Arriving
at the Metro around 11pm we were greeted by quite a sparse crowd.
Venturing into the main room, we encountered the popular Australian DJ
duo of Anna Lunoe and Kato. These two have been mainstays of
the Sydney club and festival scene for some time now and usually drop a
crowd pleasing set, however my initial reaction on this night was one
of boredom and disappointment. 

Making our way into the smaller Lair room we sampled some local up and coming hip hop/rap acts including On Track Showcase and Stunna Set, but
due to the small crowd the atmosphere was lacking so we returned to the
main room to be greeted by a much improved and more up-tempo finish to
Anna Lunoe and Kato's set. 

By midnight the crowd was beginning to build as Ajax moved
onto the decks (by this time I was definitely ready to dance) and I was
pleasantly surprised. Having seen Ajax many, many times at various
events I was never too inspired, but on this occasion he threw in a
great selection of old and new school R&B and Hip Hop dance tunes.
In fact, it was very reminiscent of a Girl Talk set, with each song
tumbling into the next, while the party atmosphere continued heading
skyward.

The penultimate act then made her way
onto the stage in a particularly grandiose and bombastic fashion (Lady
Ga Ga, much?) before giving what I can only describe as a bizarre
performance. While Amanda Blank would be known to most people (myself
included) for the song 'Might Like You Better' and her work with Spank
Rock, beyond that I didn't know what else to expect. Dressed in a
skin-tight white cloth swimsuit (hello camel toe), with the body of a
20 year old and the face of a 30 year old, she sashayed through a
screeching set that came complete with an ongoing feud with some
meat-head in the front row. Honestly Amanda, no matter how much flak
you're copping, just get on with your performance instead of
continually spitting and swearing at them ... not pretty.

Finally, as the clock ticked well past 2am Philadelphian DJ export and one half of Major Lazer (with Switch), Diplo, began
his set. I'll make the call straight up, whilst I probably enjoyed
Diplo's set more due to the fanfare and buildup, Ajax actually played a
better set. The main shortcomings of Diplo's set included an excessive
focus on his Major Lazer material (honestly, I can only hear 'Pon De
Floor' and 'Hold The Line' for so long without going a little kooky)
and an over-reliance on his hype man (the crazy Haitian) to get the
crowd pumping. I must say I was impressed by how the crowd filled out
the Main Room during his set and on the whole everyone seemed to have a
great time (due largely to the crowd interaction brought by the Haitian
and his two bootylicious dancers). The highlight for me being the
inclusion of M.I.A's 'Paper Planes' just as energy levels were dropping
near the end of the set. A reasonable performance, but Diplo you can be
better.