I’m an ex-Adelaide boy, and whilst I absolutely love Melbourne town there’s something I must confess… I’ve not been too impressed with Melbourne drum & bass DJs. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re technical wizkids on the turntables, but at events where I’ve seen them support internationals I’ve never felt adequately warmed up and excited. At least not in the same way Adelaide DnB DJs prepare the floor. There’s just not the same vibe, and I was worried that an all local line-up at Jungle Run 7 would see the night lacking in the awesome vibe I’ve long associated with drum & bass. From the moment I walked into Roxanne’s I could tell I was wrong and my opinion was instantly changed.

I’m not quite sure who the first DJ was, but they were playing a fantastic set of tunes and they had the dancefloor pumping with old school greats like Everyman, R.I.P and lots more from the 92-94 era. There were a fair few heads in the venue, even at that early stage, and most of them were on the floor. I must admit I only checked out the side room once. I liked the set up, but they were playing dubstep – admittedly not my most favourite kind of music – so I didn’t hang around all that long. I mean, why listen to that when the best of drum & bass music was in the very next room? Each to their own, I guess.

Trooper, who’ve I’ve seen numerous times in Adelaide, stepped up to the decks and I was keen to hear him in his hometown. Of course I was not disappointed. He played even more banging, and whilst I don’t know the names of most of them I’m sure there was a fair whack of Congo Natty with the phat bassline and rasta stylings just mashing up the dancefloor. I know he played Original Nutter by Shy FX, and I was also stoked to hear Limb By Limb by Cutty Ranks and One Blood by Junior Reid. But I completely lost my shit when I heard the original rudeboy style of Inbound (yes, that was me screaming out “Yellow Record!” and calling for the rewind…)

Again, I’m not sure who was next, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was Finna, and he continued the great tunes featuring Randal and a few other tracks from the AWOL compilation, as well as great hits like Fire and Ruffneck. A note to the trainspotters out there… of course these may not be the actual song titles, but everyone knows them by these names, so put your pencils away, stop stroking your chins and go dance! Unfortunately I had to leave towards the end of Finna’s set, but I was well impressed with the whole night.

Something I’ve come to love about Melbourne is the friendliness of the punters, and at Jungle Run this was no different. From chatting to people in the line, to finding myself dancing with fellow DnB heads on the floor, I received friendly smiles from all over the place and had many funny chats to randoms in the toilets. Thank you, Jungle Run, you finally made me feel at home!