Live Review: Sasha Grey, Lukas Wimmler, Beecroft Sux, AKILLA

Despite her past success, only a handful of punters turned out to see former porn star-turned-DJ Sasha Grey play her first show in Perth at Villa Nightclub.

The night started with AKILLA spinning tracks to an empty dance floor, with the audience remaining on the outskirts of the venue and occasionally near the bar. While the DJ performed a solid set, not even the sounds of Yung Lean’s Kyoto and Dave Aude’s bass-heavy remix of Partition could ignite interest amongst the audience.

More people had arrived by the time Beecroft Sux took to the stage, who chose to kick things off with a Poolclvb remix of Sugar Man and Snoop Dogg’s Sensual Seduction. Unfortunately, by the time Sux was halfway through his set, there were even fewer people than before, with many either having left or gone outside to the now crowded smoking area.

With 40 minutes until Ms Grey was set to play, it was up to Lukas Wimmler to get something of a dancefloor going. Starting with the nu-disco sounds of Everybody Does and Bag Raiders’ Shooting Star, Wimmler managed to entice people onto the dance floor and keep them there with tracks like Call Me and Overtime.

Shortly after midnight, Sasha Grey started her set with tour mate Jessica Gonyea on hand to make sure everything was set up and working for her. Starting with Calvin Harris’ Summer and Mark Knight’s Your Love, Grey got a modest applause from the 50 or so people in the club. By the time she got to play a Tensake remix of Duke Dumont’s I Got U, the audience was looking less than energised. “Come on Perth, let’s see you guys dancing,” said Grey while hopping to enliven the crowd, but it was all in vain.

Towards the end there were only five people on the dance floor; however some still had some energy to use up. Fifteen minutes before the end of her show, an overly eager fan ran and jumped up on stage to say hello to Grey, only to be quickly grabbed by security and ejected from the premises. It was probably the last sign of enthusiasm from the crowd as the show finished, with Grey closing out the set with Sander Van Doorn’s This and her remix of Ghetto Superstar, thanking the audience and leaving the stage to a small cheer from the few left in the club.