- John Digweed finally made his first public appearance in 4 years in Sydney, and it was well worth the wait. John managed to fly into Sydney shores late last year and play at an industry party to a select few, but this time thanks to the crew at Sweetchilli, it was a packed Home Nightclub that lay witness to one of the most respected DJ’s going around.
Both Ben Korbel and Robbie Lowe started the night perfectly, with Robbie especially building a tasty mellow groove with some crisp tech house and smooth house. It was another top draw warm up set by one of Sydney’s finest. It was then left to John to take control at just after one. The place was jammed pack and the main room was in heat and ready for Diggers to deliver again, beginning a football style ‘Digweed’ chant to welcome the man from Hastings.
It was an interesting first hour from John, and after a great few opening tracks I feel he struggled to get a good groove for the first hour, despite the fact that there were some solid tunes in that period. After the first hour though, it was business as usual, as he turned the pace up a bit and really got a good flow happening. It was a pulsating set to be honest, with some very tasty and deep basslines ruling the way for the 5 hour set. The mixing was pretty incredible after the first hour, with tracks melting together in true Digweed fashion.
There were also some fantastic builds from John, with perhaps the highlight being when John teased with ‘Linguila’ for a good 5-10 minutes before dropping the opening basslines of Pryda’s ‘Aftermath’. My personal highlight was when he went back down to memory lane and unleashed the very seductive ‘Suggestive’ by Advances. Here is a short selection of some of the fine production he whipped out on the night.
Lindstrøm – ‘I Feel Space’
Pryda – ‘Aftermath’ (Digweed Edit)
Gutterstylz – ‘Dirtbox’
Advances – ‘Suggestive’
DJ Phunk - 'Phun & Phunky'
Technotronic – ‘Pump Up The Jam (Gians Dub)’
Galaperande – ‘Linguila’
Luke Walker – ‘Alias’
Bedrock – ‘Santiago’
Wonderland Avenue – ‘White Horse’
Felix Da Housecat – ‘Silver Screen’ (Remix)
James Holden – ‘The Wheel’
Guy Gerber – ‘Stoppage Time’
Overall it was an excellent set from John. I couldn’t help but feel it had a bit of a Danny Howells feel to it at times, with a constant array of low end rumbles and chunky drums. What is also clear is his ability to mix things up, as this was a pretty unique set from John, and a set that was quite unique to previous sets I have heard from him. One thing that doesn’t change though is his attention to detail and quality, and I’m sure that the plenty of people that were there to past 7am could testify to that. I just hope we won’t have to wait another 4 years to witness one of the very best DJ’s there is.