As I meandered past Etihad Stadium down towards the pier, I began to notice a number of suspicious characters in the area. A six and a half foot red headed gladiator was holding onto a telephone pole on the street corner, his brain seemingly in goldfish mode as he prepared to cross the road multiple times, only to then look around distractedly as if he had forgotten where he was. A person of indeterminable gender strut the boardwalk like it was Paris fashion week, open bottles of champagne in each hand. I had been off the streets for the revelry of NYE, and was itching to make up for it.

Seven o’clock and a crowd had already gathered at Dock 9. Funny how people played their distance when they were destined to spend the next 5 hours in close comfort aboard the Victoria Star. Nonetheless, the atmosphere quickly became amiable as out on the deck many a “I’m on a boat!” jokes and references to the questionable industrial scenery of Port Melbourne broke the ice. Oh and the food was good too. Gourmet party pies and Vietnamese rolls, oh my!

While most hung over the railings and adjusted to the concept of a moving party, the dulcet tones of Mathew Jonson’s When Love Feels Like Crying heralded the beginning of evening of deep beats, featuring the one and only Raphael Ripperton. He started deep and ended deep. It was a journey across the depth than electronic music has to offer beyond just deep house, spatterings of techno and Detroit. I’m usually a fan of adjective deployment, but there is simply no better word for his sound than deep. In the momentary lapse between kick and snare I even overheard Christian Vance yell down the ear of a friend, “how fucking deep is that?!”. Enough said. It was musically engaging, and the track selection was great. The boat shook, rattled (though thankfully did not roll) and cruised to the pulse of nature’s lasers – intensive chain lighting over the backdrop of a city skyline. I couldn’t imagine any other kind of music having been as fitting and enjoyable at the time, and as Raphael brought his epic two and a half hour journey to a close with his track Farra, my satisfaction was complete.

As we slowly made our way back to Docklands Christian Vance took to the helm. The reflective melody of his track Uneasy Me became the soundtrack to a moment of my own reflection – I could not have been happier to have ditched NYE and gone with NYD night. An exceptionally well-planned event, held in quality company with quality music (and snacks nonetheless!). Fuck NYE, there’s a new holiday in town.