Originally taken from Catalystic's personal Facebook notes.
6 months ago the original vision for an anime themed night club was born as a side project for in my uni break. An event that was created just for the pure fact that I got tired of waiting for someone else to put an event on that I decided to put it on myself. Basically it was a simple idea, create a night that not only played Japanese music but also music from animes and video games, present an interesting environment that catered to anime fans, gamers and geeks alike and add in nice little welcoming touches such as having catgirls serving sushi.
As the original founder of Neko Nation, this event was beyond my wildest dreams, I originally created this event as a small fun one-off side project in my university holidays to have a bit of a small fun party but Adelaide was definitely a lot more then that! This was one hell of an event which I’m so immensely enjoyed, not just as an event promoter but also as an actual fan of the event.
Neko Nation Adelaide may have lasted up to 6 hours for those who went, for the people behind the event; it has taken 3 months to put on the event and a total of 6 months if you include the original planning behind the first Neko Nation in Perth. There is so much work that happens to make this event possible and it takes a lot of people to put an event like this on and I’m extremely thankful for everyone’s help.
First of all, to everyone in Perth who made the first event a success which encouraged me to put on another one (well actually, two since the next Perth event is coming up soon!). It was such an amazing night and we felt that it was a great event that we would put on again on a bigger and better level. The support you gave us made Adelaide happen.
Live on Light Square provided us with an amazing venue and they took a huge risk with our event. It’s hard to convince venue owners to put on an event that has never been done before and they were more than happy to not only take on our event but help with so many of our demands to make this event happen. They went above and beyond and did everything it took to make the event work and even lots of small touches such as the Princess Peach shots which I found absolutely delicious! I'd also like to give a special shout out to all the guys who helped set up the lighting and DJ equipment in the venue as well too.
To all the photographers at the event who capture the amazing images of the event, you have mdae myself and many others so very happy. I have so many good memories of the night which have been summed in photos of myself and capturing many memories of others and there were so many amazing outfits and moments that got captured which I thought were truly special. The professionals have done an amazing job but even the fans and staff members who brought digital cameras or their phones to share their pictures on Facebook, thanks a lot, everyone and myself included loves going through the pictures from the night.
The DJ’s did a stunning job and really make our event very interesting and unique. We had amazing DJ’s for our event, they all did an amazing job and I’m impressed they looked the part and really had lots of fun interacting with the crowd. The DJ’s made the night special and Neko Nation has got an amazing line up of DJ’s, we’ve got some experienced veterans in the rave scene pumping out a variety of hardcore, hardstyle, dubstep, electro and industrial. We’ve got some amazing DJ’s who pumped out a nice variety of songs from all sorts of Japanese genres. While there are too many to name, Giddy Kong was a highlight flying all the way from Perth and paying for our resident catgirl Kae to comeover too who was playing a variety of dirty electro, dubstep, hardcore, gabba, speedcore, splittercore, hip hop, trollstep, lulzcore and Nyan Cat. We had DJ’s playing lots of fan service songs, in particular tracks such as Sailor Moon, Caramelldansen, One Winged Angel, Nyan Cat, Still Alive and the crowd really went off for the Pokemon theme song! My only gripe was that the DJ’s were too good and I was often torn between both rooms and had to miss some amazing sets due to DJing or having a good time in one room.
The catgirls need a huge mention, originally included as a small diversion in the original plan, they’ve become the stars of the show. I originally planned for the idea to get catgirls serving sushi but once Susannah got on board, she made it her mission to take it even further. She got 7 of the sexiest and cutest catgirls (and one catboy!), to serve sushi and my god, the outfits they were all wearing were incredible. These people were specially chosen due to their amazing looks and personalities. Just having them there, they looked amazing and really added to the atmosphere and yeah these are seriously the hottest alternative models in Adelaide and Australia for this show! The personalities brought them to life, not just while serving sushi but interacting with guests, dancing, DJing and just having fun! The icing on the cake was the Damage Dollz performance. I was so blown away, they put on one hell of an amazing show, for those that weren’t there you missed out, imagine having four extremely hot sexy catgirls brought to life playing with each other. It was one super sexy show that really emphasised how great catgirls really are.
A very special thank you must go out to Anthony, Julia, Kerry Anne and Giddy Kong. We had 4 other people and 5 including myself who chose to come to Adelaide and help out with the event out of their own free will, I never asked for anyone to come over at all. It’s one thing to get people helping out with your event, it’s another to get people who are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to help out and in the cases of the DJ’s get called up to play sets at the last minute. Believe it or not, the majority of the time, we used interstate DJ’s rather than local ones since between the three of us we played almost 7 hours!
Of course, without the fans, this event wouldn’t have happened. We got a fair bit of praise in Perth but in Adelaide, you guys have really shown your love for this event. It’s a huge risk to start a new project and until the event, we had to do our best to sell our event with just ideas alone and we were glad you supported it. At and after the event I’ve seen a lot of praise the event and it really means a lot to us since we really do put it on for you all and it helps us get through what is a very tough times in the lead up to the event.
I’ve had a blast, some of my highlights include playing my anime and gaming 180bpm set which featured J-core and hardcore remixes of tracks such as Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangellion, Pokemon, Zelda and Caramelldansen to name a few. Getting to join in the mass caramelldansen, dancing to the anime theme songs set from Saccharine. The super sexy Damage Dollz Catgirl performance. Nomming on lots of sushi. Meeting all the catgirls and hanging out with the DJ’s. Seeing some epic outfits and talking to a few of the awesome fans (I worked and danced at a lot of the event so I didn’t get to socialise as much as I would have liked again!). Drinking Princess Peach shots, playing One Winged Angel. Tricking people with my trap outfit and being tricked by Susannah and Kerry Anne’s twin outfits! If I had a favourite moment when Pokemon was played and everyone joined in a circle and started singing along was quite magical.
However this event happened all thanks to Susannah, the head promoter of Neko Nation Radelaide. Susannah actually helped out with securing a venue for the Perth event and decided to fly over and become a catgirl for the Perth event. She loved the event so much the day after the event we got to work on an Adelaide version of the event and just before she left we had a draft plan for the Adelaide event ready to go. From this moment on me and Susannah become partners, not only in business but personally as well.
Susannah saw the original ideas and wanted to make it huge. We ended up going late, it got put into two rooms, we brought in six new stunning catgirls over the original pair from the first event, we had new DJ’s in many styles of music which had people learning about new genres that never thought existed. We saw new concepts coming along such as the gaming and anime anthems hours, the catgirls were given new life and their very own show, new prize categories which rewarded people for having fun as well as looking great and overall just making the show even better than the original.
The result was mindblowing, I loved the event so much, half of it I had fun working and helping out, while the other half I spent actually having fun and enjoying myself. The only downside was that the concept was so big was that often at times there was so much going on I didn’t know what to do, which room to dance in, who I should talk to, which outfits I should look at (I missed the epic Nyan Cat outfit!) and just deciding what to do, there was just too much to do!
I had so much fun and despite all the work, late nights, risk and stress involved in putting on events, I love it and it’s thanks to all of you who have made this event truly amazing. I can not wait for the next one in Adelaide (and also the others around Australia too!) and trust us it will be bigger and better than ever. <3
8:20-9:00
Anime anthems
Bubblegum Pop 
11:10-Close
