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Like a plump seed that has been sewn into rich soil, Godskitchen has grown and blossomed into something majestic and marvelous in Melbourne. The Future Entertainment empire have provided some of the most memorable moments for us with this annual event, and on the 4th of October 2008 they heralded their 10th anniversary at Hisense Arena (formerly known as Vodafone Arena). To celebrate, it was themed as the “Angel in White” party, which enforced all-white clothing and hosted a line up that while I’d argue wasn’t as striking as previous years, we could rest assured that there’d be a sensory masterpiece awaiting our arrival.

Future Entertainment have made themselves renowned for composing mind-blowing stage productions that include dancers, streams of blindingly beautiful lasers, and crisp-sounding speaker stacks. But added to this, a stilted-performer with huge white wings greeted us as we entered the venue at approximately 9:30pm. The foyer of Hisense was strangely barren, and the usual electric atmosphere was non-existent at my arrival. But in an instant upon descending into the mainroom, we were amazed the awe-inspiring setup on the stage. Three tiers created a pyramid that towered just below the ceiling, and on the centre level was the DJ setup which looked tiny in comparison to the surroundings. Walls of hexagonal holes lined each level and had colourful beams glowing from within, and a cascading backdrop of lights sparkled from the rear. Steve Strangis was warming up the floor with nice proggy sounds, including the popular La Guitarra by Orjan Nielsen, Lange’s Out of the Sky and the stunning Sunlounger track Lost.

The usual diverse crowd filtered into the room as Jon O’Bir swept onto the decks and kicked things up a bit with some faster paced trance that embraced pretty melodies. O’Bir has been consistently releasing tracks this year, and even though he isn’t hugely well known in Australia, he managed to draw a crowd that lapped up his presence. He bounced around whilst mixing such tracks as Andy Moor’s Fake Awake (Ecomix), Giuseppe Ottaviani’s No More Alone, Filo & Peri’s Shine On (Activa Remix) and the gorgeous Paul van Dyk remix of Ways & Means. Albeit any minor slips with some of his transitions, Jon O’Bir played well for his timeslot and the tracks escalated well to handball things over to the exciting Menno de Jong.

Menno de Jong was magnetic; he walked onto the stage as if he’d been in Melbourne before, and comfortably thrusted us into deeper basslines that whomped loudly through the speakers. He was able to communicate to us easily through his lively gesticulations whilst mixing solidly. He started off with some techier tunes to get us shaking our bum’s, like the Cosmic Gate remix of Deadmau5’s Clockwork, as well as Delerium vs Gareth Emery – This Is Silence. There was a fuller crowd at this point, and they loved the energy coming from the DJ and the fantastic selection of tracks that flowed well from each other. He had us eating from the palm of his hand. As his set progressed he moved onto trancier tracks, however there was something missing from the room; Simon Patterson’s Smack kicked in when all of a sudden, rainbow-coloured jets of powerful lasers shot onto the people. Herein was a heightened atmosphere that embellished Menno’s other selections such as Re:locate & Menno’s tune Spirit (Paul Miller remix), the classic from Cygnus X named Superstrings (Rank 1 Remix) and a timeless edit of Veracocha’s Carte Blanche. As his set drew to a close, many fans bustled up the front barrier to applaud and get close to the impressive DJ, and as a thankyou in return, he threw an Intuition T-shirt into the crowd.

At this point in the night, hundreds of fans streamed onto the floor as the man of the moment grinned on the sidelines before playing his first track. A deafening cheer roared throughout the stadium after the DJ was introduced… Some indistinguishable, yet familiar vocals echoed, and repeated only to become clearer and clearer… The distinctive percussive beats that can only be associated to one person rolled in, and the infamous remix of SIA’s The Girl You Lost to Cocaine launched itself as Sander van Doorn took to the stage with fireworks exploding around him. Sander was the biggest draw card in the lineup this year, and those who experienced his set at Future Music Festival 2007 would know why. This man makes DJing look as easy as walking. If he dropped something on the ground, he’d probably hear a beat from it and create a track using it as a sample. He’s immensely talented, and over his entire two hour set, there was not one blemish or mistake. However, his track progression stirred mixed reactions from the crowd. His first hour boasted the ‘bigger’ tracks from his catalogue, including his collaboration with Marco V named Organic, his edit of the Robbie Williams track Close Your Eyes, his bootleg of Timbaland & One Republic’s Apologize and Lost Connection with Pura Vida (Jonas Stenberg Mashup). Alongside these were Café del Mar’s Energy 52 (Out of Office Remix), and Marco V’s remix of Ali Wilson’s Shakedown. For his second hour he brought out his newer, techno influenced tracks that had half of the crowd rocking, and the other half bored. He also dropped Cybersonik’s Technarchy (Sander van Doorn Remix), Mauro Picotto’s Mehr Taub (Gabry Ribetti Remix), and Mark Norman’s Restart. Whether you liked it or not, his talent is truly undeniable.

The vibe felt a little different after Sander’s set ended, but this could be attributed to the fact that the venue stops serving alcohol from 3am. It was John O’Callaghan’s job to end the night with a bang, and with massive productions under his belt it would be easy for the Irishman. Alike Sander, JOC incorporated a lot of his own productions into his set, kicking things off with his new track with Giuseppe Ottaviani named Our Dimension, followed by his remix of the average track Hold onto Me by Armin van Buuren & Audrey Gallagher. There was a strong lack of direction within JOC’s set mainly due the fact that his track progression didn’t work until the last half hour. However, in that final 30 minutes we were treated to a stunning conclusion of songs that satisfied the celebrating fans.

It was a medley of tunes that featured several of his own massive remixes, some hard-hitting tuens form the likes of Armin van Buuren, Kyau & Albert, Oceanlab and Aly & Fila, his own massive anthems Big Sky and Exactly before finishing off with an encore of Paul van Dyk’s For An Angel.

And that was the end of another edition of Godskitchen. The night itself was fun, entertaining and smooth but comparatively it doesn’t rate as highly as previous years. I still look forward to the next edition, because ultimately Godskitchen is one of Melbourne’s most remarkable events.