- Two Tribes is an event that most of us look forward to year in year out and this year was no exception especially with names like Dave Seaman, The Prodigy, Grandmaster Flash, Armand Van Helden, Andy Farley, Jan Johnson and plenty more on the bill. There was however an array of the unknown this year as the event was held at Sydney's Superdome which gave it a totally different feel. However there was one thing that wouldn’t differ and that was that Two Tribes is known to bring together a vast choice of genres including Godskitchen, Futurebreaks, Plastic and Renaissance which guarantees that there will be an arena to suit everyone in attendance.
Arriving through the loading dock at around 11pm we were greeted by a shower or foam coming out of the foam bath in the amusement area. There were already hoards of people awaiting their turn on the rides and upon entry into the stage area of the main arena the dance floor was already jam packed with punters gathering around claiming there rightful spots front and centre in anticipation for the start of The Prodigy's set.
With the main stage being our first stop we entered to the sound of Kid Kenobi's signature breaks together with the voice of sidekick MC Shureshock who sure were getting the crowd pumping. Every time I took a look at the dance floor it seemed to get more crammed by the minute. As Kenobi dropped 'Flashdance' the crowd erupted into a frenzy and you could just feel the excitement in the air.
When The Prodigy finally arrived on stage a little later than expected, the looks of joy on the punters faces quickly turned into disappointment as after only 2 tracks the sound system died completely due to technical difficulties. We were assured by technicians that the problem would be fixed promptly but as the clock kept ticking the crowd grew more and more disappointed and impatient. After figuring out that it was a problem with the live equipment and that the decks were still in order, Peewee attempted to save the day and managed to jump behind the decks and serve up some hard house to keep peoples frustrations to a minimum. It seemed to work wonders as there were people starting to bounce around and the smiles returned on those angry faces.
I decided to take a walk up into the grand stand with a few friends while we waited for the Prodigy to return and it turned out to be a huge mistake as once we had entered the grand stand security wasn’t letting anyone back down to the dance floor as it was "full". Much to my disappointment The Prodigy returned on stage while I was waiting to get back down into the action. After waiting for what seemed like forever I was finally released from the seating area and made my way back down to the front of the stage. They sure were an entertaining act with their freaky eye make up and costumes not to mention those evil eyes glaring down at the crowd.
After around 4 tracks I decided to take a wander around to the other arenas. Bumping into familiar faces along the way we finally made it to the Renaissance room where Luke Chable was behind the decks, much to my surprise there was a serious lack of crowd action with no more that 30 people on the dancefloor. I put this down to the fact that The Prodigy we still at it in the main room. Luke held it together well and didn’t seem to let it bother him that he was playing to virtually no audience. Moving on to Futurebreaks just as Grandmaster Flash was about to jump onto the decks where he proceeded to churn out some very impressive scratching and hip-hop.
Due to the technical difficulties in the main arena Armand Van Helden's set overlapped with the Grandmasters so we had to cut our visit to Futurebreaks short in order to catch a little bit of Armand's set before heading back to the Renaissance room for Dave Seaman. Armand seemed to have the crowd in the palm of his hand whilst serving up some huge banging house tunes. I couldn’t stay long though as I knew the Dave Seaman was about to come on in the Renaissance room so we made our way down there and found the spot that we intended to call home for the rest of the night. Seaman did not disappoint his devoted fans and had them bouncing and bopping all over the place by playing some huge progressive tracks. Despite the crowd not filling out as much as one would have hoped, Dave took it in his stride and looked to be having a fabulous time up on the decks egging the crowd on and creating a fantastic atmosphere.
With aching legs and sandy eyes I decided to call it a night shortly after Junior Sanchez appeared on the decks. So that was another Two Tribes gone and what a great night it was.