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Was definitely a good night, but just a few little things spoilt it a little bit for me (which I'll get out of the way before mentioning the good stuff  ) .
First of all the crowd seemed kinda weird, especially for Room. I'm not a snob or anything (as I'm sure you all know  ) but there were a lot of people there who looked like they would have probably had more fun at Casey's or the Glenferrie on the night. All night long I was having my toes stepped on and people just barging through me shoulder first on the dance-floor without so much as apology which isn't usually what it's like at Room. Also it was really hot in there. I know that Room's got a kick-ass cooling system, so when it's that packed why not crank it up a notch? Anyway, I should point out that I'd had a massive night the night before so my tolerence for these little things wasn't as high as it would normally be. Any other night and I mightn't have even noticed, but anyway. Enough of that. 
So yeah, Pappa was awesome. He came out banging right from the start but it was in probably the second part of the set that he really found his groove. I struggled to get into it in the first half firstly because it was so crowded (so we were forced into finding crap places to dance - like behind the light and sound box and in front of the cloak room  - where the sound wasn't as good) and Pappa kept on changing direction from track to track and throwing different genres together like nobody's business. When it started to thin out a bit later on though and I managed to get some room to move in and get a decent view of the DJ booth I started to understand why he's get such a big reputation: probably the best all-round DJ I've seen with the exception of Zabiela (and even then Pappa probably has a better ability to keep the non-chinstroking crowd interested ).
Mixing was flawless - it was difficult to spot the mix even when looking for it. I wouldn't know how to tell about the in-key stuff he's meant to do properly, but I'm sure it was there as well. Also - and I think I may have even tried to explain this to you Phil - his use of the CDJs with the turntables was amazing, almost (but not quite ) outdoing Zabiela. From what I could tell, on at least one occasion, he'd have a vinyl spinning, start coming over top with an acapella / FX / random scratching with a CD, then mix-out with another CD or vinyl - basically using 3 vinyls / CDs at once. Also, some pretty alright turntablism going on throughout the set (especially with some of the scratching at the end over Open Day), at least for a prog DJ.
As for the music, the some of the more straight up proggy stuff he played wasn't always my thing but when he delivered the "Melbourne Prog" (i.e. the dark, driving ZT / Vapour / Sunny style stuff) he slayed the entire room. Soooo many hands in the air (like you just don't care) moments and sooo many tracks left needing IDs. Couldn't trainspot crap (partly because I don't listen to that much prog anymore and partly because I can never remember the names of stuff I recognise anyway) but yeah, wtf was with Killer (twice in the same night)? Is there some significance to it? Like did Pappa play it in his days @ Metro or something? It wasn't a new remix (or if it was, it sounded a lot like the original) so it was kinda weird that it was dusted off and dropped by two DJs on the same night. Still, not even old-school ATB tracks could change the fact that he killed it.
Steve, thanks for the tickets and thanks for playing Xpander. Hearing it played on a decent system is worth the price of admission in itself. Also what was the first track you played? Can't even remember how it went now, but I can remember liking it. Good set overall as well (but had to leave earlier than I would have liked - had to be up at 11am for work :-/).
Good meeting you too Simon. Not often you get to meet someone who's seen Pappa twice in one day.
| quote: | | although pappa did some fiddling around with girls can be cruel which was cool. it got a big pop when the warm up dj played it as well, i really like the track unlike some people cough james |
Heh, it's not like I hate it, it's just that after a few listens it stopped being special and I'm kinda tired of it by now. On the other hand, that bassline on a big fuck-off system like Room's does sound rather imense. 
| quote: | | but then the same can be said for me with expander which was played by steve afterwards, it just doesnt do it for me like other tracks do. |
Ugh, best track ever, non-negotiable. 
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