It was a wonderful day for chilling in the sun and listening to some relaxed choons. I thought that spring had come early! I casually walked from my car parked a couple of blocks away on Castlereagh Street (sweeeeeet!) to the V-bar and entered via the Street Bar entrance. Had I not been familiar with the venue the unmistakeable beats eminating from the venue served as guidance to The Temple. Almost like a religious passage I was drawn by the music.
At the entrance there was a sign that directed me to The Temple in the Signature Lounge so naturally I followed it. Moments later I was greeted by the gatekeeper of the Temple. She smiled, branded my wrist with the sign of the ‘V’, and offered me a free Trance Australia CD (noice!) before opening the gate to the place of trance worship.
The venue was lush, fancied up with mythical statues, two long red banners with large white oriental markings hung from the ceiling, a projector behind the shrine that was the DJ box. Great job with the decor, combined with the stunning interior of the venue it added that much more to setting up the atmosphere for the event.
Sound carried extremely well in the confined space that was the Signature Lounge.
Immediately I noticed some familiar faces as I walked towards the bar. I had arrived around 3pm so unfortunately had missed the opening set by Luke Sykes. From what I hear it was sweet as to be expected. After grabbing a drink (the usual, Smirnoff Double Black of course) from one of the two gorgeous bar ladies I headed to the Bull Ring, the outdoor area at the back of the club aptly named because of the huge brass sculpture of a bull placed in the middle of the round courtyard situated in the Hordern Arcade, and yes the bull had gigantic gonads (thanks Marcus for pointing that out to me).
Sadly the apartments surrounding the Bull Ring blocked out most of the sunlight, so there wasn’t much sun soaking to be had. The heaters on the ceiling above the outside sitting area provided additional (and sometimes a little too much) warmth for anybody that needed it.
Patrick Carrera was on the decks and he was firing up the bpms. Personally at 3-4pm I felt that the banging nature of his set was too loud and too hard for the timeslot. Most people were warming up with a few drinks, chilling and chatting with friends in the outside area. The dancefloor was pretty much empty at this early hour, however there were enough people to soak in what promised to be a return to Sunday afternoon/evening trance.
Perhaps more suitable at this timeslot was a nicely chilled progressive trance/balaeric house/electro set.
Cameron O’Shea was up next and he quickly delivered the goods, serving up some proggy/slightly uplifting melodic non peak-time trance. Though turning to the dark house/electro style of late the man still had his trance roots and it was evident in this set. He even threw in a few vocal classics to impress the bar ladies, Nalin & Kane - Open Your Eyes and Dogzilla - Without You (sounded just wicked and fresh on the club system). The Temple was in flight. I’m sure the punters were equally as impressed. I didn’t get my request (Sander K - My Lexicon) so hopefully next time!
Stama shortly continued the religious journey, moving between banging beats and splendid trance. It’s been a while since I heard Stama at work but he had game on as usual.
Following was the real Slim shady, cooking up a tech treat for all. I felt that at 6pm this was a more appropriate time for the faster bpms and it worked well with more punters having come through the door by now. More people started to move inside, and a couple were even dancing.
When the clock struck 7pm Scott Richardson took command of the temple and continued from where Slim had left off. Unfortunately I had to leave shortly afterwards but with a folder full of TT Recordings promos and the latest in trancey/tech goodness Scott was sure to pump the appreciative crowd.
All in all it was a good launch, the numbers weren’t overly great however it’s hard to compete on a Sunday afternoon against the likes of other more well-known Sunday events but there is real potential for this event to take off. The central city location, choice venue, and quality sound makes for a worthwhile venture so hopefully numbers do pick up over the next few fortnights.
What I’d like to see is more progressive house/trance whilst the sun is still out, and maybe even some straight out house/electro (fused with trance) to draw in more punters and get more people on the dancefloor. Perhaps the organisers need to review the lineup structure and progression of music. There’s also a handful of TT DJs that would do well in future Temple lineups - Rob Noble, Marishka & Jayde, Hugo Ferreira, Muli & Foundation to name a few.
Congrats to Dirty Fridays Productions and TranceTribe for a quality event. For all you religions folk Sunday is a good day to be at The Temple.
Photos here.
At the entrance there was a sign that directed me to The Temple in the Signature Lounge so naturally I followed it. Moments later I was greeted by the gatekeeper of the Temple. She smiled, branded my wrist with the sign of the ‘V’, and offered me a free Trance Australia CD (noice!) before opening the gate to the place of trance worship.
The venue was lush, fancied up with mythical statues, two long red banners with large white oriental markings hung from the ceiling, a projector behind the shrine that was the DJ box. Great job with the decor, combined with the stunning interior of the venue it added that much more to setting up the atmosphere for the event.
Sound carried extremely well in the confined space that was the Signature Lounge.
Immediately I noticed some familiar faces as I walked towards the bar. I had arrived around 3pm so unfortunately had missed the opening set by Luke Sykes. From what I hear it was sweet as to be expected. After grabbing a drink (the usual, Smirnoff Double Black of course) from one of the two gorgeous bar ladies I headed to the Bull Ring, the outdoor area at the back of the club aptly named because of the huge brass sculpture of a bull placed in the middle of the round courtyard situated in the Hordern Arcade, and yes the bull had gigantic gonads (thanks Marcus for pointing that out to me).
Sadly the apartments surrounding the Bull Ring blocked out most of the sunlight, so there wasn’t much sun soaking to be had. The heaters on the ceiling above the outside sitting area provided additional (and sometimes a little too much) warmth for anybody that needed it.
Patrick Carrera was on the decks and he was firing up the bpms. Personally at 3-4pm I felt that the banging nature of his set was too loud and too hard for the timeslot. Most people were warming up with a few drinks, chilling and chatting with friends in the outside area. The dancefloor was pretty much empty at this early hour, however there were enough people to soak in what promised to be a return to Sunday afternoon/evening trance.
Perhaps more suitable at this timeslot was a nicely chilled progressive trance/balaeric house/electro set.
Cameron O’Shea was up next and he quickly delivered the goods, serving up some proggy/slightly uplifting melodic non peak-time trance. Though turning to the dark house/electro style of late the man still had his trance roots and it was evident in this set. He even threw in a few vocal classics to impress the bar ladies, Nalin & Kane - Open Your Eyes and Dogzilla - Without You (sounded just wicked and fresh on the club system). The Temple was in flight. I’m sure the punters were equally as impressed. I didn’t get my request (Sander K - My Lexicon) so hopefully next time!
Stama shortly continued the religious journey, moving between banging beats and splendid trance. It’s been a while since I heard Stama at work but he had game on as usual.
Following was the real Slim shady, cooking up a tech treat for all. I felt that at 6pm this was a more appropriate time for the faster bpms and it worked well with more punters having come through the door by now. More people started to move inside, and a couple were even dancing.
When the clock struck 7pm Scott Richardson took command of the temple and continued from where Slim had left off. Unfortunately I had to leave shortly afterwards but with a folder full of TT Recordings promos and the latest in trancey/tech goodness Scott was sure to pump the appreciative crowd.
All in all it was a good launch, the numbers weren’t overly great however it’s hard to compete on a Sunday afternoon against the likes of other more well-known Sunday events but there is real potential for this event to take off. The central city location, choice venue, and quality sound makes for a worthwhile venture so hopefully numbers do pick up over the next few fortnights.
What I’d like to see is more progressive house/trance whilst the sun is still out, and maybe even some straight out house/electro (fused with trance) to draw in more punters and get more people on the dancefloor. Perhaps the organisers need to review the lineup structure and progression of music. There’s also a handful of TT DJs that would do well in future Temple lineups - Rob Noble, Marishka & Jayde, Hugo Ferreira, Muli & Foundation to name a few.
Congrats to Dirty Fridays Productions and TranceTribe for a quality event. For all you religions folk Sunday is a good day to be at The Temple.
Photos here.