A Sunday night on a non-long weekend in late Autumn. Not the best time of the week to have a big night out, but it was an early one, due to wrap up at midnight, time to get out of bed early the next day for a week of work.

Arriving in the post-daylight savings darkness of six-pm, it’s quiet, except for out the back in the smoking laneway. Downstairs Simon Caldwell is spinning classy tunes to an almost empty room, whilst people mill on the sofas upstairs to a wide variety of tunes.

Once it hits seven, suddenly the downstairs former bank vault quickly fills up. The maths was simple – Derrick May was due to play for five hours and it was finishing at twelve o’clock, right? But firstly, he’d make us wait, not yet having arrived at the venue. It wasn’t until 7:45 and to an expectant crowd that he took over on the decks from Simon, bongos heralding his arrival at the controls.

Early on, Derrick’s set doesn’t gel for me. My body was telling me that I should be at home relaxing on the lounge, and the sound wasn’t that good. The basement of 202 Broadway now has a Funktion One set-up installed, and apparently the sound is far better than it had previously been, but early on it seemed to be lacking bass down the front, and was too soft down the back.

But a little over an hour into his set, the sound seems to improve as everything starts to click into place, Derrick moving from tech-housier material to real techno: pumping but soulful. Mixing in a housier number with a saxophone, that I still haven’t been able to ID, the crowd really gets into it, letting out cries and wolf-whistles, pumping their fists, clapping their hands.

An interesting mix of serious techno fans and up-for-it partiers, the dancefloor was pulsing, not letting up, loving the tracks that Derrick was delivering. Whilst there were some complaints about his mixing (would it really be a techno night without some kind of controversy?), no one around me on the dancefloor minded.

By all accounts, the final hours of Derrick’s set were the highlight, although unfortunately I wasn’t able to experience the full magic. Heading home to bed shortly after 10:30, the standout for me was probably that interesting remix of Knights of the Jaguar, played around 10pm to the crowd’s delight. Whilst the night didn’t end up being my favourite time hearing Derrick play (his 2003 set at Home still claims that mantle), it was still an excellent night out for Sydney techno lovers and thanks must go to Picnic for making it happen.