Dubstep’s days are numbered. Well, the days of a room full of sweaty dudes rocking back and forth to wobble bass are numbered. Index featuring Spherix and Mark Pritchard is where the numbers were zeroed and started again. The crowd was definitely more a mix than dubstep’s standard stable of dudes bopping and sweating. It was an assortment of people who simply liked the music. Best of all, the night was sweetened by a big lack of pretension, making sure it felt like it could have been held anywhere but Sydney.

Sydney’s Civic Underground is an interesting venue. Its mix of retro décor and mental-asylum padding normally stay off my gig radar. But on this particular night all I noticed was the big sound. I’m pretty sure the Civic’s sound system did a whole bunch of good for the big bass dubstep is known for. And really, the only thing a dubstep gig needs is the biggest speakers the promoter can’t possibly afford. In fact, a dubstep gig could happily be held in the world’s biggest speaker box, sans bar, toilet and door bitch. Even if everyone involved would never be able to hear again, I’m certain they would agree it was a successful night.

I happily began to lose my hearing when Victorian import Spherix began his solid and techy set. And while I’d really like to go to a dubstep party inside a speaker box, I’m glad it wasn’t this night. Not because I would have lost my hearing by the end of Spherix’s set, but because I needed to hear the incredible live set played by local guy Westernsynthetics. Layer after layer, his music couldn’t stop moving, it kept growing and morphing and doing all those things that make your body jam out of control. Some call it dancing. I like to call it awesome.

Overall the evening made me, and a room full of people who were appreciating it, lose their hearing while at the same time generating a whole, whole lot of awesome.