When Melbourne’s clubbing brands get together then you know it’s going to be big and the latest crews to join forces – OnSIDE Entertainment and Sunset Promotions – certainly lined up a quality guest list for their latest shindig at Brown Alley. Headlining the night were worldwide legends John 00 Fleming, M.I.K.E (a.k.a. Push) and US boys Tritonal. With a pedigree like that on offer I couldn’t wait to hit the floor and see if the night would live up to its full potential.

On arrival the queue was surprisingly short and getting in was a breeze. It was definitely a first there since usually, it’s queues around the block in the rain. We headed downstairs to catch the tail end of Ahmet Atasever vs DJ Joey who were cutting it up with some quality classics and recent remixes including a neat little Barber’s Adagio for Strings remix. The main room had video screens dotted around the DJ area displaying a visual collage of images; fractal patterns in a multitude of dayglo colours, eyes, scantily clad females – the usual trippy pictures that go with a full on Trance night. The crowd was definitely one of the most diverse and friendliest I think I’ve ever come across in Melbourne before. More mature Trance veterans could be seen dancing with and chatting to baggy panted ravers who were bumping into modelesque babes and groups of giggling teenies. It was a pick n’ mix sort of bunch but it made for a nice, friendly atmosphere and everyone was there purely for the fun factor and not necessarily for the fashion.

Brendan B had been given the honour of warming up for J00F. There had been some apprehension about the fact that he was warming up for one of Trance’s greats but there was no doubt that he did a stellar job as he started with a light sound that smoothly transitioned to a much darker place. He read the crowd perfectly, and let it rip with massive crowd pleasers such as Tiesto’s Lethal Industry. Upstairs in Blights Bar, local legend Steve Strangis set it going with some all out proggy nastiness just after the witching hour, it was a small crowd initially but as he moved from vocal, to summery sounds, to all out bangers, he built a strong set and kept the crowd engaged for M.I.K.E’s start. Blight’s Bar hadn’t had much in the way of decoration added but the quality lighting really helped build the atmosphere.

Downstairs John 00 Fleming had made his grand appearance but to my surprise although there had been a lot of excitement about his set, the room was only two thirds full with a lot of dead space where there appeared to be little or no sound coming through. This ruined the atmosphere a little. That said though, up the front was all action. It was impossible not to be engaged by JOOF as he let fly his unique psy-trance monsters while playing out the tingling breakdowns in the air with a huge smile across his face and a quality lazer show beaming out from behind him. It was hard not to move around the venue with so much quality on offer and unfortunately putting J00F and M.I.K.E on at the same time meant tearing yourself away from one room or the other. This left you feeling as though you were missing something bigger somewhere else. Whichever way you looked at it though, both of the headliners played outstanding sets and I particularly liked what I caught of M.I.K.E’s more Dutch influenced classic Gatecrasher style Trance. When he dropped his own classic work PUSH Strange World to wrap up, I literally went mental.

Straight after, Tritonal got the room going again with some more vocal trance. This wasn’t much my cup of tea so it was back down for the last two hours or so of J00Fs mind-blowing set. Although the crowd participation wasn’t as strong as it should have been – perhaps due to the strange sound holes – J00Fs mixing was outstanding with his set lasting over 4.5 hours. He took in everything from The Digital Blonde Trina, to LSG NetherWorld (Oliver Prime remix), Age of Love Age of Love and Robert Miles Children (Tilt’s Courtyard Mix) – all tweaked by the man himself. He was nigh on flawless in programming and performance.

Both the locals and the headliners did a sterling job on the night with a very friendly crowd and tunes that were just excellent. However the sound system downstairs left something to be desired, while the headliner clashes meant you were going to miss out no matter what you did. Even so it is rare to keep me in a club as late as I stayed that night, so it’s hard not to think back and smile about what a great night it was. I can’t wait for the next Trance monster from these two crews: keep ‘em coming I say!