This was always going to be a weekend to test Luciano’s reputation as an Ibiza-hardened party Trojan. Three hours in Melbourne on Friday, an early-morning flight to Sydney for the Pulse Radio harbour cruise and then… a five-hour wait before stepping up at Nevermind. Well, that was the plan. No sooner have the doors opened at the Oxford Street venue than Luciano is bounding up the stairs, ready for action. With his set beginning a good two-and-a-half hours before he was scheduled, the first trickling of punters (sadly, this reviewer not included) are treated to an intimate audience with one of dance music’s finest.

By the time yours truly saunters in around midnight, Luciano is already in full sweat. He hasn’t changed his shirt since the cruise, and it’s fair to assume he hasn’t had a herbal bath either. Fittingly, the club is heaving. While I’m assured the man eased into the night with slower gear, by now he’s in full vodka-charged mode. The dancefloor is sweltering (next stop, air-conditioning), the hands are in the air, the Funktion One is holding up famously and it’s unmistakeably Luciano on the decks. The last statement is something of a double-edged sword. This is one DJ whose sound is utterly his own: the heady Latin rhythms, low-slung bass kicks and acapellas that weave around the groove. In his recent swing towards a housier, more party-ready sound though, there’s a tendency to fall back on familiar tricks.

To be fair, as Luciano enters his home stretch at Nevermind, subtlety is not foremost on anyone’s mind. The DC-10-inspired ritual of crouching during a build-up gets a few runs, and it’s a fun enough gimmick. How many times though, can you cut the bass and hammer it back in before it gets tired? That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of reminders of Luciano’s genius. His DJ sets are unashamedly about body music and it’s translating to a carnivalesque atmosphere on the dancefloor. The Enfants style chants that shimmer up throughout the set make for a dizzy vibe and the post-1am stretch is punctuated by more spacious selections. There are enough distinctive, off-kilter tracks in his arsenal to make you wish for less of the tribal house bangers.

By two am the club is still in reverie, but the star of the show is waning. He signs off suddenly with a beautiful atmospheric number, while the residents scurry to plug in. It’s an untimely end to what could’ve been an all-nighter, but when Luciano turns up to your club requesting to play, can you really turn him away? Tonight was the crowning moment in Nevermind’s young life and the party certainly made the grade. As for the headliner, he’s now entitled to that herbal bath.