Thurs 3rd Oct 2002
By Andrew Walker
After a thirty minute bus ride out of Sydney City Centre I arrive outside the roundhouse famed venue of all things nocturnal at the University of New South Wales. Its almost 11pm and the distant sound of repetitive beats travels smoothly through the humid air.
Tonight I have come to see Judge Jules play to a crowd comprising mainly of students and backpackers. Over the next hour local DJs Nik Fish, Yoshi and Flipside warm up the clubbing faithful with their own styles of trance ranging from hard edged beats to expertly crafted tecky breaks. The highlight so far has to be a great mix of the Prodigys Voodoo People booming out of the soundsystem sending those gathered around the booth into a mad frenzy perfectly acknowledged by the beaming figure behind the turntables.
At 1.30am the headliner steps from the background into the spotlight, dons the headphones and begins his set with a track that sounds distinctly something created by Saints and Sinners (those church bells in the middle seem to always give it away)! By now the dancefloor is rammed with many jostling for position at the front were Jules interacts with the crowd in his own unique manner that hes mastered over the years. The set progresses nicely peaking when Kosheens Hungry is dropped sending hundreds of outstretched arms into the air.
As the 2.30am mark approaches something strange happens the masses of people gathered in front of the stage starts to dwindle. Suddenly the gaps in the reduced crowd are blatantly obvious it seems that people have heard enough and are ready to retire for the evening! As time ticks by more and more leave and Jules is definitely affected by this. His set shifts in focus from pumping beats to progressive groove orientated tracks that seem to subdue those of us who have remained. An aussie clubber turns to me after noticing my T-Shirt sporting a Godskitchen logo ah mate, hes (jules) bored its a real shame the crowd has dwindled. I tell you what though, cant wait for Godskitchen in Sydney on Sunday, its gonna kick ass
And there I think you have the aussie clubber stereotype good show while it lasted but never mind cant wait for the weekend and the next one!
You can check out Judge Jules weekly radio show at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/dance/judgejules/index.shtml
