Andy C & MC GQ Nightlife Tour @ Home Nightclub, Sydney (24/01/08)
With the Australia Day long weekend bringing with it a whole bunch of musical festivities along with it, there’s a whole bunch of awesome shows going on that although they fall in the middle of the week, simply can’t be missed. This was exactly the case last night as one of the best drum n’ bass DJs in the world hit Home Nightclub as part of their Nightlife Tour, presented by the Fracture Factory crew. Accompanying Andy C on the night was his right hand man MC GQ, delivering some punishing lyrics over the top of the layered wall of sound that Andy C usually creates in his sets. This year Andy C celebrates 15 successful years running his label Ram Records and the release of his latest album Nightlife 4. Last year saw Andy C reign supreme once more as he was crowned ‘Best DJ’ by Drum n’ Nass Arena for the 6th successive year; a record for the drum n’ bass industry. Also playing on the night is a nice collection of Aussie talent including Murda 1, Nick Toth and K-Note and Ritual going back to back with Spikey Tee.
We arrived at Home at 11pm, quickly moving through the line whilst in the background you could already hear the booming bass oozing out of the doors. Inside the club was nicely full with many people milling around while Murda 1 laid down some nasty tunes with K-Note on MC duties. The duo warmed up the crowd nicely with an assortment of frantic rolling tunes before finishing up with some slower bouncier tunes. Andy C was billed to play from 12.30am for 2 hours and with the start delayed by about 15 minutes, you could really feel the anticipation in the crowd culminating in roaring applause when he finally stepped up to the decks. As a few sound issues were sorted, MC GQ filled in the time by introducing their act and reminiscing on the tours to Sydney in previous years, but before long the first track was dropped sending the dance floor into an absolute frenzy.
Now for the next two hours we were treated to a barrage of quality tracks all layered over each other with Andy C skilfully working the three CDJs to build up his trademark sound. It seemed like there was not a single point where he did not have elements of two or three different tracks playing, which created an enormous sound that was lapped up by punters on the dance floor. His mixing was flawless throughout the set and he made sure not to overwork the rewind (with my rewind count hitting 6). However each time a rewind was worked into the set it resulted in the some monster tracks being dropped. The style of tracks varied quite a bit throughout the set and covered a broad spectrum of producers and sounds. One thing they all had in common was that each tune had a huge bass line, whether it was wobbly, rolling or simply head-caving droning goodness they all sounded damn good. The most important thing to mention was how the whole set was really dance floor friendly and this was definitely reflected in the vibe out on the dance floor.
Throughout the set MC GQ really added to the set with well measured doses of his entertaining musings carrying a strong UK flavour. His voice also has that perfect deep timbre which sounds great no matter what he is saying. The duo worked together to create some amazingly large buildups, and consequently equally as devastating drops, and GQ’s friendly interaction with the crowd also added nicely to the atmosphere. Meanwhile Andy C, as always, was looking cool and collected bopping away in a baseball cap and occasionally firing up as a huge drop approached. The two hours simply flew by and they played a little longer than expected until about 3am and GQ closing off the performance with a short farewell promising to return next year.
Overall, it was a great Thursday night out and I was blown away by the talent and skills Andy C displayed on the decks. Track selection was good and varied and the set built up nicely towards the end. The layered mix was complemented perfectly by MC GQ, whose voice sounded huge as he punched out cheeky lyrics all night long. Production wise the sound was damn loud and perhaps could have been clearer, the lighting and lasers were top notch as always at Home and the crowd was friendly and many punters were getting quite loose and generally enjoying themselves. If this sounds like your cup of tea then make sure to catch Andy C next time he is out, see you at the next one!
Stealth_M0de says...
Mate, were we at the same event cause i thought it was the worst andy c gig i have ever seen. i have seen him atleast 4 times now and i have to say that this was the worst.. Not that this was andy's fault but once he came on the sound was totally SHITE!!!!! i could hardly stand to be inside cause i knew how good it could have sounded but it just never got there. there was a resining hum over his whole set and unless u were right up the front then it was hard to actually distinguish what he was playing.. I was very disapointed with the whole set mainly because of the sound and this isnt the first time it has been terrible for DnB at home. Much respect to andy c, GQ and the other dj's i have been supporting the syd dnb scene for over 8 years now and every so often this shit happens but hey what do u do!?!? dont think i will be visiting home again any time soon.
Andrew Wowk says...
I have the agree the sound was absolutely disgraceful. But Andy was awesome! Murda 1 and Spike Tee were dope as well.
Minion says...
I totally agree. The sound quality at Home is terrible! I have seen Andy C the last four time he has come out to play