Who ever said that disco was dead? The 2,000 or so punters who turned up to see Studio 54’s Nicky Siano’s fourth appearance at Gas nightclub certainly didn’t think so.
With such a prestigious background, only the finest Sydney DJs would do in supporting Nicky Siano. DJing alongside him was a stellar cast of disco veterans – namely, Stephen Ferris, Stephen Allkins and Ian Spicer.
Having said that, Stephen Ferris kicked things off at 10pm with a surprisingly un-disco set. He focused more on late 70s and early 80s funk, although he did touch on more ‘traditional’ disco with Chic’s Chic Cheer. Amongst the funkier tracks he played were Come Down (Material), Lovely One (The Jacksons) and the Ben Liebrand remix of Hall and Oates’ I Can’t go for That (no can do).
Stephen Allkins’ eclectic set followed at 11pm. He focused at first on tracks with heavy beats, sparse vocals and a smattering of rap, (such as Jamie Principle’s Baby Wants to Ride) before he slowly eased into hardcore 70s disco, playing well-known tracks such as Le Freak (Chic) interspersed with more obscure ones such as Pauline Henry’s (ex-Chimes) cover of the Diana Ross classic, Love Hangover.
Nicky Siano came on at 1.15 am. He is the sort of DJ who likes to interact with his audience; jumping up and down throughout his set and waving his arms around, encouraging the fully-packed dance floor to follow suit. His focus was 100% disco, playing tracks such as Going Back to my Roots (Odyssey), Macarthur Park (Donna Summer), The Boss (Diana Ross) and If You Could Read my Mind (Gordon Lightfoot).
By 2am, Gas was absolutely packed to full capacity. It felt like a NYE party. There was no space on the dance floor, so punters were forced to dance around pool tables, on the huge podium where the DJ booth sat, and in the seating alcoves situated around the dance floor.
The club was also decorated to reflect the 70s theme, with hot pink metallic streamers hanging around the dance floor and inflatable stars glued to the balcony overlooking the dance floor.
The crowd was mixed, with people of all nationalities, and ages ranging from 18 right up to the early forties. There were even gay couples. Some of the punters dressed casually in contemporary clothing while others went out of their way to deck themselves in 70s vintage clothing.
Finally, after an MC cheekily introduced him as Australia’s very own Steve Rubell (the owner of Studio 54), Gas’s owner and resident DJ Ian Spicer finished off with another disco set with a touch of salsoul, playing tracks such as I Got my Mind Made up (You Can Get it Girl) (Instant Funk), Midnight (T-Connection) and You Got the Power (War).
At $25 a pop, it was excellent value for money. Drink prices were reasonable and given that Gas has always been one of the few nightclubs in Sydney to offer hot and cold water taps, water wasn’t even an issue. Security was friendly and so was the crowd, despite the fact that some punters were literally treading on other people’s toes.
The crowd continued to party hard, dancing well into the early hours of dawn. Exhausted after several hours of dancing, I staggered to home to bed…
