9/5/11

Sandwell District

Sandwell District. What can I say. Since I heard rumours of them playing at Creamfields during 2010 I had quietly held my breath for a sideshow announcement, although without much genuine hope. After the day had come and gone, I was pretty disappointed and resigned to the fact I wouldn't get a chance to see one of my favourite acts, and one of the biggest influences on me in recent years.


Imagine my excitement the next day when I logged into inthemix.com.au to find out that a club show was being announced for later that week, at the Mercat Basement/Deep 11, with the SD boys playing for a minimum 3 hours. Oh shit lordy. As the week progressed, so did the hype, as well as the set length. Come Friday, I was so super keen for that nights party, I had some butterflies in the old basket. Thankfully, the party was in good hands. Matt Radovich was a major force in putting this together, and the man knows what he's doing. After all, MTC parties have been going almost 9 years now. His warm up was pretty spot on, he banged it out a little bit in the middle then was able to bring it back towards the end of the set, playing Ben Klock - Compression Session 1 was a highlight. Then (with no disrespect to Matty) it was time for the real deal.

In short, Sandwell District were amazing. They absolutely lived up to all my expectations, and smashed out nearly 6 hours of proper techno to a crowd that was lively and up for it, without being over the top. Regis and Function looked like they were having a ball as well, I think they were really looking forward to playing a club show for the heads after playing mid afternoon, hour to hour and a half long sets at Creamfields. Sam, a regular Public Worker, bumped into Function on the stairs before the gig and was able to shake his hand before gushing that he was so excited for the gig, with Function replying that they were too. Musically, they played everything you could expect them too. A live 303 jam brought the acid, and with the 20 odd years of experience they each bring to the table it was like a bottomless well of amazing tunes, layered on top of each other and dropping in and out of the mix, all the while sounding amazing on the Funktion One system.

I've got no qualms at all saying that this has been the gig of the year for me so far, and I'm not sure what could top it (although if the Klock vs. Dettmann gig goes ahead as planned later this year, that should give it a nudge). Everything was right about this party, the crowd was great, it was full without being packed, the sound was amazing, the visuals provided by Netzair suited the music to a tee. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, and with the response since the gig I think that we will see more proper techno around Melbourne. I know I'll be doing my best to get some organised.

Here's some videos, with more available a bit later on the YouTube channel:


No comments:

Post a Comment