It was the long coming anticipated wait for the east coast brand – The Likes Of You – to finally come to Perth and grace one of our lucky clubs. With such a big scale event stampeding its way to the west, hosting not one, not two, but three high calibre international techno DJ’s – one would only presume that it would be hosted by no other than Perth’s very own infamous event venue, Villa. Full interview after the jump…
Upon walking up to the event at around 10:30pm, the streets seemed to be quite empty, with no line and lots of parking, it’s only natural to expect this at such an early stage. When I got inside the doors, there was already a small crowd circulating the main bar drinking, conversing, and having a little dance to the sounds of our very own, AarinF.
Being the only local to support such an overwhelming event, AarinF sure did not disappoint with his selection of deep and funky tech-house/techno tunes to accommodate the early crowd, who could still enjoy a dance and a chat with their mates, without being drowned out by loud music at such an early stage.
I thought Aarin’s set flowed quite nicely, and the tunes were well suited to the timeslot that he was appointed with. His set was constantly slowing building up as the minutes ticked by, where towards the end of his set, he had already accomplished having a small group of people not being shy to have a dance.
Before you knew it, it was already time for the first international – Seth Troxler – to take over the stage. While it still was fairly early in the night, Seth started off his set and took it down a notch to play some of what I describe as, really soulful & deep house tracks. This went down perfectly for not only the start of his set to build off, but also for the time slot, being 11pm.
Soon after Seth had commenced his set, and a trip to the bathroom, I walked out to what seemed a much more dense crowd than what I had originally seen. It was great to see more and more people slowly flowing through the doors for this event, along with more people slowly migrating to the dance floor. It wasn’t long til Seth decided it was time to pick his set up, where he started to slowly pick up the pace as each new track was mixed in.
From originally starting off with his selection of soulful & deep house, he then kept the same strategy but applying it to a more bumpy and tech-house sound, still incorporating the soulfulness of his opening tracks – this really seemed to get the crowd going, as come 12am, the dance floor was already packed with punters whistling and cheering for a very well deserved Seth Troxler, which I might add was one of the highlight sets of my night.
The second international to grace the podium was none other than Irish techno phenomenon, Phil Kieran. While he only had an hour to show Perth what he was about as opposed to Seth’s two hour set, he sure didn’t waste any time into getting the party started.
As some of you may know, Phil Kieran brought his live A/V show over to Perth to not only perform a live set consisting of all his own productions, but to also control all the accompanying visuals that went with it.
His live set consisted of two drop down screens either side of the podium, along with two TV’s located either side of his setup, all while wearing his infamous A/V glasses. I must say this sure was very exciting to watch, as from what I’ve seen, nothing similar has really been done in Perth.
Kieran’s set was hard, and I’m not talking Chemistry T.E.E. exam hard, I’m talking hard as f*****g concrete. For me, it was a massive change in atmosphere following on from Troxler, and I personally wasn’t expecting the intensity of his set, which could of probably been measured by a Richter Scale.
In my opinion, I thought his set was a little too hectic for the mood I had been placed in, let alone the time slot, but I think this is more of a personal opinion, as there were still a lot of people on the dance floor enjoying this unique experience.
I think the hour time slot he was given was perfect, as if it did go over, then I think my mood would have changed, but then again hearing other responses from attendees, it wasn’t long enough.
After Kieran’s live A/V show concluded, it was finally time for the man of the hour, or event I should say, being the third, and final international on the bill, was no other than Oliver Huntemann.
Having three hours to bless us with his presence, Oliver certainly did his best to keep the crowd entertained, and intensify what was already a lovely vibe. Starting off his set a lot softer than Kieran, was the most understandable decision as he had a whole three hours to work on, and he certainly smashed the expectations of punters throughout his whole set.
At this moment in time, you could possibly relate Huntemann to the likes of a German techno lecturer, portraying his vision and long time experience of this German techno sound to a mesmerised class of West Australian party-goers – and what an experience it was!
Playing a lot of his own productions mixed with some superior underground tunes, along with his flawless mixing and choice of tracks, he did nothing but impress the Perth crowd and live up to the high expectations that was anticipated from him.
Although I was unable to stay for his whole set, the few hours that I was lucky enough to experience was well worth it, and from what I hear, it looks like I missed out.
To finally wrap up this essay of a review, I must say that The Likes Of You was surely an event that will not be forgotten by many. With such a colossal line up of international DJ’s and great music, punters got every cent they paid for out of this event without a doubt.
