11 times dance music broke our heart in 2016

London clubland has been going through turbulent times for a number of years now. We all know the feeling of frustration induced by the tendrils of gentrification suffocating the scene, but it’s an emotion that doesn’t come close to the depth of loss felt by the Studio 338 fire and death of worker Tomas Ceidukas in August. The images were harrowing; a raging inferno, literally not metaphorically, tearing through our culture. I was with a friend and employee of the Greenwich nightspot in Amsterdam airport heading back from Dekmantel when the blaze took over 338. This proximity to someone closely associated with the tragedy made it all the more real: the panic as she tried and failed to get through to friends and colleagues, mind sick with the darkest possibilities. It’s fair to say we were already feeling slightly fragile, and this news sent post-festival blues spiralling into heartbreak. RIP Tomas. Patrick Hinton, Digital Staff Writer

New South Wales Premier Mike Baird kicked off the year by declaring he’d consider banning festivals in and around Sydney after a woman was hospitalised and people were caught with drugs at New Year’s Day favourite Field Day. About 11 of the 184 caught were then handed criminal records despite being first-time offenders with as little as two caps on them. That pretty much set the tone for the next 12 months, to which we’d attached some hope could bring a change to the city’s 1.30am and 3am last drinks laws. February marked two years since the restrictions were imposed on central Sydney, strangling many of its bars and clubs, and an official review into their impact on safety, businesses and other aspects of nightlife was on the cards. But the Callinan review only recommended each law be moved back half an hour, which is now set to be introduced next year, doing little to help the music scene. It’s a small step in the right direction to #KeepSydneyOpen though. Hopefully the city will take a few more in 2017. Scott Carbines, Australian Digital Content Editor