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Gods Kitchen, Australia 2007: The Thrillseekers Travel Blog
Gods Kitchen, Australian Tour, 2007
And so the journey begins… My bags and CD wallets are packed for what could be the tour to end all tours. Most flights out to Australia from the UK depart from London’s Heathrow airport - my least favourite place in the world. I’ve sussed a way to beat the mayhem and ridiculously lengthy check-in processes though! What I do is first take a train to Manchester airport. I’d normally drive, but parking at the airport for two weeks costs roughly the same price as a small flat in London, so the train is a far more sensible option.
Checking in at Manchester is a breeze. Or, at least it used to be… I arrive at the British Airways counter and present my itinerary expecting to collect my onward boarding passes right through to Perth. But my tickets can only be traced as far as London, which throws a size 10 spanner in the works. What this means is that I now have to collect my bags at Heathrow (this can take up to two weeks – I’m not kidding), fight my way across to another terminal, and then start the whole checking-in process again. Despite my usually optimistic outlook, the chances of catching my onward connections and being in Australia on time for my first gig were looking very slim indeed.
Once I’m through in the departures lounge I discover that my flight has been delayed. Things are quickly going from bad to worse.
I make my way over to the BA counter and ask if there’s anything that can be done to have my bags re-routed direct to Perth. I was expecting the attendant to come back with a ‘Computer Says No’, but it seems this was indeed possible. Not only that, I was handed my onward boarding passes and a 5 quid voucher for my trouble – just enough to buy a pint and a packet of crisps… To the pub!
I eventually arrive at Heathrow, 2 hours later than scheduled. My connecting flight to Singapore was about to leave in 5 minutes! But, as luck would have it, my onward flight had also been delayed. I’m the last person to board (nothing unusual there) and within minutes we were Australia-bound.
32 hours after leaving home I arrived in Perth. My luggage, however, didn’t… This can cause a few problems, as you might imagine, but I had my CDs in my carry-on luggage, so not a total disaster.
After a short ride to my hotel, I get to my room and unpack what little I have with me. Shortly afterwards, there was a knock at the door: ‘Room Service’… I hadn’t ordered anything, so shouted back: ‘No Thanks’… ‘But this is complimentary, sir’ came the reply. I open the door and this fella wheels in a trolley of fine chocolates, a bottle of champagne, flowers and a fruit bowl. I’m mightily impressed!
I immediately cracked open the champagne and poured myself a glass. I also tucked into the chocolates and considered having a pear, but thought better of it. Then I spotted an envelope addressed to a ‘Mr Franklin’. Hmmmm. Naturally, I opened it. It read: ‘Dear James, it’s so lovely that you and your wife could join us for the conference. Please accept this small gift on our behalf’. Oh fuck! What had I done!
I started to re-arrange what was left of the chocolates, but I couldn’t bring myself to phone Room Service about the mistake. Not without first having another glass, anyway. So I placed the letter back in its envelope and finished off the bottle. And then fell asleep…
After a few hours it was time to go shopping for clothes for the first couple of gigs. I was pretty sure my lost baggage would catch up with me by Day 3. So, off I went.
Now Perth is a beautiful city. It’s clean, modern and the people are really friendly. But it’s absolutely rubbish for shopping. Practically every item of clothing I could find had ‘Billabong’, ‘Quicksilver’ or some other surf brand scribbled across it. And I don’t ‘do’ surf brands! After 5 hours of trudging round the stores I finally admitted defeat and bought 2 surfy tops and some other essentials to get me through the next few days.
Perth, Friday 28th September
The trancier side of the line-up for the tour consisted of M.I.K.E (Push), Rank 1, Richard Durrand and me. For some reason, the set times on the 1st night were totally messed up, with Richard Durrand playing 1st., followed by myself, Mike and then Rank 1. Now, for those that have never seen Richard play, he tends to be at the harder end of the spectrum, and by the time I was due to start at 12.00, he was already knocking out his remixes at a relentless 140bpm. To put that into perspective, M.I.K.E. generally plays around 134bpm these days, which meant the musical flow for the evening (not wanting to put too fine a point on it) was totally fucked.
I had no choice but to start my set from scratch, taking the energy levels down a notch or 6. This doesn’t always go down too well with the crowd, though, and within 20 minutes someone was chucking ice at me from the middle of the audience. Yikes!
Despite the brief cube shower I had a really good set. The crowd was really responsive, into the music and the venue was fantastic. All in all, a cracking start to the tour.
Back in the dressing the room, the drinks were starting flow as Mike took to the decks. A friend of mine, JP, had decided we were going to get totally wrecked and started to insist that I drank his vodka ‘shots’. These were in 1/3 of a pint schooners though and before too long things had gone a little blurry.
Around this time, Piet from Rank 1 bowls in having just arrived on a delayed flight from Amsterdam. He didn’t see the funny side of JP and me juggling 3 glasses (very badly), which inevitably ended up in pieces on the floor.
Our flight to Auckland for the 2nd event left Perth at 7am, which meant being at the airport for 5am. No rest for the DJ wicked! Not yet, at least. Miraculously, my luggage was waiting for me upon arrival at the airport. I was also given a $200 compensation, which just about covered the emergency undercrackers and T-shirts I’d had to buy.
Auckland, Saturday 29th September
We arrived in Auckland at around 10pm after an astonishing 9 hours of travelling. I was feeling pretty rough at this point, having only managed to sleep for around 5 hours over the past 3 days. You may think its all fun and games being a DJ, but it has its harder moments, let me tell you.
We all check into our hotel and get ready to do it all again. Luckily my set time wasn't until 3am, so I had a couple of hours to get my head down. I remember waking up feeling about as disorientated as I ever have done. A combination of the travelling, jetlag and vodka were really getting the better of me. Still, nothing another vodka couldn't put right!
Before I knew it, I was taking over the controls at the Met. No matter how tired I’ve ever felt before a gig, as soon as get behind the decks I’m buzzed up with adrenalin and ready to party. I played a mix of tech, trance and classics for the next two hours to a rocking floor.
After my set I decided to get straight back to the hotel for some much needed kip. I’d learned my lesson (sort of) after Perth and wanted to be fresh for Sydney the following day, where we were to play at the legendary Home. Trouble was we had to be at the airport for 11am, so we only got 4 hours to recover.
At the airport we were all feeling the pace of the last few days. So we decided to take things easy once we arrived in Sydney and thought a relaxed bowling session might help prior to the gig. What better bonding experience could a bunch of lads hope for? The four of us jumped in a taxi and asked to be taken to a bowling alley. The driver said: ‘yeah, no problem. I know somewhere not too far from here’. Perfect…
When we arrive we were surprised to hear that the lights for bowling would be switched off at 8pm. What? We couldn’t fathom why, but as it was only 7pm we had plenty of time for a game and a couple of beers. Once we were signed-in, the assistant led us outside... to a bowling green. The four of us fair nearly pissed ourselves laughing as we stared in disbelief.
After a quick run through the rules for ‘grass bowls’ we split into teams and started to, er, bowl. We were mostly pretty shit, but we had a good laugh trying!
Sydney, Sunday 30th September
I arrived at Home at around 12 for a 1 o-clock start. The main room was rammed and going off to Jumping Jack, who was on warm-up duties for the night. After a few drinks to get me in the mood I took to the decks and knew right away it was going to be a memorable night. The crowd was so up for it and there was a huge atmosphere about the place. I can’t remember much of what I played, but remember ploughing through my CDs and not being able to find a few tunes that I had wanted to. Clearly they’d gone amiss over the previous two nights worth of antics.
Afterwards I met my stalker for the evening. I’m not kidding either. This lad came over to talk to me. This is never a problem. In fact, I like to mingle after my sets and talk to people about music and stuff. But this lad REALLY liked to chat. After an hour of conversation, which involved the same 15 minute conversation looped 4 times, I was starting to think of ways to make my exit. A trip to the toilet normally does the trick. Not with this fella, who cheerfully followed me in, watched me take a piss, and followed me straight back out again.
It was another hour before I eventually escaped back to the hotel with a group of clubbers where we sat and drank by the roof-top pool for a few hours as the sun came up. By 8am it was already 25c. Brilliant! And to top things off, I had 3 days of rest before heading off for my next gig.
Brisbane, Friday 5th October
We arrived in Brisbane a day before our gig at The Met. I had just about recovered from the previous weeks shenanigans when I realised I had to do it all over again! Many of us joined up for dinner that evening and ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant, at Alex Gaudino’s request. The food and wine was superb. None too keen on the bill when it arrived though!
I managed to stay reasonably sober for the gig at the Met yet, quite bizarrely, can’t remember much about it! How weird is that? Next and final stop: Melbourne!
Melbourne, Saturday 6th October
We’d all been looking forward to this event as it was to be held in an arena with a capacity in excess of 10,000. I’ve played similarly-sized events before, but nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced when I walked out on to the stage.
I’d been driven into the complex from the back of the arena, and taken into the artist’s lounge behind the stage. So I had no idea what the venue looked like, or just how busy it would be, until I stepped onto the stage, which was three stories high. No joke!
I’ve seen some pretty slick production in my time, but this was mind blowing on a whole new level. If I’d been at a Madonna concert, I wouldn’t have been disappointed. There was a wall of LEDs the size of Battersea Power Station against the back wall and more plasma screens than the whole of Scotland can lay claim to. The lighting was phenomenal and the arena was rammed as far as I could see. To say it looked impressive would be the biggest understatement ever made. So, we’ve established it was pretty good, then!
The set times were tweaked over the course of the tour, and on this night ran like clockwork. Mike kicked things off with his newly acquired electro-edged sound, then I took over for an hour and half before passing the baton to Rank 1. Richard Durrand had the last say and rocked the crowd to within an inch of their lives to finish off the show. Definitely one of the best gigs I’ve had the pleasure to play at, and a fine way to end the tour. Would I do it again? Too bloody right I would!
Steve
www.thethrillseekers.co.uk
Click Here To See A Video Of Steve Playing At The Melbourne Gig
Last edited by steve@thethrill on Nov-09-2007 at 21:36
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Nice one, Steve. Always fun to read your travel blog.
