inthemix | Event Coverage | Reunion: Back Again! @ Metro Theatre, Sydney (04/10/08)

They say that sequels are never as good as the original, but that’s bullshit as far as I’m concerned. I mean… just look at Terminator 2, The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, and erm… The Never Ending Story Part 2. After the long weekend, we can add another title to the list of sequels that haven’t let us down: Reunion – Back Again! Once again Sydney’s dedicated old-schoolers (and plenty of n00bs like me) came together to take a trip back in time for one night to those magical days of the early rave scene.

One of the first ever rave DJs in Australia, Robin Knight, opened the main room with a selection of classic house and breakbeat jams that had the small but growing crowd already getting their shuffle on and had this reviewer grinning from ear-to-ear. A Guy Called Gerald’s Voodoo Ray and Papua New Guinea by Future Sound Of London were easily the stand out tunes of the set, but it was definitely all quality. Meanwhile, Marty B & Vic were belting out quality techno and acid trance in the ‘Mixed Beans’ room, as well as a few leftfield choices such as a breakbeat rave remix of the Sesame Street theme song, which had punters laughing just as hard as they were dancing.

Next up, John Ferris, the master of acid, kept the Mixed Beans room rocking with a choice selection of old school cuts that spanned techno, acid house, trance and hardcore, and continued to trend of dropping some hilarious left-of-centre tunes, including Here’s Johnny and I Wanna Be A Hippie. At the same time, Roger Ramjet & Jon Wicks were coaxing more and more people onto the dance floor in the main room with some excellent house jams such as Passion by Gat Décor, Orbital’s Chime and Rhythm Is A Mystery by K-Klass (all in a row, no less!).

Fenix and Peewee Ferris competed for my attention next, with both winning equal share of my coveted musical devotion (okay, it’s not really coveted, but it’s a nicely poetic way of saying they both rocked). Fenix went straight for the classic happy hardcore (including Master Plan by Dye Witness and Can’t Stop Raving by Dune) while Peewee, much like his brother John, played a variety of sounds, blending together acid house, techno, trance and some classic euro dance. Highlights included Hardfloor’s uber-acidic reworking of Yeke Yeke by Mory Kante, Joey Beltram’s grinding Energy Flash (tune of the night, for sure) and 2 Unlimited’s (yeah, you read right) Are You All Ready For This?

Co-promoter of the night Sasha Vatoff was up next in the main room and he absolutely nailed it. Unfortunately for you readers, I could hardly ID anything he played, but god damn it was good. Lots of pianos, that ubiquitous rave synth, breakbeats and bouncy basslines were the order of the day, and everyone was having way too much fun to care it was now well past their bed time. Spellbound was keeping the punters who like it harder happy in the Mixed Beans room with pounding hardcore and gabber, and the occasional foray into old school drum n’ bass and jungle. Again, my track ID skills were tested to their absolute limits, but holy crap it was fun.

Vision Four 5, an act I personally was not overly familiar with prior to the event, were given the honour of the headline slot, and after seeing them on Saturday, I want them to make a comeback! In only half an hour they managed to go through ravey house with Funkify Yourself, hard house and acid with Everything You Need and what was very nearly happy hardcore, and what’s more, synch it with live visuals and play all their tunes live, on-the-fly!

Next, Nik Fish & Jumping Jack made their second Reunion appearance, and played an even better set than last time! Old school hard house and trance featured heavily in the set, but there was also plenty of rave classics such as Moby’s Next Is The E and even a few bits of techno, including one of my all-time favourites: Access by DJ Misjah & DJ Tim. Meanwhile, DJ Shade was getting busy behind the decks in Mixed Beans, and he was easily the most technically impressive DJ of the night. Cutting, scratching and juggling his way through euro dance, hard house, trance and early hardcore, he had the crowds’ jaws on the floor for most of his set: it was like watching Dave Clarke or Q-Bert playing old school. Oh, and he played What Would You Like To Hear Again? by Dye Witness, which is friggin’ awesome.

Peter Tribe & Chester took care of closing duties in the main room, while Abel rounded out the night in the Mixed Beans room. Unfortunately the Metro decided to run off daylight savings time and close the venue at 6AM daylight savings time, not 6AM according to how the set times had been planned out, which meant Ming and Paul Holden didn’t get to play. Both the closing sets were nonetheless absolutely blinding, and it was a fantastic way to end the night, even if the crowd were up for another hour! But not even an early close could dampen the mood of the night, and everyone went home satisfied.

After how sweet Reunion: Back Again! was, I and many others can’t wait for Reunion: Return of the Raver (as if that’s not a cool name) to round out the trilogy. Top stuff, Sydney Old Skool.