Astral People reintroduced its Summer Dance series on Saturday, 30th September at Liberty Hall and Courts. Evie, Four Tet and Ben Fester hit the decks during daylight hours, while Jyoty and special guest Skrillex kept the party going indoors until the wee hours.
There was a rumour Skrillex would be making a surprise appearance during Jyoty’s Summer Dance set following his Listen Out headline slot. It was Sydney’s worst-kept secret, but the fact everyone accepted the verisimilitude of the rumour is a testament to Astral People’s status as Sydney’s premier party hosts.
The agency relaunched its Summer Dance series with a metaphorical bouquet of flowers on the final day of September, taking over the basketball court that neighbours Moore Park’s Liberty Hall from 2pm till 8pm, before moving indoors and encouraging everyone to dance away the winter blues – or, this being Sydney in an advanced stage of global heating, shake off the cobwebs ahead of the silly season.
Evie was up first, playing soul/R&B deep cuts and a bit of old-school hip hop as the early arrivals worked on their jump-shots. Evie transitioned into house music and nu-rave as the court filled up, and the place was heaving by the end of her set.
Four Tet, aka Kieran Hebden, is a frequent visitor to Australia and he tends to slot in a few smaller club shows between his major festival sets. You’ll never regret going to see him, whether it’s a show dedicated to his own catalogue of beautiful textures and forays into a galaxy of dance music subgenres or a more conventional DJ set, such as what we received here.
Though, the London don’s two-hour stint still included a bunch of his own productions, namely the surprise late-career hit ‘Baby’, the Nelly Furtado-sampling ‘Only Human’, and the recent club banger ‘Looking At Your Pager’, as well as a mash-up of Sammy Virji’s ‘Never Let You Go’ and Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’ that featured in Tet’s Coachella co-headline set alongside Skrillex and Fred again..
Speaking of Skrillex, he did end up joining Jyoty on the DJ riser in the middle of Liberty Hall for Summer Dance: After Dark. The reborn super producer appeared to be having an absolute blast, chucking on a bit of Taylor Swift amid a bounty of more conspicuous dancefloor fillers.
Who’ll it be next time? Todd Terje is locked in, and we’ll see you there.
Further Reading
Lineups Announced for November Edition of Sydney’s Summer Dance: Todd Terje, Space Cadets + More
Skeleten’s Russell Fitzgibbon on Curating His Dream Lineup for the ‘Under Utopia’ Launch Show
A Guide to Every Artist Performing at SXSW Sydney 2023
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