Balance 006: Anthony Pappa - 24.7.2004

I would like to start this review with a question. Would Kylie Minogue ever have become as famous as she has by staying in Australia- Most people probably including myself would say a resounding no. Simply because her market was overseas, now her presence is barely made on our shores three times a year.

Probably not the best comparison to lead me into this but I think you get the point. Anthony Pappa, Melbourne man born and bred, left our shores in order to find his true music potential and to be recognised as one of the world's leading DJ/Producers. Did it work- Yes. The man who was a simple side room DJ before he left is now the leader in the main arena whenever he hits our shores and is one of Melbourne dance music's favourite sons.

Launching his new Balance CD at Room was going always going to be a big one. The name Anthony Pappa, even when mentioned to people who've only experienced the club scene for a few months know the name and immediately say, "Yeah, that guy does it well."

Reckon I might have been excited-

Anyway enough, Room nightclub is one of those places that has tried to establish itself as the place to be for the big nights, internationals galore, a beautiful, clean and classy environment that invites anyone who thinks that they can rock it out to test their wares.

As per usual it takes a little bit of time for people in Melbourne to realise that there is something going, but by the time Aaron Roach and Dean Millson hit the decks the place was warming nicely to the smooth yet tougher grooves as these two young guns, back to back, showed why dance music in Melbourne really is pushing to the future. The remix of Seal's "Killer" was doing both the crowd and myself some warm up favours and as I turned around I realised that the rest of the club, now full, was feeling it too. But then you-know-who arrived in the booth and it was time.

The Room crowd gave Anthony a storming applause as he began with a somewhat trancey intro that had me gaggin' a little and from the very beginning he had the crowd in his hands. With Sasha's remix of the Youngsters "Smile" breezing through the Room sound system, I think I had a slight religious experience, the area around the booth was like a furnace with Anthony working with his home crowd whenever possible. In the famous words of a friend of mine, the place was losing it mate! It didn't let up as Anthony worked the tempo and the crowd with his selection, bringing it down and then slamming the tempo back up again. It was a great night to be a punter!

It did also make me realise that there is a crowd in Melbourne who love this music and come down to all the big names, but that is my point exactly. Imagine a place where all the local parties went down like this one, where the local DJs were the big names. The thing being is that this place is not a pipe dream, our scene is exactly that; world-class Djs and world-class producers!

One of my highlights of this night was the amount of music that Anthony played that came out of Melbourne itself, finishing with Steve May's "Open Day" and dropping other cuts along the way. Do we want him back in Melbourne for good- Yes Please. Can I ask any more rhetorical questions in this review- Not sure.

Anyway in conclusion if you haven't seen Anthony Pappa play yet you probably don't deserve to. So don't worry too much that you missed him. You can save your street cred by grabbing the Balance CD mixed by the man himself.
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