Progression Project pres. Godskitchen Warmup @ Civic Hotel, Sydney (29/08/08)
Progression project has been steadily growing from small start-up night to solid monthly event since its inception earlier this year. This month the night was back in full force taking over the awe inspiring sound system of the Civic Hotel downstairs level. The move fills in the gap left by the Sweetchilli series of nights that were held regularly at the venue. The music policy of Progression Project is designed to intensify as the night goes on kicking off with progressive and slowly working up pace to Dutch style uplifting trance. This instalment samples some of Australia’s best local talent with two special guest sets on offer. The first is Melbourne’s most popular melodic and uplifting trance DJ, Steve Strangis who recently finished 17th in the top 20 of the Inthemix Top 50. Also playing is Sydney’s own Scott Richardson, with several track releases to his name and regular sets at nights like Sublime, Club Nox and Progression Project. Also playing on the night were Strepta and Taras Huntley with all DJs getting solid two hour sets each to showcase their favourite tunes.
The theme for the night was Godskitchen warm-up and appropriately both Steve and Scott are representing their respective cities by playing at the events coming up in October. Arriving at the Civic we stepped into the club to find it surprisingly packed. First up Strepta worked through a solid track listing starting off with some great progressive trance and slowly building up to some epic driving tunes towards midnight. Some of the highlight tracks included a remix of Deadmau5 Arguru, Underworld Born Slippy and an excellent remix of John o’ Callaghan Big Sky. Highlight of the set was definitely DJ Tatana Spring Breeze (Martin Roth Remix) in my opinion. Next up Scott Richardson stepped up to take over and began a fantastic set absolutely jammed full of quality releases from the past 12 months.
Scott build up the sound nicely kicking off with a driving progressive vibe that slowly developed into pumping tracks. He threw in a number of great melodic tunes and tracks with just the right amount of vocal cuts every now and then. Finally he finished his set with some powerful room destroying uplifting tunes that absolutely rocked the venue. Some of the highlight tracks through his set included Markus Schulz Daydream (Ronski Speed Remix), Paul van Dyk New York City (Super8 & Tab Remix), Armin van Buuren Burned With Desire (Rising Star Mix) and the new one from Oceanlab’s latest album Miracle (Above & Beyond Mix). Favourite track of the set goes to the beautiful melodies and atmospheric sounds of Maor Levi Shapes (Oliver Smith Remix).
As the morning pressed on Steve Strangis stepped up to take over around 2am where the night had delivered an amazing turnout with the venue and dance floor full and pumping. Strangis immediately continued from where Scott left off with some huge dutch style uplifting tunes, driving synth tracks and awesome vocal tunes. He included a good mix of new tracks and a number of classics and anthems which the crowd lapped up. In particular two tracks that went off in a big way were a remix of Robert Miles Children and the amazing vocal tunes by Armin van Buuren Shivers. All in all the Steve Strangis created an amazing vibe and atmosphere during his set and there wasn’t a single person in the crowd wasn’t smiling throughout the two hour set. Unfortunately we made a move at this time and didn’t get to catch any of Taras Huntley set but no doubt the quality continued until the end of the night.
Overall, the night massively surpassed my expectations and was definitely the most fun I have had at a local night in a long time. The crowd was friendly and up for it, appreciated the music and their was no aggression and negative people to be seen. The tunes were right up my alley featuring a good mix of the latest and greatest, anthems and a couple of classics for good measure. The sound was killer as always at the Civic and the atmosphere at this club is always great with a turnout as solid as it was on the night. Considering cover was only $15 and there was so much quality on offer make sure to check out this night in coming months. Props to the Progression Project crew for developing this night in something which will hopefully become the monthly standard for trance in Sydney. See you at the next one!
idontrememberyou says...
wish i knew bout this earlier. When is the next one?