11 times dance music broke our heart in 2016

Let’s face it, everything that happened with fabric this year was heartbreaking. Of course it’s open again now and although the rules are more rigid than hoped, we were thrilled that the institution could once again actually be an institution.

Saying that, one of the most harrowing, bizarre and draining experiences for me in 2016 was sitting in the hearing at Islington Town Hall to see whether the club would keep its licence. For seven hours, I sat in that court room tweeting and keeping the world up to date with proceedings. It was obviously one sided from the off and not in fabric’s favour – it was hard to listen to at times and was a genuinely sad experience. Knowing there were so many staff members whose jobs and livelihoods hung in the balance meant so much was at stake.

When the decision was made to revoke the licence, the room fell silent, as in completely, deadly silent. It was fucking horrible and I was shaking. I got home just after 2am and couldn’t sleep for hours. Like I said, despite the club being reopened again, I’ve never had a music-related experience that's been so stark before. That night, my heart got broken a little bit and I’ll never forget it. Funster, Deputy Digital Editor

Dance music has its roots in the world’s great cities but its positive vibes run deep all the way to small drought-stricken communities in the Australian bush. Each summer a host of festivals held outside tiny rural towns help boost the local economies as road trippers from Melbourne and Sydney roll through for booze, water and other much-needed supplies for days of clubbing in the heat.

Unfortunately, this year, locals in the town of Charlton near Maitreya’s planned 10^th anniversary site at Lake Wooroonook about three hours from Melbourne missed out when the festival was cancelled one day before it was due to begin in March after organisers failed to get a permit from the Buloke Shire Council. Authorities said the festival hadn’t provided necessary management plans and would not budge on the issue as organisers maintained the party was happening.

I was among thousands of people disappointed that an opportunity to get down in the dust looked to be going astray, but the efforts of a group of locals were inspiring. Members of the ‘Save Maitreya’ Facebook group worked 24/7 in the weeks leading up to the planned festival to try and get it to go ahead, holding meetings, writing letters, analysing clauses in council documents for loopholes and offering alternative sites on their own private farms to be taken over with house and techno. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. But at least the commitment to the rave (nearly) made up for missing the actual event. Scott Carbines, Australian Digital Content Editor