when the bass rumbles, but you won’t go home with a ringing in your ears.

Mark Pritchard was up on the main stage when I walked back inside, and he was tearing the place up. Mark is a figurehead in the Sydney dubstep scene, showed his skills behind the decks tonight. Hearing tracks like Skream Chest Boxing and Benga Night on the Hijack sound system tore the roof off and had heads nodding in unison. Towards the end of his set, Mark switched up and bought a more jungle vibe, in preparation for The Bird to take the stage, he was definitely the highlight of my night.

The Bird are a live, cross-genre act that move from hip-hop to dub, breaks and drum n bass. Opening with a slower number, they quickly picked up the energy switching between genres and tempos, putting on an excellent display of their musical prowess. The chopping and changing of styles, and the fact they were a live band, not just someone playing someone else’s music, bought many cheers between tracks and earned them lots of respect from the crowd.

Tiredness was getting the better of me, so I left towards the end of their set. Once again the Foreign Dub crew put on a brilliant party, with a solid lineup, decent venue and great sound system. It just seemed to maybe be lacking some of the vibe that the Abercrombie bought to the table.