- Reviewing events is a curse: do enough of them and you start composing the review in your head while you're trying to dance. About halfway thorough War of the Worlds I decided I would break from my cynical pedantism and praise WOTW because, all problems aside, it had still managed to bring so many familiar faces out of the woodwork.
And while that still holds true, sound problems are again the lasting memory that most people will have of this year's War of the Worlds.
Last year, the main room's sound started out nice and clean, before starting to seriously degrade midway through the event, steadily losing clarity, crispness, and volume so much so that when De Bang De Funk dropped the Michael Forshaw remix of 'Nervehammer' at around 5.30am, Forshaw himself, standing straight in front of a speaker stack, didn't recognise his own track.
So it didn't look too good when, after the customary 20 minute delay opening the doors, punters flew into the main room to hear Craig
McWhinney and Matty Radovich mixing on a system that didn't even have a properly installed monitor, let alone sound clarity and bassy oomph.
If the system was this bad at the start of the night, what would it be like by the time Kazu came along?
Thankfully MC Whinney was at the peak of his form. Looking at ease behind the decks - even though he's never played an event of this size - Craig worked the mixer with flair and confidence. It was a warmup set that definitely thawed out punters frozen by the wait outside, with Craig starting off on an unashamedly tough note. Surely this is an up-and-comer who is truly on his way. Matty almost couldn't keep up!
For me, the next hour was a venue tour. In the Soundtrack Saga bar, Stew Gartley was playing an eclectic and polished mix while WOTW promoters were stressing about the brightness of the in-house downlights and absence of anything else.
After the late start to the night, Finna and MC Skillz managed to squeeze a full hour out of the Elementz room, which was warming up very nicely.
Of note in the NRG room, Hellraiser still had his shirt on.
Back in the main room, Degenerator and PDT started out with some stock standard booty but moved back to four on the floor material and livened things up with the odd tease of thumping hard techno.
Ben Cromack and Dave Rankine are two of Melbourne's technically tightest DJs and were never going to disappoint. Cromack was on point with his trademark cutting, and Rankine won many cheers when he dropped 'Blue Monday' - and then layered his way out of it with a typically ingenious, extended mix.
Moving to the Fractured room to catch Miss Kittin and The Hacker behind the decks the sound issues continued. In this room it was so bloody loud you could hardly hear the music for the distortion. My ears were screaming howls of protests (from behind their earplugs) and a pretty flat opening few tracks didn't stir my interest.
I got down and dirty to Ray Keith - ably supported by MC Skillz - for a few moments before returning to the main room, where Speedy J was setting up as the DEA rounded off what was, by all accounts, a lifeless live set.
More importantly, the sound had cut out as they played. Yep, just like the brilliant black plastic sheeting covering the dancefloor, that old Altona gremlin was back. The irony is that members of the DEA are regularly involved in big event sound production.
But it's not that funny when you consider that the crews responsible for WOTW's sound have been to Altona umpteen times and still haven't got it right.
It's also interesting to look at the WOTW press release which implied that the sound/cutout problem had been solved by these experienced technicians:
"WOTW V will be the first event operating under new permit conditions recently granted at Altona's Grand Sports and Entertainment Complex, the central hub for WOTW for the last six years; allowing for more space, facilities, people, and volume. As per usual, the Centre will be transformed into a neo-futuristic setting in which this awesome audio-visual experience will take place. The WOTW production team has over twenty years combined experience and has been preparing for this event for the last twelve months. Boasting a massive 10,000m2 of enclosed, soundproofed party space, this is one of the few venues that can accommodate an event of this scale, which this year is estimated to cap a record 6000 avid partygoers from all across Melbourne and interstate."
Famous last words, it would seem.
But back to the night, where the feverish anticipation for two blockbuster hours of Speedy J was about to climax.
I have to say that I was skeptical about Speedy J. People were raving about how he can play a set of industrial noise, but I'm a firm believer that one should go to a dance party to, well, dance. Chin-stroking purists may take issue with this generalisation, but at least in this case the sentiment holds weight: one doesn't go to a warehouse rave in Altona without their dancing shoes on.
I am delighted to confess that I was totally converted to Speedy J over the course of his set. Speedy had left his dancefloor unfriendly industrial whitenoise in Europe, playing a set that had the crowd captivated and enraptured from Play to Stop.
In fact, the only bits I found unsuited to the dancefloor were a couple of flat, minimalist links from tune to tune - although this was probably caused by the sound system's apparent intermittent inability to generate bass.
Speedy used his multitude of machines to create some of the most
spectacular layered loops I've heard in a live set - teasing, playing, assaulting the crowd.
All the big tunes were there, 'Pannik, 'Krekc', 'Krikc', all played with a real live feel to them. Showing the true quality and diversity of this set were older tracks like 'Three Oh Three', dating back all the way to 1991. This set fused so many styles and sounds and yet the end product was aural brilliance. Detroit influences, acid craziness, and mechanical sounds came together in harmony.
For almost two hours, it was absolutely sensational. Then the sound cut out.
Speedy at first didn't seem to compute what had happened. He was aghast. We were aghast. Then, with power lost to his machines, there was a lengthy delay in restarting everything and getting his loops back in order.
It was worth the wait, however, Speedy playing a little longer to cover Kittin and Hacker having some sound problems setting up. His final encore was his dancefloor-demolishing remix of 'Point Blank'. With Speedy applying what I can only describe as a live digital 'scratching' effect, any doubters left in the audience were silenced.
After the show Jochem was understandably outspoken about the sound problems. Regardless, the crowd saw through the issues out of his control and were blown away by an incredible performance. The man himself said it best on his website:
"it was really good to see so many people did enjoy the set in melbourne despite the disasterous production. it was the worst i have seen in years. absolutely dreadful soundsystem and a totally clueless soundcrew. 30 minutes into my set i was on the verge of walking off the stage, but after all the amazing feedback afterwards i was glad i didn't. thank you all."
Miss Kittin and The Hacker had a big challenge in front of them to keep the attention of a dancefloor hungry for more hard lessons in techno. Unfortunately, they didn't keep a few people's interests very long at all, a rather shaky start (more sound problems!) giving way to an uninspiring opening tune.
For me it was no great loss, because no sooner had I left the main room than I was lured to the Elementz room by DJ Trace's stupidly good drumnbass like a sailor to a Siren.
Trace played a diverse array of tunes in his set that was sometimes dark, sometimes upbeat, but always intense. The set had a devilishly good energy to it, which was exactly what Kittin and Hacker were lacking, so I was more than happy to drip sweat all over the dancefloor.
The MC was on the money, and not the only Adelaide resident in the room either, with DJ Devious all smiles as he soaked up the action-packed tunes and vibe.
The sound in the Elementz room was perfect, which is a word normally associated with Simon Mark's infamous Funktion-One system. Simon was, as ever, tuning and re-tuning, although perhaps a little more grumpily, WOTW telling him to kill the rear speakers as the nearby sound limiter was being affected and making the sound in the main room cut out.
My love affair with DJ Trace was cut short by the imminent start of a man with whom it's plain to see, if you check out the articles on his DJ page, I'm more than a little infatuated.
In my humble opinion, Kazu Kimura is Australia's best DJ. He's never disappointed, and I prayed that the sound system would hold together for this too-rare treat.
As I entered, Miss Kittin was singing what could be called a downtempo rendition of my favourite track of theirs, 'Stock Exchange'. The pair still seemed as unremarkable and flat as when I'd left them.
The encore was 'Sweet Dreams', and then...silence. Surely the encore wasn't more stalling to solve sound difficulties?
Kazu started softly, nudged the volume, and we settled into his first track. Then, just as we were settled, the sound cut.
The process repeated itself twice more, with lengthening silences driving most of the people elsewhere - possibly because that
dnb Siren song was so clear you could dance to it in the main room!
Kazu eventually got going properly and played out a downtempo first half, both to lead out from Kittin and Hacker and as a result of the ongoing problems with volume and bass.
Kazu, to his credit, played a deliciously good calibre of his loop-based minimal techno, and just as at his previous Melbourne appearance at Ishtar in July 2002, lots of tunes you've never heard before gave the set a real 'underground' feel. Hard moments were more frequent towards the end, completing another musically tight set from the master.
A further cutout did not auger well for De Bang De Funk, with Dallas
trialling the second console during Kazu's set. Would it all come together?
In a word, no. Many moments of silence and low volume marred another rare treat as Dallas was joined by Dave Pham. The boys were never allowed the volume their track selection needed and as such looked and sounded unsettled and, well, quiet.
With the sun rising on Altona, Devious got behind the decks to belt out his characteristic cavalcade of hits thrown together with ambitious, rough as guts mixing. In other words, he was well-received by the dwindling stayers in the daylight-filled Leisure Centre.
Finally, with Richie Rich going AWOL, Gavin Martin was left to take the floor home. He did so with a very tidy set of older, proggier, trancier classics, which went down a real treat and were an excellent end to proceedings.
I had buckets of fun at WOTW but it was not without a serious dose of frustration. The sound situation was an insult to the skills of the superlative lineup, an embarrassment to its technicians, and I seriously question why it had so many problems. Regardless of the claim that it was the dnb room, not the main room setting off the limiter, Surely the thing is tested beforehand?
Let's not forget that cutouts weren't the only problem with sound. The electro room was abysmal. From the start the main room lacked clarity, volume, and bass. Why?
None of the problems with Altona sound have been solved, in fact they've gotten worse. Before the event I invited all the crews behind the event to get us excited about the production. None of them answered the questions about sound. A bad omen?
As I alluded to a few thousand words ago, War of the Worlds stirs up a unique excitement in the Melbourne scene. So many people get so pumped for it. People who have supposedly retired from partying come out again with their friends for this massive event. The party has a very special vibe and I pray the debacles of 2049 haven't stopped the WOTW momentum.
I can only hope that next year the extraordinary promotional network behind the brand can promise the punters that all the excitement won't again end in disappointment.
A footnote: it would be remiss of me not to mention a late change to the lineup. Cecille replaced Mike Callander, out of action after a violent assault a couple of nights earlier at a weekly gig. Incidents of this nature are thankfully not something Melbourne's techno/electro community need to fear as a matter of course, but when something like this does happen it's a fucking outrage. Our sincere wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Mr Callander.