Mischief Feat Felix Da Housecat & Mark Farina - 4.12.2004

The scene was set - one big warehouse, two thumping sound systems, upstairs and downstairs bars, an open-air roof top to chill the heels and a hot summer's night!

After arriving at the Public Office just before midnight I was pleasantly surprised to discover my ticket was not on me, but sitting on the kitchen bench at home. I raced back ... ran a few traffic lights that where blurred between amber and red, overtook road runner, took some corners on two wheels and then broke landspeed records coming back!

I got there in time to see the tail end of Boogs' set which started to get everyone in the mood, especially when he mixed up Prince special "Controversy". For an early start, he did a great job of building up the frenzy in the room. People were now pouring in, and the room suddenly felt extremely small as the temperature went through the roof. Next up, Lil Beasties absolutely rocked the crowd. You either love this brand of live music with its unique guitars and bongo drums or hate it and, judging by the vibe in the room, most people loved them. Their banging set definitely had me primed by the time Agent 86 jumped on the back of the truck to his decks for a serious scratching session to Blue Monday's "New Order". The change-up in music styles seemed to go down very well and kept everyone going nuts.

Just before Felix came on, I decided to survey the layout of Public Office and being a first timer I was blown away by the intimate room Mark Farina was about to play in. The outdoor area resembled a fashion show rather than a rave party. Is the scene going through a transition where you need designer clothes and high heels to look the goods only to trash them for a solid seven hours straight- Looks good but comfort should be high on one's priority list unless you're there to pick up. Then again, you can pick up any night of the week and it should be about the party and the music ... the PCYC blue light disco is around the corner!

Playing from 2am till 5am, Felix sent hundreds of people crazy - there's no other way to describe it - we were all dancing and screaming like mad when the room started to pulse "tick, tock, tick, tock". Felix opened with Gwen Stefani's latest release 'What you waiting for'. There was a huge surge forward as people crammed in and screamed for 'Burn this City'! Felix threw in some old school classic cuts like Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'. At times I was a little lost when a repetitive fog horn would come out between tracks only for Felix to bring it back up again with tracks like Marilyn Manson's "The beautiful people" and Miss Kittin to throw everyone into another frenzy.

The whole set was charged with beats that I loved. Everyone around me was jumping up and down and screaming - it was fantastic to look around and see so many happy people. The crowd responded with great enthusiasm to everything Felix did

I spoke to a few people who thought the number of people there was a bit crazy and the heat in the crowd was intense with not much room to move and do your little shuffle across the dance floor you had practised all week in the bedroom! In general, a lot of people loved every second of the party.

Mark Farina played at the same time as Felix which was a logistical nightmare for worshippers of both DJs. I didn't catch all of his set but he started cruisy, then built up to his tantric funky beats and controlled tunes.

My verdict on the night was two thumbs up. It was all about people having fun. The vibe was amazing, the people were loving it - the music was even better. The DJs rocked it intensely and the best of it all was the amount of different types of people under the same roof, rocking just as hard as each other, to exactly the same music. Tags