Down Under Swanston Street, Aussie drum and bass DJ Luude delivered one of his most bone-shaking sets yet. The Tasmanian-born producer transformed rave venue classic, Max Watts, into his very own hard-paced and high-energy musical den on Saturday 4 July. As the first night of his exciting domestic and NZ tour, the sold-out show was hot off the burning coals following his EU and UK tour in winter and spring earlier this year. Luude made sure that it was a night to be remembered. 

Before the main event, Melbourne’s own Prize Fight spun a UK Garage and speed style set, steering the audience into back to back performances by Charlie Shell and Foura. The former an emerging UKG artist who recently released his debut album Carpe Diem and has toured with the likes of Groove Armada and Young Franco. The latter, a mellow and sleek female electronic producer and DJ who pedals between various genres including Techno, Break Beat and a more fast-paced collision of Speed Garage and House. 

Luude’s highly anticipated set necessitated some staunch openers and the crowd was reaching their peak when it came time for him to take the stage. I’d previously seen him play at a music festival last year and knew exactly what I was in for: notoriously heavy bass drops that absolutely reek, live mixing of beloved party anthems and mash-ups that seem absurd, but rumble through you in satisfying shock waves. His everchanging set-list can be described like the experience of hitting shuffle on a playlist of all your liked songs, allowing you to revive all your nostalgic bangers. You get to party with your current favourites along with some forgotten back-shelf classics, rejoicing in the experience’s benign randomness. 

Highlights from the set included his chart-topping remix of Men At Work’s “Land Down Under”, released in 2021, as well as his revamped DnB version of Mattafix’s “Big City Life”. The crowd was on fire and Luude himself was clearly having the time of his life toying with us through his sudden shifts into a new mix or next heinous bass drop. The set thrived on the unexpected and there was no way you could run off for a bathroom break lest you miss the next mash-up. I particularly liked his fusion of the chorus of A$AP Rocky’s “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)” paired with the infamous riff and bridge of the Gorillaz track “Feel Good Inc”, a song originally featuring hip hop trio De La Soul. Luude has an intuitive and innate ability to refresh and elevate the flavours of classic tunes, marrying all the best elements to generate the ultimate rave track. You can’t shake the feeling of joy and mischief embedded in his performance and discography.

Just as quickly as Luude’s set started we were flung back onto the streets in classic drum and bass fashion. Starving for more, our energy was at its peak, Saturday night was only just beginning.