The Sunday Roast feat. Lee Burridge @ The Empire, Brisbane (18/05/08)
Another Sunday, another roast. Not only was it the second in as many weeks, but also one that heralded the second coming of Lee Burridge, he who so beautifully commanded the Empire Cocktail Bar in the year passed at another memorable Sunday Roast. A cold snap and the lack of a Monday public holiday seemed like it would thwart the worthy night, but it was to pass that a not too inconsiderably sized crowd trickled in to take their fill of the high quality – and free – entertainment.
Ian Nearhos was point man in the early hours, taking advantage of the – rarely used – turntables at the Empire, spinning up some vintage tunes. A bit of debut era Pnau and New Order proved that a good cellaring is sometimes worth the wait, and also that being an early bird is advisable! Besides, it’s about the only good chance at getting well behaved conversation out on the balcony, as well as a mid afternoon sunning to iron the creases out of any weekend weathered souls.
Speaking of weathered souls, a clearly battered Pioneer DJM-800 mixer had been hooked up for the evening’s friendly handling, but unfortunately proved a little too ill to rise to the occasion. More than a few sighs of relief were released when a body double was found. After working through the nightmarish process of taking errant machines to pasture, Sy-Fi capably re-engaged lapsed attention spans with a set chock full of chunk n’ pump. The insatiable club damager which is Mark Knight’s remix of the classic ‘Man With the Red Face’ was an ideal ice breaker to which the ears of a steadily swelling (and progressively drunk) crowd were tuned.
Not too soon after it was time for the main man, and as soon as Lee Burridge took control he blew expectations away with a mighty puff that would have killed Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf. It’s fair to say that the wolf had it coming, Mr. Burridge on the other hand made his exertions seem effortless as the wall of shuddering tech house he laid brought feet and minds to utter ruination. His own more percussive edit of Ripperton’s funky ‘Tides’ remix quite early on was a highlight, teasing the crowd by dropping it in and out of the mix, consecutively bringing it harder and harder.
The real fever pitch moments were, unsurprisingly, still to come, with Dubfire’s remix of Radio Slave’s minimal mind ravager ‘Grindhouse’ getting a Brisbane debut to rapturous response, and Smith & Selway’s ‘Departure’ even more so; the fearsome howl of its white noise audible from some terrible distance away no doubt. The undeniable crescendo set was the timelessly irrepressible ‘Hale Bopp’ from Der Dritte Raum, which had scores of veterans in absolute hysterics with its gorgeous bassline.
Although by now the madness had mostly abated, there was still an abundance of large tunes to be had from the grand bald man, Donnacha Costello’s ‘Black Bag Job’ amongst them. Burridge received a very well deserved round of applause and hordes of gushing fans. Those with fortitude hung out for what was an almost unheard of 3am close, with Scott Walker doing his best to produce a withering stream of techno.
Sunday Roast host another successful party. See you next time?
