Ahh Friday, the day you look forward to each week and the light at the end of the 9-5 grind tunnel. Even when you aren’t grinding away 9-5 like me it’s still something to get excited about. This Friday I decided to check out Dynamic II from the Symphonic Tonic crew and it was a good way to get the weekend going.

We got there pretty early and caught some nice funky tunes in the main room courtesy of Gabriel. He was one of two people selected randomly on the night after a submit your mix competition. There was also some funky action with the visuals as some kind of bizarre 60’s movie with lots of bikini-clad babes was being shown through the night. We shrugged our shoulders and decided to head upstairs to the outdoor area.

I’ve been to Room a couple of times since this area was opened up but this was the first time I’d seen them put a dj setup here. Nice move! It was the perfect place to relax with a drink, chat to friends and enjoy the tunes. Event organiser Dave Juricevich was playing alongside brother Jimmy Juricevich and while the epic sibling rivalry battle to the death I seemed to be picturing didn’t occur, they had a good groove going until everything stopped and the setup had to be moved inside.

We drifted between the main and side rooms for a while from then on catching the diverse variety of sounds. From some Ministry of Sound style to deeper house and prog style, to even trance and hits of deep progressive psy, there was a bit of everything available. Eric Lee, the second lucky winner played some fantastic banging prog and techno and Elton Smith and Tim Gamble pumped up the main room with some nice prog trance, starting with the epic Smile When You Kill Me by Jerome Isma-Ae. The crowd, while it built up a bit, seemed to drift between rooms too and it wasn’t until Elton and Tim’s set that they seemed to respond and really get into it. One thing the crowd had no trouble getting into was podium dancing in the cage, there was plenty of pole moves all through the night. A word of advice though: Don’t try it when you are wasted. Takes the term ‘nosedive’ to a whole new level…

Unfortunately my legs, brain and work in the morning all conspired against me and I had to leave earlier than I would have liked. This was especially bad since Aerobiotic playing live with Eugene on percussion had some excellent sounds going in the main room. I also missed Matt Dawson, who assured me he was going to be awesome and was generous enough to offer to write his own review for his set. It was an offer I could refuse however and I walked out satisfied with the time we had. It was a fun night showcasing some of the diverse local talent we are lucky to have here and doing a competition is a good way to open the door for new people coming through. Dynamic was indeed just the tonic indeed to start off the weekend.