Last time I went to a The Likes of You party it was James Holden on a Sunday afternoon with a BBQ, and it was one of the best parties I’ve been to in ages, so I had high expectations for Marcel Dettmann at Roxanne Parlour. A 10pm start on a Sunday night had me a little dubious about numbers – and rightly so. The warm-up by Mike Callander and a live set by Mike Buhl provided some sweet techno .This was not a bad warm up though it was a bit on the bland side. There was a completely empty dance floor but people were around the bar and chilling on the couches. It definitely was good background music for conversation allowing the crowd to relax.

It’s interesting to compare a venue crowd versus an age-group party crowd versus the regular techno crowd on a night like this. At the start of the night they anticipated that the side room wouldn’t be opening until later. Who were they expecting? On a Sunday night it would be a small overlap between the hospitality crowd, uni students and the techno fans. My feeling is that they’d have been better off starting earlier like they did with Holden. The numbers don’t justify a venue that size and the four hour set lasting until 4am on a school night is a bit much. It’s a shame.

Around midnight, Marcel Dettmann kicked off in the main room. The night was definitely more interesting as the dance floor filled to capacity. I’m still dubious of the Sunday timeslot but there were enough people to keep the atmosphere, lots of fat bass and a few cool effects. Dettman plays Berlin-techno with heaps of texture, which is really interesting stuff. His has clean lines and thumping bass, once described as ‘muscular’; a great analogy. He seemed to be using a combination of laptop, CDs and vinyl but it was hard to get close enough to see with plenty of people up the front dancing.

There didn’t end up being any side room action though. Dettman played a massive techno set in length and impact, with chunky beats and some prime vocal sampling. We do still have some amazing locals that are right up there, but this was missed out on due to low traffic. Sorry guys: The Likes of You always put on a good party and Sunday sessions are great but the time slot fell a little short for me this time.