If I cast my mind back to mid ‘06, I can recall sitting at the Abercrombie Hotel, on a Thursday night at inhale, drinking beers and talking garbage with Boot, one of the regulars. We had a good laugh about how much fun a DnB boat cruise would be… It took two years, but the 4th Quadrant guys have come through with the goods, for their 3rd birthday bash.
Standing around on king street wharf at 7:45pm on a Friday night, it wasn’t too hard to spot who was there for the DnB boat cruise… Hoodies and Camo pants, sneakers and spliffs, it was not your usual Cargo bar or Bungalow 8 crowd, and looked well out of place standing out the front of Cargo Bar. At about 8:30, the Lady Wakehurst docked and we boarded for what was going to be 6 hours of fun. The first thing you noticed when walking on board, was that there was food being served. A smart idea, seeing as people would probably be drinking copious amounts of alcohol, and being on a boat, getting some food into them to settle their stomach was a great way to ensure the night didn’t get too messy and out of hand.
As you walked into the main room, you couldn’t help but notice the Hijack sound system, which I have praised time and time again. It looked huge, massive even. The fact the ceilings on the boat were low, also made the system look bigger than it probably was. I couldn’t wait to hear this thing crank, and was a little worried about the soundwaves and vibrations causing structural damage to the ex manly ferry.
As we set off, the night started out with some hip hop, which is always a good start to the night. Having progression is great, it means you can get warmed up and into the mood, and not have tear-out 170bpm drum n’ bass from start till end. To my surprise though, the progression that the 4th Quad lads had planned for the night worked really well, and covered 4-5 Genres. After the hip hop there was some dubstep, followed by reggae, then old school jungle vibes, backed up with early rave beats, before hitting the DnB. It was the perfect way to build up a night.
I had spent most of the night outside on the deck, taking in the views of our magnificent city by night. It was a clear night, and not to cold, the perfect night to be out on the water. As we slowly drifted around the inner harbour, I wandered in and out of the boat, up and down on both decks, constantly attending to my well lubricated friend, who provided moments of hilarity, such as, “Its so nice being outside, there are stars… and shit”. It was at this point I realised that everyone on the boat was just there for a good time. Everyone was friendly and up for a boogie, there was no one too drunk and throwing up over the edge and it was smiles all round.
Unfortunately, I didn’t spend much time inside actually listening to the music, because the vibe on the boat was so good, I was having way too much fun to notice who was playing what tracks and how DJs sets were… Though a few standouts that I do remember though, and made me get up and have a dance, were Reload dropping Ed Rush and Optical’s infamous track Alien Girl, and then either using the ‘echo’ effect; either that or he was using 2 copies of the record to bounce the snare back and forward (knowing the skills and having seen him in action on many occasion, I’d be gambling on the latter). Another high point was hearing Aggrovator drop a DnB bootleg of Layo & Bushwacker’s Love Story, which was just pure bliss. Great night was had, and the bonus of free entry to Home after the cruise sweetened the deal. If only all 3rd birthday parties could be this much fun…
