The Andy C gigs at Metro City have become as much a part of the Australia Day landscape for drum n bass fans in Perth over the last few years as the ubiquitous bbq and boozer on the day itself. In fact for the last five years Andy C (widely regarded as one of if not the best drum n bass DJ in the scene), has played on Australia Day eve in Perth; and the night has been well regarded as a major highlight on the drum n bass touring calendar; this year’s show (despite some MAJOR problems) was overall just as spectacular; Andy C truly cemented his reputation as ‘The Executioner’.

Alas with such a popular event the punters are stuck with the ensuing problems; long queues to get in, long queues to get drinks, and most frustrating at Metro City, long queues to get out into the outdoor balcony area; yet these gripes aside, overall the event seemed better managed than last year. Some of Perth’s best drum n bass DJ’s got the crowd warmed up; with Fusion and Skinny playing back to back followed by Snub back to back Mash. All four in my opinion are very skilled behind the decks; and in all honesty probably had the best tracklisting for the night (Andy C included). Concept, another Perth based DJ was up next and kept things flowing along very nicely; again, great mixing and track selection. A shout out for all the locals for warming up the crowd; the Metro City rig is in my opinion one of the most prestigious in Perth to get a set on; so congratulations to all these listed for absolutely smashing it.

Well respected New Zealand drum n bass duo The Upbeats took to the stage next; for the first hour as a live act (including fellow NZ dnber Trei on guitar), followed by a one hour mix. The live set came complete with some brilliant vocalists, and full live band. I had a great time bouncing out to the tunes which ranged from deep bassy rollers to some faster and heavier sounding tracks thanks to some great guitar work. Unfortunately the crowd weren’t hugely interested in the live take on dnb and the Upbeats got a much warmer response from the crowd when they got behind the CDJ’s; rocking out some seriously heavy bangers; with a particular emphasis on the myriad of tunes coming out of New Zealand at the moment.

As 1 am drew ever closer the buzz inside Metro’s was pretty phenomenal, only Andy C can really generate such energy and excitement and when he got on stage it was to much applause. MCGQ was in attendance on the mic; again probably one of the best in the MC game, the combo was pretty unbeatable. As expected Andy C whipped out the heavy vinyl’s from the get go, and his first hour was very intense; without a doubt some of the best mixing I have ever witnessed. The track selection in my opinion left a little to be desired, I’m personally not a huge fan of the Ram records catalogue (Andy C’s label, and one of the biggest in drum n bass) yet in a way the tunes weren’t really what mattered it was the way Andy C manipulated them, and blended them together in such a high energy manner; and besides watching the skill to which he can drop two or three tracks at a time is breathtaking regardless of what the tracks are. Yet as everything was going perfectly the unexpected occurred and the entire metro city power system failed – lights, sound, mixers, speakers etc. Understandably this left a huge impact upon the crowd, as many started booing, and there was some pretty chaotic scenes. Ultimately as I found out later some major circuit damage had occurred and it is a testament to the crew on attendance that the rig even got back up and running at 3:30am on a public holiday. It was a real pity to see some of the crowd leave in anger, and pretty disgusting to see some crowd members booing and throwing objects at the DJ (Traction) who came to mix on monitors alone to keep the crowd going. Ultimately after about 25 minutes everything was back up and running and the executioner returned to the stage. Yet as anyone would imagine it’s pretty difficult to recover from such a disruption to one’s set; and Andy never really got into it as much as he had been. Don’t get me wrong there were some mad drops and rewinds (though WAY to many) in the last hour or so that he played, but to many the buzz had been killed.

Andy C kept mixing to well beyond 4am thankfully, before Traction came back on followed by N1 to close the night; big ups to both these blokes for some epic mixing. Overall once again Australia Day eve eclipsed the Australia Day festivities by a long shot; all thanks to Andy C and the Loaded Dice crew. And really for me to have had such an awesome time despite such a major issue as a 20 minute power outage lies as testament to how good of an event this was. Indeed what ruined my night the most wasn’t the power issue but those few crowd members that feel it is acceptable to boo at a DJ/performer or throw objects; these people give a bad name to Perth and our drum n bass scene. Bring on next year!