Undertone, Christmas In July @ Amber Lounge, Melbourne (31/07/09)

Descending the long staircase down from Lonsdale Street last Friday, I found myself in the wonderland of green and silver and trance that was Amber Lounge. The club itself, well hidden amongst city stores, has an intimate setup, with a central DJ booth, dance floor, and dance platform, backed by a higher raised floor with booths for patrons to sit and stand, not to mention ample dance space on each side and two bars! On this particular night, however, the eye-catching decorations: hundreds of silver stars hanging from the ceiling, wrapped tinsel, and a large ‘snowing’ foam pit, combined with the green laser show to make Undertone into, as one of my friends put it, “the matrix”.

Not to be outdone by the décor, Undertone’s DJs were equally festive, belting out tunes all night and keeping the crowd merry till the early hours of Saturday morning. I arrived as M-Lyso was on decks, playing a nice mix of uplifting and driving tunes to the already busy club. Then midnight struck and there was a raffle prize drawing, officiated over by cheery Father Christmas himself! Several lucky guests took home gifts such as an Xbox, drink cards, and free Undertone tickets, before Santa surprised everyone by taking over the decks. Luckily, he turned out to be pretty good at mixing trance too, and ended up putting on a Dan Miatt costume and playing a full set of moving tunes!

By now the small venue was packed with energetic cheering people, many also in Christmas gear. After Santa’s set, Melbourne’s own MaRLo did not disappoint with a banging set that had the crowd burning up the floor and the foam! The next set from Anni kept the crowd moving and grooving till 3:30, when Daniel J Wood and the Pyro Technique battled out the closing set.

This wonderful evening was completed by the fantastic foam pit, a large fenced in rectangle located on the left hand dance floor, always full of happy saturated people catching, throwing, shuffling in, slipping on, and otherwise blissfully enjoying the wonderful relaxed combination of trance and fine bubbly snow. Having been to several foam parties, I can honestly say this was the best arranged and executed foam party I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy, and had perfect music and crowd to top it off…Merry Christmas, Melbourne.