- Groovejet opened recently in Melbourne with a quiet night and little word around the traps. Tonight though was a different affair with Sydney progressive house DJ Ben Korbel making his Melbourne debut at Groovejet.
I arrived at Groovejet at Two Floors up just before midnight. It seems the renovations at this club are never-ending. Please stop tinkering and get it right soon cause I feel uncomfortable in surroundings that are in a constant state of flux.
The first floor bar area was open with a DJ playing some nicely chilled house music. The club was very quiet and I wondered how many people in Melbourne had even heard of Ben Korbel. It was going to be an interesting night. Close to 1am Luc Weisman took over the decks and played a mixture of progressive house and house, keeping a warm vibe in the club.
The top floor of the club had opened by this point and I headed up to check it out. Gavin Keitel was on decks and by now the people were starting to flow into the club and onto the dance foor. Progressive house is my thing, but I was still warming up for the evening so Gavin could not tempt me onto the floor.
By the time Ben Korbel made it to the decks at 2.15am the top floor of the club had become full of people curious to see him play Melbourne debut. While I have seen Ben play before, it seems I underestimated how many people had heard of him and it was nice to see such support for a Sydney prog DJ. Ben started his set with some rolling deep basslines and a huge dose of funk. It was the kind of progressive house tunes and grab you hook line and sink and get you into the mood. Slowly though over the next hour the funk died away and the house took over. People started to drift off the floor and some even called it a night as the house took over from the progressive house. Too much saxophone, too much house.
At this point I starting to worry. This was different to the sets I'd seen Ben play at Passion and Sweet Chilli, and definately not to the taste of the Melbourne punters. I hung in there though because his set at Sweet Chilli had shifted through a lot of sounds in the one night. My friend Shane sensed it first with his killer trainspotting instinct. He turned to me and said, "I think this track will be the turning point", and he was right. With one tune Ben turned the set around, and then came the progressive breaks number that won us back. As soon as I heard the first few bars I headed directly for the dance floor where I stayed for the next hour. Ben was working feverishly at the mix and had found his stride again. From then onwards he played just what I had come to hear; fresh tunes, sublime tracks, put together in the way that showcased his unique style of progressive house. By 4.30am I called it a night, leaving the club with a smile and my friends dancing away as Ben played on.