The arrival of Australia Day brings with it the yearly Nightlife tour with Andy C and MC GQ. For the past few years the duo has hit Home nightclub on the Thursday of the long weekend and this year was no exception. For those who do not know Andy C he is a monster name in the drum n bass scene. Currently the ‘Best DJ’ as voted at Drum & Bass Arena for 6 years running and the highest ranking drum & bass DJ in the DJ Mag Top 100. Some of Andy’s other achievements include the setting up the uber successful RAM Records back in 1992 and a string of remixes and productions that make any break beat fan drool with excitement. The night is hosted by Loaded Dice & The Fracture factory and also features local legends Ritual, Murda 1 and Reload supporting on the night.

With the excitement of the long weekend coming up and good music on a Thursday night the day flew by and before long we were at Home nightclub waiting to get inside. When we arrived Ritual was hard at work at the decks laying down some dark rolling drum and bass tunes and warming up for the international nicely. After checking out the main room vibe, grabbing drinks and finding a comfortable spot on the dance floor it wasn’t long before Ritual handed over control of the decks to Andy C. The familiar face of his sidekick and partner in crime MC GQ stepped up on stage and began an epic introduction mentioning the duos commitment to touring Sydney yearly.

They kicked off the set with a huge track with MC GQ dropping straight into the ten syllable-a-second madness and geeing up the crowd with his charismatic MCing that he makes look so damn easy. For the next two hours the set was simply a two hour blur of solid rolling basslines, smashing beats, monster drops and a few rewinds here and there. Andy would drop in and out of tracks fairly quickly and despite the super tight mixing this was a bit too stop and start at times for the dance floor during the biggest tracks. Content wise throughout the set it was simply tune after quality tune a couple of highlights being a Marcus Intelix tune and DJ Krust’s Kloakin King. The sound at the venue was insanely loud throughout the night and it is one of the first times I have regretted not bringing ear plugs as each massive tune simply destroyed the place (and my ears).

Overall, it was an once you have experienced the pure awesomeness of an Andy C set it is hard to go back. Having seen Andy C now for a few years running I am addicted to the layered smack down drum n bass sound he delivers each time he comes out. Tickets were reasonable for a mid week international at $40, and the crowd and atmosphere were fantastic for a Thursday night. See you at the next one!