Stardust had a HUGE line up of the best DJ’s in the world, and we weren’t disappointed one little bit! After enduring a 20 minute queue, (which I found out later I could have bi-passed) I headed straight for the Fabric stage (breaks room) to see Phil K, one of Australia’s finest breaks DJs. I’ve seen Phil tear it up in Melbourne, and was interested to see how he’d fair here. I was rather disappointed at first, as he was playing a very mellow kind of breaks – slow with girly vocals. It would have been great at about 6 in the morning, but not at midnight when you want the party to get started! His style changed thankfully, and he pulled out some awesome new breaks tunes that tore up the floor and got everybody dancing.
Then stepped in Adam Freeland. Perhaps the greatest DJ in the world at the moment. He started out playing some rather tech-house kind of stuff, but with that unmistakable breakbeat sound. It got to about 2am, and everyone bailed to see Andy C, but they should have stayed to see Adam Freeland really shine. He dropped some of the funkier breakbeat ala Finger Lickin’, and really got the crowd moving. I’m still amazed at his seamless mixing on 3 decks and 2 CD players, his incredibly timed but understated scratching, and his wonderful crowd reading abilities. Just as you were thinking “he’s getting kind of mellow” he’d crank it up and get you up and jumping, waving your hands in the air.
After Adam Freeland I headed straight to the dnb area to see Andy C. I had heard a lot of hype about this guy, and wanted to see if he was really “all that”. After seeing him I must say he’s one of the best dnb acts I’ve seen this year. His mixing is very smooth, and he didn’t allow technical hitches like jumping needles faze him. He had the crowd going wild, and is one of those DJ’s who actually looks like he’s enjoying himself. His set was a blend of old and new tunes, which had me liking it, as I was afraid I wouldn’t know any of the tunes and wouldn’t get into it as much. MC GQ sounded as though he was rather horse, but he still ripped up the microphone.
At about quarter to 5 I thought I had about an hour of Andy C left, so went for a wander. I headed back to the Fabric stage to see Chris Fortier. He was Ok, but the music was rather slow after Andy C, so I did something I haven’t done before… I checked out the Hard House room. I was kind of hoping to see Lab 4, but I obviously missed them, but DJ Odyssey was on the stage, and I actually found myself dancing to his set!!! Alarming, I know, but it was just the right kind of tempo I was looking for. I can’t say I’d do it again, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as cheesy as I thought it would be.
I headed back upstairs to find a rather empty dnb room, and then realised that Andy C was no longer playing. I was very disappointed that I missed the last of his set, but glad I had made the most of my evening. It’s been a very long time I’ve wanted to stay at a party until daybreak, but the evening seemed to rush by and I was rather surprised to see dawn quickly approaching as I started to leave. It was an amazing night, one of the best I’ve had in quite a long time, and I look forward to the next one.