Every now and then, a night comes along that although it promises plenty, one tries to keep expectations realistic, not wanting to get too excited. This was one of those nights. Henry Saiz was in town to promote his much acclaimed Balance 019, and while many were seemingly quietly confident that a good night was there for the taking, especially on the back of some rave reviews from the Melbourne gig the night before, few would’ve imagined how amazing it would ultimately be.

With some deep pockets, Laundry of late keeps bringing in some big names. And with the Cave looking just that little bit fresher and updated, said big names are giving us all they’ve got. And after some banging warm-ups had the crowd well and truly amped, it was time for the Spaniard to bring it. And bring it Saiz certainly did.

Opening with the lush yet oft-gritty sounds of his ‘Mediterranean Haunted Beach Version’ of Lady In The Mirror from his Balance, the crowd was excited to where the next three hours would take us. Truth be told, we had no idea, and when he threw in his epic Madre Noche shortly thereafter, the excitement built even more.

With clenched fists thrown into the air, he began to treat us to a feast of his music that in many ways, crossed genres. The melodic techno that he’s renowned for, smatterings of driving prog, some uplifting mouth-watering melodies that bordered on progressive trance, and at one point, so deep were the driving basslines that it almost sounded like psy-trance. In the Cave? Seriously. Seemingly a case of anything goes.

And while some might be reading this thinking, “WTF was he doing? Where was the progression?”, well, strangely enough, there was plenty of the latter, and therein lay the brilliance of the set. While it truly did have a bit of everything, over three hours, it all came together with seamless precision, and wherever he took us, we all went happily with him.

With genre seemingly irrelevant, it was all about two things, ridiculously good tunes, and the party, and with the crowd eating out of his proverbial hand, he kept charging through it. This wasn’t necessarily a set loaded with technical wizardry and dazzling work behind the decks, it was just a bloody good set: at one point it was all rather dark and dirty, at another, there were uplifting tunes with vocals to boot. And it all came together so well.

The vibe in the room was something special, and judging by Saiz’s body language, he was having just as much fun as we all were. Fair to say that was confirmed barely a few hours later, as he proudly declared on his Facebook fan page, “Australia, I fucking love you!”, solid evidence that it wasn’t just the punters that had been having a grand old time.

While Kid Kenobi kept the kids amused in the main room, and as the numbers in the Cave began to dwindle, those that remained despite the time found their second wind, and with more room to move it all seemingly went up a notch. The fist punching became more erratic, and in time with what Saiz was doing – we just kept on going; hard. The energy from behind the decks was relentless, and the crowd was like a pack of hungry wolves, feeding off the Spaniard’s energy more and more, like a succulent feast that would never end. But alas, like all good things, it did, and when it did, the appreciation was obvious. I don’t think anyone in that room wanted him to stop.

Over the past four years, this humble reviewer has had the pleasure of seeing (and reviewing) Henry Saiz in Sydney no less than three times. While the first two were solid gigs in their own right (Cave in ‘09 was pretty special; the Courtyard gig in 2010, okay) this was truly something else, and it showed off exactly how much talent the Spaniard has.

Oh, and that the Cave works so much better for what he’s playing. With a back catalogue that is ridiculously loaded with quality tunes, a string of remixes that are nothing short of drool-worthy, an ability to bring the party like he did on Saturday, oh, and now a Balance release that is all sorts of epic to add to his repertoire, it is little wonder why Saiz is fast becoming one of the world’s premier performers.

Henry, we salute you, and fair to say, we can’t wait to have you back.