- In an ideal world, a garden party wouldn't include ominous gray clouds. Maybe our Northern Hemisphere brethren are accustomed to it, but down here in Sydney, rain just isn't the done thing. So when I peered out from my window on Easter Saturday and saw a blanket of clouds looming large overhead, I had to admit, I was a little disheartened.
Upon my arrival at Chinese Laundry though, I was pleasantly surprised that the layout of the dance floor safeguarded against the weather. The DJ Booth, now centralised under the veranda instead of crammed deep in the garden corner (like the previous Boratto / Saiz garden party) led to a much less congested feel, leaving more room for eccentric dancing by some of the more inebriated and outgoing folk in the late afternoon hours.
I arrived to find Darren Emerson about 20 minutes into his set. A cautious but interested crowd milled about the garden, getting treated to some nice deep house. It seemed like a tough crowd to win over in the early going. The ever-present rain clouds, coupled with the less knowledgeable "long-weekend" crowd resulted in a sparse dance floor, but some early bombs like Jimpster's remix of Tony Lionni's "Treat Me Right" and Emerson's "Gracelands" (a collaboration with partner-in-production Jamie McHugh) got some love. It wasn't until Emerson resorted to dropping the shudder-worthy cheeser "It Just Won't Do" by Tim Deluxe that the crowd actually begin to stutter into life.
Photo credit: Joel 'Milky T' English
After that, it was smooth sailing. Emerson seemed to relax and even started joking behind the decks, attempting to use his headphones as a PA system to address the growing crowd. In the last half of his set, he ventured back to his dark house Underworld roots, with a fair smattering of acid thrown in. His recent production "Decisions" and Analog People in a Digital World's houser "Rose Rouge" kept hands in the air and despite battling through the rain and the mindless chanting of "whoop there it is" over and over by some of the aforementioned long weekenders, Emerson seemed to be having a ball. When the first recognisable synth stabs of a "Born Slippy" remix wafted through the speakers, he celebrated with a few swigs of white wine straight from the bottle. By the time 8 PM rolled around, the tribal-tattoo sleeved Fergie had joined him behind the decks, and after a quick consultation and a few knowing smiles, Emerson played his finale, Soul II Soul's "Back to Life."
Through the cheers and Irish countrymen (and women) clamouring for a photo with their hometown hero, Fergie commenced a solid rolling techno set. His bombastic production style was the order of the day mix-wise, as he took the crowd on a pretty heavy ride which would've been much better suited to The Cave inside Chinese Laundry instead of the Garden. His own remix of John Selway & Christian Smith's "Work It" was a standout, but the set of pounding bassline-driven techno kept the crowd cheering until the very end when the timeless Jam & Spoon remix of "Age of Love" was dropped for the appreciative dance floor. Although the weather did its best to keep spirits down, the Easter Garden Party was a success. Whoop, There It Is.