- As had been advertised for one of the biggest nights in Melb for house followers of 2002, the 7th of Dec saw the return of Sasha, first time back since NYE 2000/1. With such a prominent reputation and hype that had sustained since Agent Mad first announced his Australian tour, the prog-house community had been eagerly awaiting his performance at QBH on the Southbank. I had made the trip down from Sydney for this one after such a mind blowing performance by the Man Like a week prior. With mixed reports about the venue and his later 1-4am set time, Saturday couldnt come any quicker.
After a brief walk to southern edge of Melbourne city and a walk over the Yarra, QBH already had many an up-for-it punter pumped and ready. Upon entering it was obvious that the club had quiet a huge capacity and was easily going to accomodate the 3000+ clubbers who apparently had bought tickets. Many seemed quite reclusive during Gavin Keitel's warm up set, perhaps daring not to weat themselves down before Sasha graced the decks. In comparison to Ben Korbels warm up set, Gavin lifted the tempo quite a deal more and was really looking to keep the people going until the Man entered. A minor scare arrived when 10 mins before 1am, the group of six speakers to the left of the stage seemed to blow and many stopped in astonishment. Luckily after only a short break and to the cheer of the crowd, the beats arrived back and so did Extramode "Beautiful Day". Sasha finally peeped his way onto the stage just after 1 and all began cheering his name and clapping in appreciation. A commonly known Sasha smirk covered his face and his presence was known.
Sasha dropped back the tempo quite dramatically with his first track "Requiem" (from ADD) and he gave signs of that trademark cruisy breaks opening to his recent sets. But this punter was proved wrong when the kicks and basselines began to dominate as early as track 3 and it looked like Sasha was in one of the those, "lets $%&! the minds of everybody here" mood. He teased with the melodies before turning back to more minimal percussions of house. This set to me followed more your bell shaped curved opposed to his Sydney set which was more exponentially graphed. It seemed like Sasha wanted to take the crowd till the last hour before things started to blast. Every now and again he would raise a wry smile and he pre-emted the kick of a track to return, whilst fiddling with his equalizers then cranking the music back in your face. Many wanted to get to the front to take snaps or even possibly get a signature from the Man Like but tonight he was intently concentrated in the groove. By 3am the trademark uplifting Sasha trance/prog house music was being delivered to the delight of many, including yours truly and many did not want 4 am to arrive. When he whipped out 3D Dinosaur Adventure from Underworld (Funk D'Void mix) the night for me had reached its climax. Expectingly many waiting for the Underworld and Sasha mash-up "Cowpander" to be his finale and sure it was. This tune can be timeless and it certainly saw many clubbers raise there hands in bliss. Kasey Taylor, no doubt Melbourne's finest talent in the same field followed Sasha, always a hard job but he certainly didn't fail. With a flight to catch some 4 hours later this man left the QBH not long after, really happy he made the journey, no doubt one i would never reconsider for the Man Like.
His performances here are few and far between and always the highlights of musical progression. Those that had never been priviledged enough to be entertained by the man dubbed as the best in the world, were opened to a world you can never turn back from. Those like myself, that had been lucky enough to hear him before, were only enlightened into why he continually creates so much attention amonst clubbers, media and promoters alike.I could afford to be critical of his performance after such an enthrawling afternoon in Sydney a week earlier and only believed he could have programmed his set a little differently. All we can hope is Sasha maintains his high level of DJ'ing and production work til we are blessed with his presence in perhaps another 2 years time.
for the trainspotters (in rough order):
Sasha - Requiem
Sarguess - Alola
Deceptions - Western Approaches
Sander K - unknown
ADD - Use only the Drugs
Sasha - Immortal
Circulation - Silver
Depeche Mode - Dream On (new remix?)
JXL - Beauty Never Fades (dub mix)
Barry van Guardigan - Resolution
Sasha - Bloodlock
James Holden - Nothing (93 Returning Mix)
JXL - Beauty Never Fades (original)
Fluke - Pulse (trisco mix)
Syntax - Pray (instrumental)
Underworld - 3D Dinosaur Adventure (Funk D'Void Mix)
Mike Koglin vs Sasha - Enjoy the Gravy (James Zabiela mix)
Sasha vs Underworld - Cowpander