The Back Alley Disco (B.A.D) was definitely the place to be last Friday 28 March. Melbourne’s Muscles was in town to play a ripper of a show, and everybody was there to see him.
Academy Night Club have really outdone themselves, with a stylish new modern look. The disco balls, flashing animations on the wall, and real mod furniture give it a real ‘90s tech feel. In the early hours, around 8:45pm, it felt like just an ordinary night out on the town: the bar was flooded with people, girls and guy were dressed up and looking good, and people dancing like they were on something.
The merch desk was a popular place to be at the start of the night. It was the only place to buy Muscles’ signature shirts. Guys and girls were ripping off what they were wearing to wear their brand new Muscles tees instead. There were also teams of girls and guys walking around with home made t-shirts, which was no doubt impressive.
From 9pm, Chris Fraser, one of Canberra’s most revered DJs, kicked off the event mixing together a collection of wicked pop and electronica songs. He not only got the whole club dancing, but had them singing along too.
To the side of the DJ mixing desks, there was a black curtain which a few smart cookies in the audience instantly assumed that Muscles would be playing there. A few girls began peeking their head through the peek hole to find two keyboards, and a computer, then eventually Muscles crouched on the ground himself. The fan girls began clicking their cameras directly at his face. He was really un-responsive to them, but it’s understandable, as the guy was just setting up.
It was 11:09pm when the black curtains were finally pulled away. A huge magnetic force seemed to draw everybody to the stage where the man of the hour was propped up on a platform ready to go. That’s when the pushing and shoving began, and girls virtually began leaping over each other to get closer to the stage. How does one man have so much power?
Muscles mentioned somewhere between that he was overwhelmed by the atmosphere in the club, he pointed out about the view front he stage and the smoke machine. He also seemed astounded, telling the crowd, “I’ve never seen so many girls in one room.”
Appropriately enough, Muscles started his set with everybody’s favourite Sweaty. It was then followed by the sugar-coated Chocolate Raspberry Lemon & Lime, with a majority of crazed girls screaming back in response “you’re mine!” as if directed at Muscles himself.
The songs he played virtually flowed into each other, there were no pauses between songs, which kept it real fluid. Muscles spoke to his fans in a real crowd-pleasing sort of tone, complimenting them every chance he got. He continued on, “wooing!” and “ahhhing!”, even throwing in “adorable”, little dance moves. Eventually, Muscles began talking about Muscles’ acoustic and played a few tunes acoustically.
It was so packed during Muscles’ set that it felt like watching the show from within a tin can of sardines. Unable to move, just enough to jump with the others. However, there was a lot of love from the audience. Muscles’ entire set had pretty much flown by (only one hour), and before you knew it, the curtains were closed. It was over!
Or was it? About five minutes later, Muscles ripped through the curtains, and played a sweet acoustic version of Ice-Cream. He exclaimed to his audience, “I’ve never done that before, Canberra only!” He thanked his audience again, before running off stage. Unfortunately, at the end of the night there were a lot of dazed and confused shirtless guys roaming the club. Which was kind of funny.
It may have been the end of the night for all the Muscles fans, but for those who wanted to party on another favourite Canberra DJ Jeff Drake played from 12am into the early hours, followed by a mash up from 2am (which included Modular’s Marty Salmon.)
Muscles won the minds of the most of his fans at the Academy. As two young girls sang My Friend Richard as they exited the club, it seemed a perfect time to reference that this was “the perfect ending to my night”.
