- As usual the Queens Birthday Long Weekend offered a plethora of events for the dance music lover- from Submission at the Sydney Showgrounds, to H Foundation at the Chinese Laundry, to Cass at Zen, and the event I was most looking forward to- The Boutique Tour featuring UK DJ's / producers Meat Katie and Touché. The Big Beat Boutique began its life in the English coastal town of Brighton in the mid nineties. At the time it mainly showcased the talents of the Skint Records roster- including Fatboy Slim, Indian Ropeman and Midfield General. After the explosion of the big beat phenomena, and the inevitable backlash that followed, "Big Beat" was dropped from the name of the club and the music policy shifted towards breakbeat. The reputation of The Boutique remained strong and
tours all over Britain (including a monthly residency at The End nightclub in London) followed. This certainly was shaping up as a highlight for the Sydney breakbeat fraternity.
With the Metro Theatre's much discussed limited trading hours in place, The Boutique Tour was scheduled to run between 9pm and 3am. Unfortunately I am an absolute soccer tragic, and with the World Cup in full swing I missed the first sets by Q45 (in the main room) and Leah (in the foyer), however I am told they both did well. Upon entering the foyer of the Metro with my partner in crime for the evening we were greeted by the smooth sounds of Ajax. After stopping off for a quick beer and a boogie we made our way through to the main room of the Metro to see what all the fuss about Meat Katie was about.
We positioned ourself towards the back of the room and stood back and witnessed some of the darkest breaks possibly imaginable. This set was so far removed from the set he played at Gatecrasher Summer Sound System that you could be excused for thinking that it was another DJ up on stage. I have personally been getting away from listening to the funkier side of breakbeat recently, so this was perfect for me.However looking around the crowd there was more than a few bewildered faces, not quite sure what to make of the progressive beats being pounded out. Towards the end of Meat Katie we decided to wade our way out through the talcum powder covered floor for a bit of a breather in the foyer. Jonathon Wall was on out here, playing one of his typically funky breaks sets to a rather full foyer- many of the punters seeking respite from the dark, driving sounds of Meat Katie.
As 1am rolled on we headed back to the main room for DJ Touché. Touché (aka Theo Keating) is best known as being one of the founders of The Wiseguys, whose albums include the massive selling "The Antidote" which spawned the singles "Start the Commotion", "Ooh La La" and "Cowboy 78". Touché started out smooth and funky, much to the delight of most of the crowd, but didn't really progress much from there. I only lasted around 45 minutes before heading back to the foyer. Given the styles of the two headlines, I think Fuzzy made an error in the order. Phil Smart rounded off the proceedings in the foyer- playing an electro infused set of breaks that rounded the night off nicely.
All in all this was quite a good night - with Meat Katie a definite highlight for me. Numbers were down on the more recent Fuzzy Breaks parties at the Metro, though this would have had a lot to do with the fact that there was so much on over the weekend.