Gold Panda & DJ Oneman

Huge double-header in Perth last night. For only $5, people got two see two of the best right now in their respective fields, beat wunderkid Gold Panda and Rinse FM badman DJ Oneman. Word spread quick and the night sold out leaving more than a few punters stranded outside the Bakery. The venue was packed, with most there to see the Pitchfork hyped Gold Panda with a decent amount holding out for bass music from Oneman. Opening act was Australian beatmaker Woosha who put on a very impressive display. It’s clear that he’s a huge fan of Flying Lotus and he carries it off well. Expecting big things from him in the future indeed.

A bit later on the first of the headliners, Gold Panda, stepped up to the stage and proceeded to blow everyone away. While I like Gold Panda, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over live, but we were treated to a surprisingly danceable set. It sounded like LA beat music run through a house music filter, or vise versa. The BPMs fluctuated around bringing feelings from hip hop, house and even a little bit of juke music. It was fresh and for the hour that he played everyone was very impressed.

With the unenviable task of trying to keep a room full of hipsters from bailing to the outside area, Oneman stepped up the decks and proceeded to show everyone not only why he’s considered one of the top Djs of the year but why bass music deserves a seat at the table of dance music. While the room initially drained of everyone but the dedicated, it slowly filled back up over the course of his hour and a half set. Furthermore it wasn’t the same crowd of people just nodding their heads, it was people full on dancing. That’s right, when it needs to Perth can still bust a move, not just cross its arms.

The set had a long build up of garage and bass music with an early highlight being The Street’s ‘Has It Come To This”. Shortly after it was followed up with a huge run of Jamie XX’s ‘New York is Killing Me’, 50 Cent’s ‘Ayo Technology’ (I’m serious) and Girl Unit’s ‘Wut’, which even got its own rewind. Just when the crowd couldn’t go anymore ham, a short while later Blake’s CMYK got dropped and there was a massive rush to the dancefloor from outside. Other big track to get a reaction was Sicko Cell’s “The Information”. Expect big things from that mysterious track this year. According to Twitter Oneman was well impressed with the notoriously fickle Perth crowd. A fantastic night, big ups to and Don’t Sleep for putting on an awesome, forward thinking night. There’s hope for this city yet.