- Belfast’s twelfth installment run by Melbourne’s iconic Hardware is renowned for bringing together a diverse crowd. People range from old rave veterans who venture back onto the scene just for these parties, to the new skool, decked out in phat pants and wonky wear. Belfast is the event not to miss if you want a night full of old hits and great fun.
QBH was a welcome relief from the near freezing temperatures we had to endure for some time outside in the slow moving queue, even for us with tickets. From outside I could hear the last few songs of John Course’s set. As I walked in he was playing one of my all time favorites - Leftfield’s ‘Open Up.’ It was the perfect intro song for my night!
For once, the place was not jammed with people, comfortably full with plenty of room to move. Its times like these that I really agree that it is Melbourne’s super club and the venue for an event like Belfast. Green lasers spanned the room and rebounded off the massive disco ball. Avid dancers’ baby powder infused shuffling merged with smoke and light to create a hazy atmosphere. Everyone was decked out in their rave gear; from wonky wear, phat pants and even the older style bright, lycra outfits. Everyone used the occasion to dress up in their old party gear. The décor reflected the old skool theme- the well-known Belfast sunflower dominated the main dance floor, smiley faces resembling Pac Man hung from the roof. Motorola sponsorship messages dominated the visual screens, this is just one sign of how dance music industry has evolved, with sponsorship becoming an integral part of dance events these days.
I thought we would leave the trance for later and headed to the hip hop room. Although pretty empty, Kahlil had the small crowd bopping away. A favorite was Chi-Lites' song ‘Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So).’ He was mixing some laid back hip hop which was great to warm up to.
Back in the main room, Will E Tell steered away from his usual techno-minimal onslaught with a host of rave anthems and eighties and nineties classics. He moved up a notch and had the crowd cheering with ‘Total Confusion’. He had the ladies jumping onto the podiums with Salt and Pepa’s ‘Push It’. Will E played a swag of classics, such as ‘Age of Love’ a track that is often considered the one that helped pave the way for trance.
Following Kahlil, Rudeboy lured a substantial crowd into the side room with his funked-up ‘It Takes Two’ by Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock, although Kahlil had played it only minutes earlier. I have only ever heard Rudeboy’s techno sets but it was just as great to bop away to the funky disco and electro beats he served up.
Brewster B is known in the Melbourne scene for being the King of the chill-out room. Whilst djs in the main room would hold massive crowds with their focus on trance, Brewster would hold lure just as strong a crowd into the side room with his own style merging a variety to genres such as dub, breaks and two-step. Belfast was no different. In contrast to Rudeboy, Brewster moved the pace up significantly with some hip hop and break beat slammers, including Prodigy’s ‘Smack my bitch up’, Ice Cube and Grand Master Flash.
Due to illness, Midro was missing from the line-up. It would have been interesting to see what he would have played, if it was different from his usually predictable style. Lucky for me Ritchiecovered the time. Ritchie’s performance was definitely the highlight of the night. Initially he played some fairly melodic, orchestral trance but soon launched a full assault on the crowd, throwing out ‘Paragliders’ Paraglide’ and shortly after ‘Melt.’ I had been eagerly anticipating this track and it brought back memories of his infamous morning sets at Kryal. Ritchie’s sunrise sets are something that must never be missed.
I only managed ventured upstairs for a short time- where things were progressively harder. The sound was muffled though good time to sit at the bar stools, have a chat and watch the dancers.
Not only were the crowd absolutely loving every minute- the djs seemed like they never wanted to stop playing. Belfast really was a trip down memory lane and showed how the early roots of dance music has shaped the Melbourne scene into what it is today. There was no ‘old versus new’ school politics, just people coming together to have a great time.