St Pauls, the popular venue that’s an icon in Adelaide clubbing history, opened its doors once again to an exceptional line-up, with locals Dr Damage (HQ) and DJ Frost (Trancefusion), along with Melbourne’s Ahmet Atasever (Darey Products) and Steve Strangis (Godskitchen) as well as a massive international star all the way from Germany, DJ Roger Shah. Brought to Adelaide by Subconscious Entertainment & Gunner B Promotions, along with Onside Entertainment from Melbourne, this was a night I and many others had been looking forward to.

Walking up the familiar stairs into the main room gave me that nostalgic feeling, with a bevy of trance fans already in attendance that were all eager to get their drink on and see the much anticipated performances ahead. I was surprised to see the DJ booth set up by the stairs near the entrance, opposite from where it has been on my previous visits. Impressive lighting was on display, with spotlights fanning the large main floor with a breath-taking laser display, an essential touch with this genre.

Dr Damage kicked off the night to a slowly growing crowd, playing a progressive set to ease everyone into it. DJ Frost was on next, speeding things up a bit and dropping tunes such as Ronski Speed’s ‘The Space We Are’ and the massive tune from Rank 1 ‘L.E.D. There Be Light’, which the crowd gobbled up. Cranking it towards the end of his set, some may say it was a little too hard for an opener, but with the rising electricity in the air there was nothing calm about the crowd and the harder edge suited.

Frost led in to Adelaide’s favourite Melbourne son, with Ahmet gracing us with his undisputed talent. This DJ is a testament to the skills we have right here in Australia, and he delivered tracks such as Terry Ferminal ‘A Thousand Miles Away’ and Whippenberg ‘Chakalaka’ to send the crowd ballistic! Before long his set was finished and I wondered to myself, ‘is it already over? Damn!’

So with the crowd nicely warmed up and drinks flowing freely it was the perfect moment for DJ Roger Shah to take the stage. With the stained glass windows in the distance and Shah dressed in a long sleeve white shirt he resembled a priest ready to give his sermon to a hungry crowd of worshippers. Beginning with a mixture of uplifting and live-synthesized tunes supporting his recognised Balearic sound, he paced the tunes accordingly with the length of his 3 hour set. A smile sat on his face as he lapped up the crowd’s eager response.

Shah sped things up after the first third of his set, dropping a remix of the Kosheen track ‘Catch You’, and then delivering a live-synth performance of his smash hit ‘Going Wrong’ which saw nearly every single person in attendance singing along (me included!) It almost literally tore the roof off St Pauls, truly epic. Displaying several of his own production throughout the set, there were also favourites like ‘Back to You’ and ‘Who Will Find Me’, as well as a remix of Paul Oakenfold’s ‘Southern Sun’ (another all time favourite) and System F’s ‘Cry’. The energetic crowd enjoyed every last bit of his performance.

My grievance (which is small) was the massive wait at the bar for a drink. The bar was at least four people deep for the majority of the night due to a lack of staff. Also, the sound system – banging as it was – seemed way too loud, and two days later my ears were still hurting. No adequate smoking areas also meant a large and group of people loitered outside the venue throughout the night. All in all, though, it was an extremely successful night for trance fans in Adelaide and it’s fantastic to see the huge support behind it. Thank you to Subconscious Entertainment, Gunner B Promotions and Onside Entertainment for breathing new life into our treasured venue St Pauls. It was truly one of the finest nights of trance that Adelaide has seen this year.