Picture this: It is 12.55am Saturday morning in a small club in winter. The dance floor has a few people on the edges listening to an average local DJ who tries to mix The White Stripes Icky Thump with some drum & bass and fails miserably. There is a decent enough crowd but everyone is drinking and huddling round the fire trying to keep warm. The this tall lanky guy stands up, takes off his beanie and swaps it to a black cap and approaches the deck. Out of the darkness another guy grabs the mic and says something to the effect of “D.Kay on the decks lets get ready to rock this houe’ and the suddenly the generic drum & bass tune playing in the background turns into the opening bars of High Contrast In A Gadda Da Vida . Eyes light up, people turn to the dance floor and down they go. By the time In A Gadda Da Vida becomes the next song the MC is pumping, the dance floor is 2/3 full, and D.Kay is carefully surveying the crowd with his head cocked to one side, one headphone between his shoulder and his ear and a very observant look on his face. That is how you make a dead dance floor come alive.
He played a very good set with plenty of awesomely dancable numbers and gave the crowd plenty to appreciated by dropping some older tunes including a track from The Ghost in the Shell. The MC was pretty good and added some character to the night – i did wish he hadn’t said “Old school” (or was it Old skool 
) so much.
Concord dawn came out and the dance floor was full, Dunedin people are generally big supporters of the duo, them having played student gigs and clubs around the country for years before they made it in Europe. Although the set was technically brilliant and Evan was obviously enjoying himself dancing away and taking shots from the MC, it lacked the spontaneity of D.Kay’s set. Highlight of their set was the song ‘Don’t Tell Me’ which 95% of the crowd seemed to know – it certainly got everyone jumping and really getting into it.
All in all a good nights drum & bass with a great ending – I had to pleasure to shake D.Kay’s hand when i left a tell him how much i enjoyed his set and liked his work. Awesome
Below – Concord Dawn “Don’t Tell Me”
