- After spending most my night at a 60th birthday party it was time for a change of pace. So at one on the dot I arrived at Room680. You really know you are in Melbourne when the guest list line is running half way down the street and the paying customer line is non-existent. So after a five or ten minute wait I headed inside for the first time in quite a while. My first impression was that the place is looking great. The new décor and functioning air conditioning have really given the place a lift. One feature however left me puzzled. Off to the side in the main room is a new podium in the form of a cage. All night I was expecting muscle bound men in hot pants to take their place but they never appeared. I guess it was their night off.
Musically, Dave Seaman was taking no prisoners. He was acting like the type of guy that doesn’t even bother to buy the girl a drink. He just takes her straight home, forgets all about the foreplay and gets straight down to business. The music was thumping. Soon, the thumping gave way to banging, but thankfully, he soon inserted a bit more bounce to give every ones ears a bit of a rest. Mixing wise Seaman was pretty spot on. There was one questionable moment when he decided he could cover up a double beat by completely cutting out the bass. Interesting to say the least. But from there on in he seemed to sort himself out. It soon came around to two o’clock and Seaman was hinting that I should check the sideroom out. His least subtle hint came in the form of a breakdown that would’ve made Paul van Dyk proud…I only just managed to refrain from tearing off my t-shirt and reaching for the lasers. Time to head off.
Waltzing into the side room I was disappointed to find I had missed Jono Fernandez’s set. However, I soon forgot all about this when Keltec’s breaks started to kick in. Now this was more like it. About 15 minutes in and the set was progressing very nicely. Then out jumped a remix of Britney Spears- Toxic, and the set heated up even further! Two tracks later and it was time for my wallflower impression to end. This was a very rare occasion. Me, a white boy, stone cold sober and dancing! These were the types of breaks that really get me going. Very little treble getting in the way of the all important bass. The type of breaks that make you want to replace all your F’s with PH’s, wear a baseball cap and start calling everything dope. Soon I retreated to my seat, well and truly exhausted. From here the bass was eased and some treble snuck its way back in. Nubreed- One Day seemed to get the crowd all riled up. However, as I found all night in the sideroom, everything seemed to move in inexplicable waves. One second the dance floor would be thinning, the next it would be pumping. I decided to leave on a high.
Back in the main room and nothing much had change. Either there was construction work going on next door or Seaman was banging it out. What happened next was cause for some deep thought. In 2003 I had been lucky enough to see DJ Dexter play at the Prince of Wales. He showed me that it was possible for a good DJ to work in a track that you hate, and make you want to dance to it. His gift really is amazing. Dave Seaman on the other hand did quite the opposite. He took a track that I like, Starsailor- Four to the floor (Thin White Duke mix), and made me want to leave the building. Successfully proving that DJing is far more than slapping vinyl on some decks. A few more ear bleeding tracks and he finally calmed the music down a bit. So for half an hour he actually played some prog that was quite enjoyable. I thought it was in the best interests of this review that I head to the side room while I was enjoying the music.
Behind the decks now was Luke Chable. When I arrived he was playing some breaks. However, some housier elements crept their way into his set and presented us with some really good prog. Every now and again the crowd would be rejoining the dance floor but they didn’t really seem to be biting. The turning point was probably Luke Chable – Melburn which eased us into some prog breaks and got everyone dancing again. From here he worked his way onto Nubreed- One Day. This disappointed me a bit as we’d already heard Keltec play it just over an hour earlier. I’m a firm believer that DJs really need to get to club much earlier than their set to prevent things like this happening. That said, once again the crowd were loving it. Five o’clock was fast approaching so I decided to say goodbye for one last time to the side room in time for Phil K.
At exactly 5 o’clock Dave Seaman wrapped up his set and made way for Phil, without so much as one encore track. I guess this is to be expected after he has just spent four whole hours behind the decks. Phil decided to kick things off with some nice and dirty prog. I didn’t spot any of the tracks but there were plenty of distorted vocals for our enjoyment. For half an hour I used my final energy reserves to dance some more. The club was still absolutely rammed, but you could see in everyone’s eyes that Phil wasn’t quite providing them with the goods they needed. Personally though I thought the first half hour was just what the doctor ordered. Slowly some breaks snuck their nose in, and things were still sounding good. At the half hour mark, one breakdown signalled that he was ready to clean off some of the dirt and make it a tiny bit more uplifting. For me, that was to be the end of the night. Severe exhaustion was starting to kick in and I wanted to have the best chance of avoiding poles in my car on the way home.
On the drive home, I decided the only way to keep myself awake was to do some analysis of the night. All night the club was P.A.C.K.E.D. Although the great thing was, there were a few raised areas that acted as an oasis. Plenty of room to move and quick access to the bar. The air con was working overtime and the sound was actually quite good. Room had truly proven itself as a great venue for an event of this size. Personally, although he played exactly what I’d expected, Dave Seaman didn’t do a thing for me. Although his brand of big room prog really did please the masses. I really enjoyed myself in the side room, but that’s not what you spend the ticket price for. Phil K started off really well. He was just an unfortunate victim of poorly planned set times. I think everyone could’ve benefited if Dave Seaman had started an hour earlier. So overall I wasn’t exactly impressed. If I was able to spend longer with Phil I’m sure my views on the night would’ve been improved. However, I can only review what I actually experienced.