DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. These two obviously do not need an introduction, and this was one of the most hyped up parties of the year. And I was certainly looking forward to this. A lot. I had watched their Product Placement DVD for the millionth time in the afternoon, this event was going to be epic and nothing could ruin the night. Except for the rain, causing car problems, as well as transport issues getting to the party. But I made it.

Arriving only 15 mins before Shadow and Cut Chemist took the stage, I saw Dexter play his last track. Sorely disappointed, as friends told me he really went to town with the old school hip hop, rubbing in the fact I missed one of our country’s most talented and underrated DJs. A CD played with a few tracks as the stage was set up for the main act and after a few moments, they walked on stage. After a shot speech, explaining why they put the hard sell show together, a short film ran for about 10 minutes. It explained why they choose to play all 45s, or 7” records, as well as the history of the 45 and what we were about to see. They even went into explaining things like marking a record with tape, the equipment they would be using (8… yes, 8 turntables, 3 mixers, and effects unit, and guitar pedals). Even after all this, someone standing to the left of me asked her companion, “Why do they just not use CDs?”. Some people… But with the film over, they kicked off the show.

After starting off funky, with a fair bit of juggling and scratching, they blazed through their records, and worked off all 8 decks. At no time was either of the pair standing there or doing nothing, always busy cueing up the next few records, or throwing in a little cut or scratch here and there, keeping things flowing nicely. The crowd seemed to get into it when a track played for a while, but whilst tracks were being cut up and juggled with other tracks, they seemed to just stand there and look. It seemed like they didn’t quite understand what was going on up there. They did however, go nuts when they dropped Club Nouvea Why You Treat Me So Bad, which is better known tyhrough being sampled by, oh, about a million artists, including classics like Luniz I Got 5 On It and Pharcyde Passin Me By. They ran on the hip hop tip for a while, which is where they both showed off why they are both amazing DJs, and we were treated to a series of flares, stabs, orbits, tweets and rubs, the whole arsenal of scratching skills was bought out and put on display.

This is the time where I really took notice of the video screens. Two massive film screen size screens were placed behind them, and an array of visuals were being displayed on screen, including feed from the 10 or so cameras placed around the turntables. What grabbed my attention the most, and also the people around me, was the fact both Shadow and Cut Chemist had cameras attached to the inside of their wrists. Watching them scratch and play with the mixer from the view of their wrist was amazing, it was like a roller coaster ride around the turntables, a concept that really impressed me. But while watching the screens, something with the music went wrong. There was a trainwreck. Shadow just dropped Aaliyah Try Again (how ironic) and the record skipped, which is unfortunate for any DJ. I know being one myself and I’ve had it happen to me, but never in front of a packed out venue as big as Luna Park’s Big Top. This was quickly rectified in seconds, and it didn’t phase either of them, and on with the show it was.

For the next hour they mixed and blended everything, from funk, hip-hop, soul, rock, grime, blues and country music. It was a real display of skill and teamwork, but it seemed the technical side of things was lost on the crowd. They loved it when a track was looped and went for more than 2 minutes and could have a bit of a dance, but when they performed tricks, at one stage juggling 5 tracks at once, they looked bored and uninterested. They finished up at about 12, and asked the crowd if we wanted the rest of the show. Of course we did, so after a few cheers and a round of applause from the crowd, they kicked off the end of the routine, and with as Cut Chemist put it, “A moment for the lovers, for the ones who bought their dates out on a Saturday night.” We were treated to a few slow jams, songs to hold our partners to with an embrace in each other’s arms, but that didn’t last long. With the tempo picking up again quickly, the funk, soul and was bought back out, with tracks like Bone Crusher Never Scared and The Foo Fighters’ Everlong being played during the closing moments.

After the last record was played, Shadow and Chemist both thanked the crowd, and gave us one last track as an encore, their own track Brainfreeze. And with that the night was over. It went way too quickly and I could of stood and watch, marveled and been amazed with their skills for another two or three hours easily, but I don’t think the majority of the people there would have felt the same. Technically, it was amazing, outstanding, one of the best put together performances I have ever seen, with two of the hardest working DJs in the world, who delivered their set to perfection; but I did walk away a little empty, hoping for that little bit more.