There has been a real backlash to mega parties in Melbourne - people are
going back to clubs. Even Welcome 2001 didn't get the figures they wanted -
9000 instead of 12/15 000. I just don't believe house music - deep house -
works at those kind of parties, maybe that is why Welcome didn't cater for
that this year. Respect Is Burning got just under 5000 which is what they
wanted and the vibe there was good as it was an exclusively house party with
Dimitri From Paris, Roger Sanchez & Derrick Carter pitched to an older, more
cosmopolitan crowd. A lot of people complain that $100/120 is too much for
10 - 15 international DJs but I think that is good value considering. The
thing is the DJs and their agents want to get paid, they want good
accommodation, first class airfares (it's a 24 hour flight), add to that the
inflation caused by the exchange rate (Aus dollar devalued, most DJs want US
dollars or UK pounds) and GST (which has really hit the entertainment
industry) and you are gonna have to pay for that.
>I saw Alton play NYE. It was a bit weird in that there must have been around
>10,000 people at this gig - 4 floors of tunes: 1) trance/hard house and
>breaks, 2) techno, 3) house, 4) drum n bass - Perusing each of the floors,
>it quickly became apparent what the people were here for: trance, followed
>by techno and drum 'n bass. The house room was next to empty when we arrived
>(just before midnight), but after spending a couple of minutes in the other
>rooms we were more than happy to relax in the space and enjoy some quality
>music. Alton came on around 12:30 and although a few more people got on the
>dancefloor, the crowd remained very sparse. In a word, his set was funky.
>Lots of smooth, deep house, some vocals, some groovy breaks and some classic
>disco stuff. The DJ booth was very close to the dancefloor which allowed
>those of us on there to really feel Alton's vibe which was very relaxed -
>dancing, clapping hands, big smile. I thoroughly enjoyed his set as did the
>handful of others on and around the dancefloor. Now as to why there was
>hardly anyone there in the house room to see Alton. He was a late inclusion
>on the bill, but I can honestly say this has little or nothing to do with
>it. Cyclone's right, the whole gig wasn't pushed to the sort of crowd who
>would normally go and see Alton play. I mean tickets were around $100 each
>for 10 - 15 international DJs, but when there's only one out of that bunch
>that you know you'll enjoy, what's the point? This would be a good time to
>say I won free tickets to this, and wouldn't have gone otherwise ;-)
>
>Respect, and a belated "happy new year" to one and all 313'ers.
>JasonB
>
>
