“Into the Infinite”: HTID Australia Event Review

 Not that I want to make our European readers envious or anything, but it’s still summer here in Sydney and it’s still baking hot. At the end of January we had a long weekend and everyone was absolutely ready for a party!

Ever since the news just over a year ago that HSU Events had taken over HTID we’d been eagerly awaiting an HTID Australia event, and finally, on Saturday 27^th January, that day arrived.

JTS and Technikore got the event off to a flying start, showcasing their superb new album “The Colour of Sound” as ravers flocked through the venue doors and dashed straight down to the front of the stage, eager to catch every minute of the action.

Weaver and Suae were next up to the decks, and when they dropped “Power & The Glory” it occurred to me that HTID Australia was in many ways taking us back to an earlier era of the Sydney rave scene, where at some major events UK Hardcore was the main attraction of the night. It felt very special to be back at Sydney Olympic Park with so many thousands of ravers wanting to hear this music, and with the UK Hardcore artists on the line up including those who set the foundations for this genre so many years ago, and who are still leading the scene today.

By the end of Weaver and Suae’s set the crowd were absolutely warmed up and ready for the first international act – Dougal. The full spectacle of the stage production started to come to life as Dougal treated us to an awesome full hour set, featuring big tunes “Shoulder Lock”, “Kryptonite” and so many more.

Audiofreq held the crowd captive with a set that as always was gloriously unpredictable, with a track selection ranging from his famous “Warcry” right through to “Lethal Industry” as a hark back to the days of his Orbit1 alias. The one moment we could predict however was that Audiofreq’s set would finish with the beautiful HTID Australia anthem, “Infinite”.

The set that all the old school ravers had of course come to see was Hixxy. While his set comprised mainly newer material, every moment was absolutely packed full of classic Hixxy energy to satisfy everyone’s cravings!

Following straight on from Hixxy was the set that absolutely everyone had come to see – Stonebank’s very first ever appearance in Australia. Despite the wide range of music styles that Stonebank produces, his HTID set was mainly focused on his euphoric hardcore anthems, which is absolutely what we’d hoped for. Whether in his own original productions such as the incredible “By Your Side” or in his remixes, Stonebank’s melodic style stands out in a class of its own.

Up next and continuing the euphoric vibes was Code Black, always a favourite with his hometown crowd. Code Black of course took the opportunity to drop his new collaboration with Darren Styles, “Sparks”, which is certain to be a huge tune this year.

As a hot afternoon turned into a decidedly warm evening, those ravers who were smart enough to buy fans from the merchandise tent were now generously sharing the benefit of those fans with friends and strangers alike on the dancefloor, and I’m very grateful to everyone who helped me to keep cool!

The headline set was Darren Styles vs Gammer, where fast-paced mixing was the order of the day as both artists brought in as many as possible of their latest tracks, with as yet unreleased Darren Styles tunes “The Dragon” and “Switch” going down a storm, along with collaborations such as “Party Don’t Stop” and “Feel Like This”. This is the last time in the foreseeable future that Darren Styles and Gammer will play together – but I’d like to think ‘never say never’!

Continuing the current HTID trend of minimal MC participation, at HTID Australia there was another nod to classic Sydney events with Sydney’s own MC Losty being on hosting duties and just very occasionally jumping in with some bars.

The night drew to a close with an exhilarating hour of Frenchcore from teenage genius Sefa, who won many new fans (myself included!) after his highly impressive performance.

Needless to say with HSU Events at the helm, the event production was absolutely on point all night. Just two weeks later the HTID team did it all over again at HTID USA in San Francisco, which was another sell out event. This year is already off to an amazing start, with UK Hardcore well and truly rocking on the world stage!