Tickled Pink feat. Danny Bonnici & Aaron Roach @ Lad Di Da, Melbourne (19/09/08)
It had been a while since I had seen the girls down at Tickled Pink so I thought it was high time I checked them out (not that kind of checking out, you pervert) to see what they’re getting up to these days in the Basement at La Di Da, with the added bonus of Danny Bonnici of Nubreed fame. Getting there at 11:30, the crowd seemed to be filling pretty quickly and it was a cosy environment. Nadine was on the decks providing a laid back housey vibe before teching it up a level (see what I did there?!?). There were some pretty nice bass lines, one highlight for me was International Hustle by Solomon, and another track almost had the right amount of cowbell but as the great Bruce Dickinson said, it needs more.
After Nadine, Danni B came on for a short set and sped things up a little for the now-full crowd, until 1am when it was time for her Y-chromosome counterpart Danny B (Bonnici, that is). Her set wasn’t the only thing cut short though, with a surprisingly well dressed muzza deciding to bug out at the change after having his dance moves and attempts at hooking up skillfully evaded. I was not familiar with any of Bonnici’s tunes other than Ride and the Nubreed stuff, which I like, so I was looking forward to seeing what he would offer. He took the tempo down a bit at the start which had an effect on the crowd, but picked up soon after and played a pretty good mix of some proggy and techy stuff, approaching progressive trance at times along with a couple of his own productions in there that I thought were pretty good too.
I didn’t recognise any Nubreed tracks or hear any breaks which was a slight letdown, but again I didn’t know what to expect and other than that it was pretty enjoyable. The rest of the crowd seemed to wax and wane a bit though, dropping off and then coming back here and there which was a bit disappointing but it didn’t affect Mr Bonnici one bit, who was jumping around and having a blast.
After his set it was time for Nugget, a Tickled Pink regular who I hadn’t seen before. With a very loyal and vocal fanclub cheering her on she got the crowd moving with some more techno. Since techno is not my strong point I don’t know if it was fucking techno or just the regular kind, but amongst the clicky and bleepy stuff that really irritates me there was some pretty good driving, melodic and epic stuff thrown in there too, with Nightlaw by Paolo Mojo and Domino by Oxia sounding pretty good to me. Even though the crowd had dropped off quite a bit, she managed to bring the people back with the help of the ‘Large Hadron Collider’, which delivered an extra from a New Kids On The Block video through a blackhole-generated timewarp along with one guy who, well, I don’t even know if there are words in English that can explain the way he was “dancing”.
Last but not least was Sass and she played some pretty banging stuff right to the end. With tracks like Hammer by Dousk and Take That by Jurgen it was pretty relentless, with a high energy level throughout the set. With the pounding bass lines and not much clicky-ness I enjoyed it quite a bit, until it got to 5am and it was all over. For someone that isn’t into techno, I always seem to have fun whenever I’ve gone to Tickled Pink, and this wasn’t an exception. The DJs played a bit of variety and the place was pretty full for a while so I think the girls can chalk up another good night on the scoreboard.
