Live Review: Motez, Ruby

Sugar has over the years cemented a cult following for orthodox classic house and trance music. While many of their big draws have been revered international underground icons, tonight's headliner Motez is a departure. This high profile house DJ has a poppier vibe. Right now he is perhaps the biggest electronic act from the state, with a popular local following, and promoters Four Four did well to coax him into playing and broadening Sugar's demographic, albeit for one night.

Born in Iraq within a small minority group, Motez and his family were able to flee the war-torn streets of Baghdad and reached Adelaide about a decade ago. Since then life has been on the up and up and he's now touted as the best, or one of the best, electronic acts to come out of the state in recent years.

Opening up with some solid house grooves, the initial DJs did enough to create a slow build at the start of the night. Opening at clubs is always hard, with crowds setting themselves to arrive later and later, but it's still important to cultivate a vibe to drive people gradually towards the dancefloor.

Ruby then put on a colourful and riveting set that packed out the dancefloor. The mix kept changing with the bass and synth emphasised at different points. The vibe went from dark and hypnotic to vibrant and bright at different times and the changes in momentum epitomised a lot of what keeps a good DJ set interesting. Arguably much of this set was when the night peaked, with the colourful arrangements keeping dancers engaged and driving the sounds forward.

Motez eased into the set with some hard-hitting grooves. The set shifted around but mostly kept a heavy intensity that had a harder edge to it than the earlier DJs. Motez is known for his softer, party-friendly house tunes, but in this set it was clear he wanted to play to the venue and it certainly seemed to work, although one could argue much of the crowd wasn't the regular set to grace Sugar.

The big singles, like The Future with Antony and Cleopatra, sounded great but were almost out of place in the more techno heavy mix. The interesting dancehall elements really worked, with the rap driving the rhythms and the percussive textures lifting the energy of the room, driving the set forward.

A lot of Motez fans expecting a more melodic house mix, reflected by his singles, may not have been thoroughly satisfied, but it was clear he was intentionally playing a set suitable for Sugar.