The Queen’s birthday weekend is a proclamation to extended days of madness and folly. It hearkens back to those carefree days as a kid when that glossy sheen of Christmas promise shone bright; of days where responsibility was at a minimum and merriment a premium. All doubts cast from the early rainy morning had been erased along with any remaining beads of downpour, with the sun defiantly burning bright and clear. All tracks led through Southbank Parklands towards the dock of Brisbane’s iconic floating party palace. Constant bass beats coming from the bowels of The Island Party Boat were a digital herald beckoning all in the vicinity for Late Night Addiction’s “Get Together” Boat Cruise. A large gathering had already amassed dockside, hats and sunglasses defying the early June afternoon. Spiked heels mingled freely with flats, sneakers and Havianas, before carefully making their way across boarded planks, sheets of thick metal and entwined ropes. In spite of the sizeable gathering, there were still clusters of disconnected groups. When participating in a boat cruise, there is always that first sense of detachment. But it is always to the credit of the boat crew and the event crew when these small pockets eventually flow together and form a cohesive group.

As the motors of The Island surged into life, it added a deep resonance to the already reverberating beats coming from the decks. The dance floor was enormous, facing the CDJ setup at the bow and enclosed by an immense canvas to keep the deck cool and those under it in profound shade. At the stern, the canvas gave way to palm fronds gaily surrounding the smoker’s area. At the bar, economically priced beverages and jelly shots were being served to a hoard of people. At the CDJ setup, the lanky frame of Benny Electric hovered over the turntables and mixer, coaxing the beats and basslines to swell across the planks. As the boat steadily made its way down the river, the mingled murmurs of laughter and conversation gradually began to compete with the DJ’s melodies, until Benny focused on the resonant bass tones of the beats and the high end frequencies of melodies. The deep spaces between the extreme registers really created a full atmosphere, lending towards the convivial ambiance. Benny’s hands were soon replaced by the reciprocated movements of Jimmy Vegas back to back with Jordan Naumov.

Jimmy and Jordan worked well from each other, though Jimmy Vegas seemed to dominate the set. His clean electric sounds rolled across the waves, the deep bass resonance carrying easily to passing ferries and boardwalks, while popular melodies surged with underlying basslines. When Danny T came onboard with his jumping beats and boundless rhythms, the energy on the boat was immediately amplified. His smooth mashups and integrations of electro basslines with house textures, electro melodies and hiphop meters bought people scurrying eagerly to the dancefloor. There were still a few remaining clusters, but all up, everyone had managed to cross barriers and come together as one crowd. While it was obvious the boat could easily fit up to 400 people, the exclusive number of 250 really made the entire boat a spacious floating palace.

Danny T continued to roll out the rampant basslines and eager melodies, the tunes vaulting across the boat’s dancefloor. Danny’s hands twirled thoughtfully with knobs and switches, as his sounds gleefully merge where beats paced animatedly with pulsing basslines and grasping textures. Indeed, Danny T’s vibrancy was palpable, as the crowd moved in sync with his melodious rhythms. Habebe and Jason Morley eventually took over from Danny T, replacing Danny’s bouncing meters with progressing bass tones. The insistent drumming meters banged against the floorboards to reverberate upwards in a direct line to the heart. While Habebe’s hands worked attentively at the mixer, Jason Morley ground out the rhythms; his fingers deftly pushing at levers and the silver discs. When Jason took to the background taking over the mixer, Habebe determinedly came to the forefront, his elbows akimbo as he feverishly flicked through CDs and buttons, to unleash a whirlwind of lingering melodies and unbridled rhythms. The prevailing four four beats struck at heartbeats simultaneously tearing mercilessly at brain cells. An indolent cheeriness had settled over the crowd, as the sun began to magnificently sink behind the mountains. A nonchalant ambience came with the dusk, with the boat traversing the ridges of Southbank, the lights from the Wheel of Brisbane softly illuminating the riverside. And into this settled indolence, came Baby Gee.

There really are few DJs like Australia’s ITM50 #4 DJ Baby Gee. In an unyielding manner, he marched into the dregs of the boat party and immediately took to the helm, nimbly steering the cruise where he decided it most needed to be. A bootleg of Zombie Nation’s Presets mix of If I Know You instantly summoned those who felt the stern was the most interesting place to be, back to the dancefloor. “Clever liar, foolin’ us all” Julian Hamilton’s voice throbbed like a siren, the rich tones deeply alluring. I looked towards the direction of the Riverstage, where fans of The Presets were amassing at that very moment for the live actions of the electro house dance punk duo. “How could I ever have known it was about you boy” The words called to our heartstrings, the vocals to our senses as Gee launched into a throng of merging basslines and banging beats. His ensuing mix was immaculate, the pristine textures pulsating with matted rhythms and sonorous basslines, taking us through the final stages of the cruise to dock us neatly back at Southbank. As people laughingly headed for dry land gathered in new clusters with arms sociably thrown across each others’ shoulders, the siren song of Late Night Addiction’s Get Together echoed across the water. The cruise had left indelible impressions of electro thuds undulating eternally across the waves. All the DJs from Late Night Addiction proved why they were they latest obsession to the dance scene, successfully bringing together a variety of people simply keen to pass a beautiful Queensland day in a haze of beats and melodies. Amidst calamities of blisters, unexpected seasickness, ripped stockings, a dysfunctional CDJ and surprise dockings, the beats, nevertheless, had been driven home.