Due to a serious of unforseen events, I had to forego my ticket to Splendour this year. Blasphemy I know, but we’re getting away from the topic a little bit if we divulge into my lack of Splendour attending too much. So, by not going to the actual Splendour this year, I was excited to check out Splendour in the Bar held at Transit Bar on Friday the 23 of July.

Allured by the concept of the Splendour-themed party and the promise of a synthetic grass dancefloor, I grabbed a friend and headed into the cold winter night in search of something different in Canberrean nightlife. Having not been to Transit in awhile and my friend never having been either (blasphemy again, I know), neither of us knew what to expect.

Walking up to Transit, there were little people outside, suggesting either a lack of attendance or lack of smokers. Upon walking inside, it turned out to be the latter of the two, with inside bustling with people, manly huddled around the bar.Grabbing a beer from the bar relatively quickly, my friend and I settled on the stools next to the dance floor and proceeded with some crowd observing. The crowd seemed enjoying the music by the Strangeways DJs, whose playlists consisted much of pop throughout the years such as Backstreet Boys, Bill Haley and The Jackson Five, plus one of my all-time favourites, My Girl by the Temptations.

Strangeways DJs have an amazing ability to weave songs into each despite the difference in tempos and styles, which is always a sign of good DJs. Miss Jackson by Outkast would be playfully mixed into No Scrubs by TLC, which then blended into Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve.

Despite their mixing ability and fun play-list, I was a little disappointed with the music.I was hoping for music by Temper Trap, Florence and the Machine, Goldfrapp, Passion Pit and the list goes on. Nothing from the spectacular Splendour line up was being played. Nonetheless, the crowd seemed happy and the dancefloor was filled more and more as the night wore on. All in all it was a good night, but didn’t seem to stand out from any other at Transit.