BELFAST 9 - 25.1.2002

Well Melbourne's DJ's dug through their record collections and pulled out the absolute cream of old skool to spin on the decks at Belfast 9 at QBH on a muggy January Melbourne night. The theme was Electric Boogaloo and the dance floor was full, from the word go, of grooving trainers, smiling faces and talcum powder. The crowd was not as big as previous Belfast's, which could have been due to the long weekend ahead, with the Mezzanine level of QBH being blocked off to the punters but that didn't seem to matter the night was still a fantastic testament to the fact that Melbourne knows how enjoy itself and Hardware knows how to throw a great event.

The Belfast Sun, huge yellow smiley faces hanging from everywhere and a myriad of lasers set the scene as Kasey Taylor kicked off the night warming the eager crowd up by dropping in KLF's 'Last Train to TranCentral as his handover track to Jayse Knipe, who has been behind the decks for over ten years, so truly knows what old skool is about. Jayse must have dug well into his vinyl collection because he flung some absolute classics onto the decks, 'Move any mountain', 'Don't you want me' by Felix Da HouseCat and 'What you Want' to name a few. This guy knows his stuff and even gave us a few dance moves behind the decks.


Will E Tell took to the decks next and made the punters squeal with delight opening his set with 'Ride on Time' by Black Box. 'Panic' by SpeedyJ and Patrick Lindsey's Phonkschool were soon to follow. Will was loving it and showed the crowd that he can get down and groovy with old skool vocal's as well as drop in his trademark techno with 'The Bells' and 'Born Slippy' by Underworld coming out of their covers and making their appearance on the decks with the master of mixing showing us just why all the liddle kiddies go ga ga over him.

Then it was on. The Belfast B-Boy Battle Royaale. Two teams of four of the world's best breakers showing us their moves and fighting it out for the ultimate title, with special imports Tuff Kid from Switzerland and supposedly the worlds #1 breaker and Ysushi from Japan. Words can't really describe what these breakdancers did but let's say there was a lot of spinning on heads, backs, legs and arms that looked spectacular and, by the guys physiques (six packs and toned muscled everywhere), takes a lot of training ad effort to do. Top marks go to Hardware for their initiative in bringing something different to the punters at an event. Although personally I did think the display did drag on a bit, I only realized there was an MC commentating over the music at the end of the battle, he had blended into the music quite superbly but somehow I don't think that's what he was there to do and I never did find out which break-dancing team did win the battle, but then again I didn't really care.

Richie Rich took control of the crowd after the Battle Royal with a mega four hour set. Founder of Hardware and a leading force behind the unstoppable, and worldwide renowned, Melbourne techno scene Richie has the credentials and the know how to be all that old skool rave and electronic music is. It was not anthems that he dropped but tracks that absolutely embody what oldskool is about and why we will continue to love the tunes that make us remember back to our younger days and think of how crazy we were.

Tiredness was setting in and 7-month-old puppy at home was beckoning so Belfast 9 ended for me with Richie spinning the tunes. Jeff Tyler took the crowd into the wee hours of the morning and played 'Groove is in the heart' as the last track for the night, or morning as it was then. Nice work Hardware!!!!!
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