A Guy Called Gerald in Brisbane

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  • No stranger to the wealth of artists that have made Brisbane a regular stop on their Australian tours, Bar Soma opens its doors to an eager and curious crowd that defy the sudden summer heat and long weekend fatigue to check out A Guy Called Gerald. Suitably enough, his name is Gerald, though many would know him simply as a forefather of jungle and early participant in a fledging music scene that became acid house. With such a diverse list of genres and accomplishments, and the intimate surrounds of Bar Soma's mezzanines and courtyards, there is an enthusiastic energy of expectation building as the cocktails begin to shake in earnest. A diverse crowd fell into the flow as Paleotech warmed into a long haul set of deep tech house. With the luxury of an extended warmup, he got the trainspotters buzzing with the moody blues guitar solo of the tongue-twisting Juan Maclean Backup Vox mix of Matthew Dear's "Pom Pom." Closing with an Octave One classic, Paleotech stepped off stage in a triumphant sweat and A Guy Called Gerald took his place. With the oldschool fans already cheering on the sunken dancefloor, and the bar full of high heels and skate shoes alike, Gerald kicked back into the deep tech sounds and worked the expanded PA with an immediate sub-heavy groove. As requests for jungle tracks trickled through, Gerald smiled over the top of his dual laptop setup and wound up the tempo into broken beats and bass. Performing with Propellorhead's Reason on each laptop, Gerald was able to mix and remix his tracks on the fly, and reworked his set as the crowd kept vocal and attentive to every mix. Moving through deep house, jungle and acid, Gerald played through the unusual heat with a fixed smile, signing over to Alex James and Little Fritter with a final epic sub-bass rattle. But while the duo dropped into an instant groove, it was too much for an overheated audience that took to the courtyard, the bar or an air conditioned taxi straight to Antarctica. Whilst Brisbane has been graced with an incredible quantity of touring acts and living legends over the last year, there remains something special about the chance to get up close and personal with a forefather of electronic music. Judging by the elated smiles on the melting masses slipping back out into the night, Gerald not only met the expectation of the oldschool, but cleanly stepped over the bar raised since his days as a 28 Gun Bad Boy.
RA