As I wasn’t 100%, I decided to take it easy, so I rocked up close to 3pm to find a surprisingly small crowd in the Courtyard practically stagnant to the sounds of the gorgeous Deborah de Luca. It was a pretty tough slot to fill being an hour after opening, and playing prior to 3 other big international acts. It didn’t look (or sound) like she was enjoying herself either. With about 20 minutes left of her set, the rain started to pour down, moving 60% of the dancefloor to the undercover extremities as well, leaving a remnant of up-for-it punters to continue to dance in the rain, and prompting cheers as she grabbed out her phone to take a quick snap of the ever-so-faithful.
Next up in the Courtyard was Agents Of Time who stepped up to the decks only to find sound issues, probably due to rain. After a good 10-15 minutes of the same beat, minus the mid & low-end, and the other 2 members of the trio, the sound tech was finally able to get everything in working order to the cheers of the crowd as the Agents got to work. The initial flood of new tunes wasn’t enough to keep me in the Courtyard tho, as I ventured off into the Chapel to hear and see Illya ripping up a storm (and the sweat of many a brow) with his unique style of choppy, FX & sampled jackin’ house.
Having seen Carter at least once before (at Harbourlife), I opted for Laurent.
As the man graced the decks, he was greeted with loud cheers. Appreciative but unfazed, The Man With The Red Face takes us on a journey; easing the crowd in through three+ tracks of dreamy, eclectic melodies over minimal techno beats, before bringing it all to highpoint and then ever so gracefully dropping us into a techno storm. Even though I am at the back of the dancefloor, I have a window to view the maestro at work, and it was absolute magic to stand and watch; it was mesmerising!!! The movements of his head, his body were all to the beats that he was throwing out, but his hands, his magical hands were almost always moving; when they weren’t manipulating the EQs of the channels, melding tracks together or manipulating the FX, they were moving, almost even conducting the melodies of the track!! After a decent hour of melodies, climaxes & drops, I found my part of the dancefloor being filed with space invaders, so I ventured in to the Chapel for some Carter.
Once inside the Chapel, that was it for the rest of the evening. The rollercoaster ride that Laurent was providing could not match my need to dance, and that is where Derrick Carter had the edge. I found a small space up the back left corner of the floor and rode out the beat there, much to the enjoyment, and perhaps envy, of a number of people in the room. I even caught several of the bar staff intrigued with me, glancing, starring, whispering to each other and even videoing me. It’s hard to recall what was played, with the exception of the final track which was some version of Fleetwood Mac‘s Sweet Little Lies.
Jamie Roy had the privilege of stepping up to the decks after Derrick. As he was establishing his set, he slung out classic house tunes like Kings of Tomorrow – Finally, EBTG vs Soul Vision – Tracey In My Room, Fish Go Deep – The Cure and The Cause, and Underworld – Two Months Off, BUT the mixing was just horrid; there was no melding of tunes into a continuous stream, and that ultimately brought my night to an end.
So that’s another party off the party season list. Unfortunately Shapeshifter had to cancel their tour, but I managed to get out to Summer Dance feat. LNTG (more on that in an upcoming post). Next up is Erick Morillo vs Roger Sanchez before a short hiatus.