It seems a little cruel to have such large names coming to our town and showcasing them on a “school night”. Friday morning is guaranteed to be slow, grouchy and caffeine filled and if you haven’t declared war against your well rested workmates, you are doing well. It takes an event of pure, unadulterated brilliance to have you spending the entire next day at work in a fantastic mood and still in awe of the amazing event which you were lucky enough to witness and be a part of. Cream @ Family was one of those events and five days later; this reviewer is still in awe.

Upon arrival at The Family, the fact could not be escaped that absolutely everyone present really wanted to be there. The night’s crowd mostly consisted of the clubbers that can remember the first release of Ferry Corsten as System F with Out of the Blue and have been following his every move since. The family was set up with two DJ stages for the main room, a raised stage with no less than four CDJs and a lower stage featuring two Macbooks, a Nord synth as well as an array of keyboards and mixers. At this time, Brisbane’s own Tydi was warming up the floor with his selection of uplifting trance, the drinks were flowing, the room quickly filling and word that Ferry had arrived at the club quickly spread. Something can be said for someone who is that successful and still carries his own gear to the club.

When the clock struck eleven, the music stopped, the crowd cheered and Giuseppe Ottaviani took control of our Cream experience. The room filled with smoke and Giuseppe started with some beautiful piano chords before dropping into some of the best live trance I have ever heard in Brisbane. The crowd was hanging onto his every note as he gave us a truly unique set. Most of his tracks were performed live, and every new installment into this aurally pleasing mix was accompanied with some truly incredible synth work which really gave his set a little something extra.

As always, the visual components of events at The Family were breathtaking. As if choreographed, planned and practiced to the second, the music, lights, lasers and LED displays were perfectly in sync for the entire night. G.O. offered us a selection of his music talents including his collaborations with Gate 4 Sunward, Stephen Pickup No More Alone and John O’Callaghan Our Dimension. He also amazed us with his own remix of John O’Callaghan Feat Lo-Fi Sugar Never Fade Away.

The speakers were inert, the floors were still. It was time for Ferry Corsten to take his rightful place upon the tower. The crowd chanted “Ferry”. They beckoned for him, but our main man from Rotterdam was anywhere but behind the decks. Minutes had past and the crowds moods quickly changed from excitement to angst, but as Ferry finally came onto the decks, equipped with a glass of champagne, cheeky grin and a huge wallet of cds, all was forgiven. He opened his set with some soothing and calming piano – Visions of Blue -, and the calm ocean of people quickly turned into rough sea as he commanded the floor to dance with some harder beats, and the entire club obeyed. The uplifting and beautiful trance sounds resonating through the club were not limited to Ferry’s Twice in a Blue Moon album, and many featured from his System F days including Out of the Blue and Exhale. When Ferry dropped Made of Love, the already tightly packed dance floor became even more so as every single clubber present was showing their love and appreciation for Ferry. This amazing set did not lose any momentum as he kept exceeding our expectations with such tracks as Fire and Beautiful. Ferry didn’t rely on effects and really let the music speak for itself. I regrettably could not stay for the end of his set which by all accounts was phenomenal.

I can say with absolute confidence that this was one of the best nights I have seen at The Family, exceeding my every expectation. Ferry and Giuseppe commanded the floor with pride and grace and I am truly humbled by the experience They delivered more hot jam than a doughnut shop, the atmosphere was amazing, and anyone there that was not already addicted to the spine tingling sounds of Trance music will most certainly be as of Friday morning. This was truly a night I will never forget.