Live Review: One Fine Day

A new boutique festival on the calendar brought to you by Habitat, One Fine Day promised just that, and delivered a great day, and even better night. It was a unique, intimate event for lovers of proper house music that boasted top notch sound and lighting across three arenas. Mixing things up a little and keeping it exciting, the venue was kept secret until a couple weeks before the show, and was revealed to be The Game, the new Sports Bar in the place of The Deen - although it was hardly recognisable with the place being fully decked out and transformed into a multi-room rave cave.

The outside Garden Bar area was a lovely place to spend the sunny arvo, surrounded by lush trees, downing a cider or three with loads of ice, as the mercury hit 36 - while Perth’s finest provided the tunes.

Habitat are great supporters of our local dance scene, and featured an incredible array of over 20 of our finest local house and techno DJs – from local stalwarts to up and comers - playing back-to-back all afternoon in the three areas.

Veterans James A and Aarin Fraser paired up in the Techno Dungeon arena taking us up to 5pm with a fine set that got the room warmed up nicely for the arrival of French maestro, Rodriguez Jr. Parisian piano prodigy, one half of The Youngsters, Olivier Mateu plays live keyboard over the top of funky mixed beats.

He took a little time to get into the flow, but once he locked into the groove, it was irresistible not to dance. Fat analog beats, synth stabs and warm, throbbing basslines boomed through the giant Funktion One soundsystem brought in for the day.

The big, open room had a real warehouse vibe. Lit up by the giant flashing, video screen, Mateu was having a great time, dancing behind the desk as he brought his stellar set to a grand finale, before handing over the reigns to Oliver Huntemann – the German legend wasting no time getting stuck in, raising the tempo and dropping a tougher techy groove.

Meanwhile Set-Mo were bringing the party in the big, backroom aka the Bass Arena. The young Sydney duo are on a roll, with their recent singles getting plenty of attention. With their melodic blend of shimmering, smooth house, these boys capture the sound of summer.

And if one Mo wasn’t enough, Motez was also in the house. Another rising star on the scene, he wove a tightly mixed set of chunky breaks and jackin’ house.

Back in the Dungeon, Huntemann was getting deep into his set of solid house and tech. Nothing flashy, just getting the job done with heavy, marching beats, and another great custom visual setup around the DJ booth.

Taking things home after Huntemann, were acclaimed production duo Pig & Dan. Prolific and varied, the pair have released on Cocoon, Soma and Bedrock. Bringing a darker, harder sound with a techy edge, the duo seem to have a lot of fun together. Their set’s impact was ignited by the huge visual show.

It was a tough choice between headliners with Eats Everything smashing it out in the Bass Arena. The big man from Bristol has a reputation for being a party starter, and he didn’t fail to disappoint. Bass heavy beats bounced around the room, it was just straight-up, no messing about house music, with a tough breaky edge, reminiscent of Meat Katie.

In the last half hour he delved into some acid sounds, with a relentless barrage of bass, as he marched behind the decks, pumping his fist in the air and wrapping up an epic night by dropping his huge remix of Keep Control by Sono, followed by Underworld’s classic Dark & Long.

It was a great, up for it crowd, who came to dance, and they voiced their approval as the music stopped – all too soon it was 10pm – though some kicked on to the after-party at Geisha. Top effort from Habitat in creating such a unique and memorable event.

Originally published by X-Press Magazine