When inthemix announced that they were giving 250 very lucky people the chance to spend an intimate Thursday night with Kaskade to celebrate their iPhone app launch – for free at that – Sydney went crazy.

The insane hype around the event only added to my excitement – status updates about people willing to buy tickets, bribe security and do pretty much anything to get inside Kings Cross venue The Backroom abounded. Having caught Kaskade earlier at Stereosonic Sydney, this was a great and rare opportunity to see the DJ in a completely different atmosphere to the 65,000 punter strong festival – so I didn’t waste any time getting over there.

To open the night, DJ Reelax laid down some deep house beats to warm the crowd up with, before progressing onto some better known tracks just before the headliner hit the stage.

As soon as Kaskade made his way through the venue, the 250 ITM winners took their vantage points on the dance floor. Personalised black headphones with ‘Kaskade’ written in purple were plugged into the CDJs and Ryan Raddon opened with Turn It Down, immediately receiving a welcoming and amazing reaction from the crowd – a vibe that stayed at the same high level throughout his set. Soon after, Raddon followed with tunes like Stepping Out and Angel On My Shoulder.

Grabbing the microphone, Kaskade told the crowd “if you have a request get down to the front and show me on your phones” – a few people did just that and what followed was It’s You, It’s Me plus a heap of new tracks from his new double album Fire & Ice. The majority of requests were fulfilled, the two hour set leaving the crowd amazed.

Afterwards, I was lucky enough to have a few words with Kaskade, who was as pleased with the gig as the crowd – describing it as “awesome, amazing, sweaty, hot, filled with beautiful people from Sydney.” Of his recent Stereosonic appearance, Raddon explained “It’s been amazing and crazy, yeah my new one, Turn It Down, I was surprised at how well people knew it – I mean it’s only a month old and it the reaction was whoooo! It was a great moment for me and hopefully for everyone else.”

One thing’s for sure – the intimate night with Kaskade presented by inthemix will not soon be forgotten by the 250 lucky attendees.