Hot Dubbing Through the Decades
A compressed performance at GTM simply wasn’t enough to satisfy my yearning for Hot Dub Time Machine, so flash forward a month and I was experiencing the boisterous DJ Tom Loud’s transcendent, multi-generational journey through pop music history yet again! This time the venue was the sold out Villa Nightclub in Northbridge. From the Beatles to Beyonce with plenty of MJ in between, the world’s first time travelling dance party brought the house (or should I say the Villa) down! Kicking things off in 1954 and working his way through the decades, the packed crowd of exuberant, sweaty young adults were treated to a sonic party they won’t forget. The best feature of Hot Dub Time Machine is arguably its diversity, with an extensive repertoire of bangers to elate everyone and anyone from Billy next door that apparently just turned 18 and makes you realise how old you are, to seedy Uncle Bill that makes you dread how old you’re getting.
With classic beats to teleport yester-generations back to their youth, electronic doof doof to get the party roaring and cheesy anthems that are tacky and we hate them (but secretly love them), a lot of Hot Dub’s success can be attributed to its multiplicity and DJ Tom Loud’s spunk tenacity to whip out songs from any era and any genre. His selections rarely went amiss, yet even if they did for some, they wouldn’t for everyone, because there’s always going to be someone who loves rolling in the deep with Adele. The perennial killers Mr Brightside and 99 red balloons (ft. the obligatory barrage of red luftballons being released from above) were personal and crowd favourites, but we’d be here all day if I even tried listing them all!
After three hours of audiovisual mayhem, DJ Tom Loud announced the completion of the show, much to the disappointment of the pumped up sellout. But a glorious chant for “ONE MORE SONG” which sloppily morphed into “ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!” was a success, with an ecstatic, incessantly beaming Tom Loud returning to the stage for not one, not two, but five more songs! The incredible sonic adventure through time finished off with a lil’ bit of uptown funk and everyone’s favourite DJ crush Alison Wonderland, and in the words of the legendary performer Tom Loud it truly was the “Best. Night. EVER.”
