You know that sensation of a bright light flashing and imprinting a lingering image on the retinas of your eye? My sister’s image was burned in shades of blue against my eyelids long after the concert ended. Now or Never beckoned for 2024 a night of, as they described, “heart-melting R&B, propulsive club bangers, hip-swivelling techno-house, and explorations of the rave unconscious” and that they did!

With the DJ sets of Anthony Naples and Sleep D opening and closing the night respectively, and the performances of Coucou Chloe and Erika De Casier. The eclectic blend of genres playing against the backdrop of frescoes and arched windows in the Royal Exhibition Building became a night of various emotions. Amongst the cross section of Melbournians who can only really be described as various colours of “Naarm-core” with their outfits of many layers, I found myself consumed by the numbing strobe lights and video projection. Reflecting on that 5 hours, it comes back to me in flashes of sound and colour.

Beginning the night with Anthony Naples was interesting. The venue was yet to fill up and the social boundaries of when dancing was acceptable, not meagre dancing but a surrendering of your body to the movement of the crowd and beat, had not yet been overcome. So I suppose in this sense it isn't necessarily a reflection of Naples’ music itself but of how well the elements of music, time and people aligned. It isn't fair for me to judge Naples’ set too harshly, but I like to measure my musical experiences, especially those of DJs, against the metric of how encouraged I feel to dance. Clusters of people gathered under the curved ceilings of the building swaying slightly and as the set continued, the clumps began to build a momentum, but not so much as to allow themselves to fall prey to currents of sound waves.  Rather, they were moving in a way that can only be described as bopping about. The set and the music created an ambient and effervescent atmosphere, where listeners teetered on the precipice of surrendering to the electronic pool of sound. However, that seemed to be all it was—a teetering on what could have been consuming. Overall, Naples’ sound was good but things seemed to be slightly off-kilter in terms of the performance itself.

Transitioning from the end of Naples’ set, a projector shone light that danced in colours and shapes that seemed to give the intermission sounds corporeal forms. Sounds appeared before onlookers in turgid but fluid shapes, and then before long, Coucou Chloe pranced onto the stage in a spiderman suit. I'm unclear of the reason for the choice of outfit but it certainly brought a character to her stage presence. It was only enhanced by her periodic sips of her drink throughout the set.

In all honesty, I went into this night most excited to hear Chloe’s music. It wasn’t that I wasn’t disappointed; there was a sweetness to her performance and little dance moves, a lovability to her seemingly overwhelmed facial expressions in response to the crowd's cheers.It was more that her performance didn't seem to add anything to the experience of listening to her music, an experience I often achieved walking down the street listening to her music through my headphones. I must concede, I loved hearing the music vibrate through the floorboards of the hallowed halls of such a divine building, but it seemed like I was just listening to her music rather than seeing her perform the music. It was fun, and she had an effortless coolness to her (perhaps aided by her French accent) and that was all it really needed to be.

The transitions resumed once more, and the hall filled to its peak amount. It seemed clear an excitement hung amongst the painted plaster ceilings. Erika de Casier, for me at least, was the highlight of the night. She delivered smooth, sensual vocals that danced in the acoustic hall, creating sound that surrounded you. The visuals during her set were beautiful clips of the ocean, or city streets, her in the car, her as a child—perhaps the most touching. De Casier had a lightness to her performance but a richness to her sound. The simple arrangement of the stage and performance, her and a drummer, allowed the music to be the thing that swallowed the audience. The drummer was incredible and the room thumped with every contact of the drum sticks with the toms. There was a wonderful sentiment of joy during her set, the swarms of listeners began to fully dance now, with couples holding each other as an entanglement of limbs. The air in the centre of the floor turned warm, not in an uncomfortable way, more so in an expelling of happiness and love that palpably floated in the air that previously held the winter’s chill. I smiled and felt the room smile back - smile.

Closing the night, the crowd changed to predominantly TN owners. Closing the night was a DJ duo hailing from Frankston (I am also from Frankston, allusions to TNs are not derogatory). The two men in charge of spinning the tracks seemed to enter a sort of trance, as did their fans in TNs. The pulsating beats hit the ground with a hypnotic rhythm that seemed to carry the swaying bodies despite the onset of fatigue. The comforting warmth of the air during de Casier became wet and muggy. The floor, now sticky from sweat and spilled drinks, didn't stop the collective movement of bodies, and a liminality between concert and rave seemed to occupy the great hall. The sounds from the tables echoed loudly enough to pound as they absorbed the energy and consciousness of the crowd.

The night slowly came to a close against the backdrop of synth waveforms and blue strobe lights. Leaving the hall that night, the coldness of winter seemed a little less harsh for having danced for five hours.

Overall, Now or Never this year offered a range of music and movement that remained with me as one of the more enjoyable Sunday nights this winter.