A few weeks back I wrote about the “troubling times in Sydney”, for the most part it talked about the gentrification of former entertainment sectors and the councils lack of care toward the culture nightlife provides.

We took comments from Matt Costain and Carly Roberts, the most notable being Carly’s statement “it’s actually dire”, in reference to the state of nightlife in Sydney. In recent news the government’s transparency has also gone ten fold removing lockout restrictions on venues in Kings Cross that will keep their pokey machines running.

We at Stoney Roads don’t want people to think that all is lost and if you’ve been keeping in the know about events around Sydney, you’d know it’s just as good as ever. Pressure makes diamonds and with rules and regulations it forces bookers and promoters to become more creative.

Just in the last three months we’ve seen that executed amazingly. Promoters are going all out to bring the best they can to Sydney punters and remind us that not all is lost.

*The following is a list of all the amazing things going on in Sydney. Everything deserved a mention.*

 

Local event planners Blueprint hosted a rave in a CBD office building on the 21st of Novemeber until the sun came up. Hundreds of people taking turns in the break room to recover from the team-building activity the locals call cutting-shape. It was so successful Blueprint have also added a NYE and Christmas party in the secret location “tower”.

Techno maestro’s Motorik celebrated their 4th birthday in a depot in Minto, with courtesy party bus and a stellar line up of their whole crew. Astral People also celebrated their 4th birthday in a secret location, a carpark hosting and showcasing their extended locals-only Astral family.

On a smaller scale, the Pilot Co, Locus Cadre and insert crews have hosted multiple warehouse parties in the east, plus one party in the north Bondi Beach caves that was shut down way to soon.

 

[Photo credit: Pilot Co]

A number of boat/ cruise parties had been cancelled this year but a little bit of innovation had brought us closer to salvation. Undr/Ctrl’s the Island live saw people shipped to a barge in order to soak up the sunset take in the salt water, and hit a , Roland Tings, Young Franco and Bag Raiders.

There’s been a plethora of day parties from various hosts like Heavenly at the Chippendale Hotel, Sessions at Home Bar Terraces, Completely Boys at the Lord Gladstone and so many more. All of which saw punters come together underneath the sun, at a crossroads of benders, with tinnies or bloody mary’s in hands, maybe a dart in the other, and enjoyed cutting shapes as one. Like our ancestors.

In addition to day parties and secret/ special location parties, the all nighters have proved to be some of the greatest event options any given month. The most recent being Palms Trax all nighter at the Civic underground, taking us on a journey from the the first time the needle dropped to lights up. By the end everyone was connected, be it through funk house or champagnes from the rider.

[Photo credit: Voena]

As shown there are plenty of options outside of your regular nightclub romp if you needed some variety, however we’ve been spoiled for choice in our local nightclub scene anyway, experiencing some of the biggest international line-ups Sydney’s seen just in the last few months.

Closing October, the first instalment of V Movement helped promoters bring Ghastly, Public Possession, Spank Rock and more to our fair city and two weeks ago you could swear it was Berlin with Rodhad, Peter Van Hoesen, Eric Coultier and Palms Trax playing all within 1km of each other. (Thanks to Charades + House of Mince, 4our and Astral People/ Picnic)

On the 21st of Novemeber, just a week earlier, we had Harbourlife (and all subsequent afterparties) as well as Picnic bringing out Mathew Jonson, Palms Trax and Cobblestone Jazz. A week before that Dale Howard played a day spot at Home Bar and Nina Kraviz packed out Greenwood Hotel!

Harpoon Harry’s has come out of the woodworks and hosted some of the biggest acts of the year, now announcing Moodymann for December 20th. Despite how hard it is to keep up a weekly promotion at the moment, Harpoon Harry are always delivering a stellar crowd and local line-up every Friday to Sunday.

The same can be said about Civic Underground, already hosting Eats Everything, Robbie Lowe’s All nighter, Mantra Collective and just this Saturday Margaret Dygas.

The World Bar’s weekend and mid-week have had a slew of huge line-ups with Cakes hosting the return of Breach, Justin Jay, LOUISAHHH!!! & Maelstrom and this coming Saturday bringing out Taiki Nulight. Where as Wednesday’s have been focused on bringing out top trap & bass heavyweights like Woolymammoth, Kill Paris, Quix and JSTJR.

If you’ve needed an extra fix of trap then Perth transplant promotion Father, now handled by a very capable Sydney division, have been packing out Civic Underground and OAF. There last show raged on with a triple international headliner of 8Er$, Ozzie and Charlie Traplin. They’ve also just announced a show on the 6th of February with another 3 internationals.

[Photo credit: Voena]

There is so much on offer, if you have a niche, it’s out there for you to enjoy. Collectives like Sidechains, Flux and Wu-Xi are out there creating a new look, a new sound and an entire culture you can immerse yourself in (at least once a month). When you aren’t amassed within their respective club locations, they’re constantly creating and sharing content that you can hold onto for the next party.

All of this goes without mentioning the incredible local line-ups we have the privilege of being exposed to every week that we take for granted. (That’s for the next article).

As always the ONLY thing that’s missing in Sydney is YOU. If everyone that was at home saying “Sydney’s Dead” was actually out at any of these incredible events instead, then they’d understand Sydney’s still alive! We don’t have to roll over and give up when we can just get creative. We don’t have to accept our fate. We can enjoy the day parties, the secret locations, the all-nighters, the huge local and international line-ups and the boat parties and still fight to reclaim the streets!