Despite Sydney’s dying nightlife, our Hard Dance scene remains stronger than ever.

Prior to the 24th of February, 2014, the city of Sydney upheld a reputation as one of the most beautiful, vibrant and busiest CBD’s in the world. Today, it’s evident that this is sadly no longer true… For our international readers, you may have previously seen your Aussie friends or various news platforms blow up in fury during heated discussions about the prudent lockout laws that were brought into place two years ago. Firstly, in order for this to make any sense, let me explain the history of these laws and how they’ve transformed Sydney from a party hot-spot into a ghost town.

In 2014, New South Wales former Premier Barry O’Farrell, or better known as the world’s most infamous ‘dumb cunt’ announced that new alcohol laws in Sydney’s CBD (central business district) were to be enforced in order to combat drug and alcohol-fuelled violence. It went this way: 1:30am lockouts and 3am last drinks were put into practice, meaning that if you were outside of a venue after 1:30am, there was no way that you were getting back in! Party-goers, businesses, workers and even musicians stood up to voice their thoughts, labelling these laws as ridiculous and not to mention, harmful to businesses, the live-music scene and Sydney’s vibrancy.

Two years down the track and some of the city’s most iconic venues such as Soho, Hugos Lounge, Jimmy Liks, Flinders Hotel, The Backroom, Q Bar and many more have gloomily closed their doors due to the lockout laws subsequently putting them out of business. Most recently, an even bigger dumb cunt, Mike Baird (I swear, NSW has a thing for electing imbeciles into parliament) made a statement on Facebook preaching that Sydney is “the greatest city in the world and it is now safer and more vibrant than ever.” Generating over 16,000 responses, mostly from those who have been negatively affected by these laws, it’s evident that we’ve all been sharing our thoughts to help save Sydney’s nightlife. Although violence has been said to significantly decrease, this is simply a correlation with the fact that clubs have closed, the city’s entertainment hotspots are deserted and people are opting to stay home rather than party in a depressing city oppressed with laws.

**Excuse the poor illustrations. I’m not much of a drawer, but I’m sure you got the point.**

Before we hit off on a lighter note and talk about something more relevant to the Hard Dance scene, I’d like to remind Sydney-siders that the ‘Keep Sydney Open’ rally will be held on Sunday, 21st of February. With over 10 thousand attendees on the Facebook event, it is important to show your support to this cause!

Now that I’ve provided you all with a run-down of what’s currently happening in Sydney, it’s time to look at the bigger picture – how this has affected our Hard Dance scene. Now, many of you may already be aware of Australian Hard Dance organisations Masif Saturdays, HSU, Q-Dance, Nightvisions and ESI amongst others.

For our Sydney-siders, Masif Saturdays may be the place where you satisfy your weekly Hard Dance craving and for those who attend regularly, it seems to be one of the few night-venues that is still pumping, despite 1:30am lockouts and last drinks at 3am. Many international fans are also familiar with the concept, mainly because of the great things they’ve heard from friends and artists who have performed there.

This year alone, Masif Saturdays have organised A-class artists like Frontliner, Brennan Heart, Warface, Tuneboy, Coone, Outbreak, Decipher & Shinra, Kutski, MKN and others to perform in the nightclub, which puts me under the assumption that to book artists of such quality, Masif Saturdays is successful as ever. Week in and out, you can literally feel the strong connection between the dedicated individuals that are a part of the Sydney Hard Dance scene and unlike other scenes that are facing immense struggle, it’s this cohesion that keeps our scene alive. Something that I often see at Masif is a great amount of support that the local talent generates. It’s quite typical that if your friend is DJing, that their entire friendship circle will attend and make a night out of it – that’s something truly unique in our scene.

Another heart-warming example that I have to mention is the Theracords Australian tour which was held almost a fortnight ago at the Collector Hotel in Parramatta. Despite being held on the same night as the ‘RVRS BSS’ night at Masif Saturdays, the event itself sold out, marking a huge success for upcoming organisation Nightvisions. And let me tell you, the vibe at the Theracords tour was incredible! You could literally feel the unity between all visitors and despite complaints about intoxicated violence in Sydney, it’s a known fact that Hard Dance parties here are actually significantly friendlier than other genre club-nights. This notion actually leads me to my next point. All around the world, Hard Dance music is renowned for boasting a scene that harvests closeness and mutual respect between fans from all walks of life. It’s like an unwritten code that violence isn’t tolerated and that despite our differences, we should all unite for the love of the music.

I personally feel that this unique quality itself is something that has allowed the Sydney Hard Dance scene to endure through these tough laws.

Another organisation that has literally fucked these laws in the ass is HSU. Their most recent event ‘Knockout Circuz’ marked their biggest success to date – hopefuls were literally selling body parts to attend! Their upcoming event ‘Midnight Mafia’ is also set to be huge as HSU has generated an A-class line-up, proving that Sydney’s Hard Dance scene is stronger than ever, growing exponentially and thriving.

I’m not going to lie, for any genre of music it’s a huge risk to put on events in Sydney and with huge investments of time, money and energy to create the perfect night, things can easily go pear-shaped. As I mentioned earlier in this article, since the lockout laws have been put into practice, many iconic venues that have been open for over 20 years have now shut, however the immense dedication of Sydney Hard Dance fans has just gone to show that we have the power to keep our scene alive.

It’s extremely important that together we continue supporting our scene, regardless of whether our events are in sold-out stadiums with an A-class line-up, nightclubs or tiny underground venues with local heroes. Say yes to a night out with your friends, irrespective to how big or quiet it will be; your support goes a long way and as fans it is our responsibility to keep the Sydney scene a global highlight.
For those who want to stay updated on upcoming events, check out the following organisations and platforms.

Masif Saturdays | HSU | Nightvisions | ESI | Harder Styles Society