- Sydney loves a festival. There's basically one on every week during the summer. But while that's all well and good for those who want to spend a day seeing almost every DJ in the world rammed into a ridiculously crammed schedule, it's a real kick in the balls for those who have to wait a year—or sometimes more—to see their favourite DJ and only get a chance to see them for a one hour set that is often cheesed up because of the time constraints.
To say that Sydney is pretty much clueless, when it comes to the art of an extended club set, is an understatement. That's why I love One Night Only, promoters that understand that a DJ gets better the more room that you give them. And although they couldn't quite get John Digweed in for an extended set this time around, that they could interrupt his tight schedule and fit in a club set at all deserves credit.
Photo credit: Patrick Munoz
Before Diggers stepped up for his performance, there was a small matter of Way Out West to attend to. After seeing them before on a few occasions, I knew what to expect. There is no visual extravaganza, and, to be honest, they don't need one. Their productions are memorable enough that it would only take a backseat. They played some older stuff such as "Ajare," "The Fall" and "The Gift" and sprinkled in some newer material as well. ("Future Perfect" and "We Love Machine" got a play amongst others.) "Mindcircus," of course, had the biggest response, with the ladies—and a few lads—singing along in delight.
Apart from the vocals on his opening tune—Ribn's Vox mix of Steve Bug's "Like It Should Be"—there wasn't much for the ladies to sing along to in Digweed's three hour set. It was a relentless chug, a collection of chunky and pounding club hits that you assuredly wouldn't hear from him at Future Music Festival. He did have time for some big tunes, be it Nic Fanciulli's remix of "Pushin Too Hard," the groovy Fever mix of his Robert Babicz's "Darkflower" or the ridiculously large Eric Prydz remix of Faithless' new single "Not Coming Home" which closed things. It was a night mostly filled with dark underground tracks that had me looking at my mates in disbelief. Thanks to the higher than necessary volume levels, it also left the basslines shaking my internal organs for the next two days.