What a huge day! Arrived in Sydney at 11:30am and met up with DJ Habebe and Anyo (two other competitors in the Heineken DJ Comp) at the airport. From that moment the rest of the day was huge rush. Ended up arriving at the venue (Randwick Racecourse) at around 2pm and met up with Mo Funk and Jimmy B (the other competitors in the Heineken DJ Comp) and Switch, the winner from NZ. Couldn't have met a nicer bunch of guys!!
It wasn't long before each of us went on stage to perform our short sets. Unfortunately we all had problems with the equipment in some way, whether it was turntables skipping or CDs/cards not reading properly or at all. Seems like the software in the Pioneer DVJs is different to the CDJ 1000s. But the show must go on! I had to revert to using vinyl for my set (lucky I took some!!), dropping Sweet Dreams/Insatiable(acc)/Feel 4 U (acc)/Shake it/Stand Up(acc)/Pump up the Jam/Don't Hold Back and Lanzarote. Received a good response and some great feedback from people, including from judges and promoters. Each of the other competitors put on a great performance and I was certainly impressed. Jimmy B was the choice and much congrats!!
Roger Sanchez then stepped up and played a massive 3 hour set, demonstrating why he is considered to be one of the world's best house DJs. His band was simply amazing (with Lisa Pure on vocals) and they certainly left a huge impression on the 3000 strong crowd. Erick Morillo followed on with a 3 hour set of awesome tough house (and sometimes progressive) tracks, with Shawnee Taylor supplying her amazing (live) vocals on a few tracks. Also ran into Carl Kennedy (who did an impromptu interview over the phone on SoulGood!) with Roger Sanchez also contributing!
From there, went to the after party at SoHo and then off to enjoy some of the landmarks of Sydney in the early hours of the morning.... A night that I certainly will never forget. Thanks to all the ppl at Heineken/The Shop especially Michelle, Jade & Clare. Made some great contacts, had a great time and met some of the nicest people in great company.
Click here to view the video!
Click below for the photos!
