Progression Project @ The Civic Underground, Sydney (05/07/08)
“Were you at Armin? What did you think of Tiesto? Didn’t I see you at Astrix?” The devoted trance crew of Sydney take their pleasures seriously, and weren’t going to miss an intimate night of said pleasures at the Civic Underground. This was the same weekend as Sensation in Amsterdam but alas, we couldn’t all make it over this time! But the disappointment was easily melted away by Progression Project, a night that’s recently been firing up the trance torch in Sydney, taking advantage of our awesome local talent (and believe me, they’re up for it).
Tonight’s mission also crossed over to the dark side with a set from progressive house Jedi Matt Rowan. He set the vibe early with the lush key pads and grooving basslines he’s famous for, and it kicked along. While the more than respectable crowd at the Civic seemed a bit less than appreciative, I’m sure it was just the genre. Most of the peeps there probably thought this was chillout, but somehow couldn’t stop themselves from tapping and nodding. Matt catered to the feel of the room by edging into harder techno territory and just touching into the red with some steadier prog trance. It totally worked and the dance floor got seriously moving. Then with 15 minutes of his set to go, he couldn’t contain himself for one more beat…and down dropped the funked out groovy bass from Pepe’s Garden from Matt’s production pal Jaytech. Hands in the air time. Nice!
Changing over to Pato was smooth as. He showed us the meaning of the steady meticulous build. Blending in with Matt’s vibe, he walked the wire between faster progressive house and techier trance, and built slowly up over an hour to the epic tracks that his crowd went spaz over. Highlights were the First State bootleg of Plain White T’s Let Me Take You There, followed closely by Armin van Buuren’s Going Wrong. Totally hands up and singalong time.
Another hour of uplifting vocals, and then TranceTribe godfather Scott Richardson stepped up to the decks, raised his hands to the clouds, spoke the words of power and without preamble, unleashed the storm. Driving and delicious. I’d overheard Scott talking up the Civic’s awesome sound setup earlier. Apparently the uber-mixer is so elite that to mix a set on her is like having sweet sexy time. Seems that tonight she just wanted it harder and faster! Fat Boy Slim’s Right Here Right Now (quite possibly the Vardran bootleg) set the scene for hectic hours of harder progressive. Loved it. So did the mixer obviously. It seemed like years later that Rossco took over, easing off the throttle and firing off the parachutes as he re-entered conventional airspace with Rui Da Silva’s Touch Me.
So who was that tard who said trance was dead? Or that it’s somehow evolved into progressive house and flown away? Not in this town baby! Progression Project has got those electrodes jacked in and the safety off. So who’s up for Godskitchen? Raaaaaaa!
HungryHippo says...
Wish i went :(