While the first Neko Nation was in Perth, it wasn't till Neko Nation went to Adelaide that it really took off.Adelaide was where the first real Neko Nation event took place, Perth was a bit of a prototype with a small casual bar style environment with minimal dance floor and two catgirls. A lot of the elements such as getting at least 8 catgirls on, having a wide variety of DJs (not myself for half the night), performances, interstate DJs and in general the crowd was the most into it out of the 2011 shows we did.
The first Adelaide show was one of the reasons I would move to Adelaide for a short stint. I found the people super appreciative that they were getting the event, they were super supportive, not just of my event but the likes of AVCon, Joypad, even smaller alternative events were very super supportive of what I was doing. Adelaide was a small community but on a supportive and creative level, Adelaide was amazing.
The shows a lot of people hold dear and claim as the peak was the 2012-2013 era. First of all we moved to Higher Ground, a venue many people hold dear when we were able to move Neko to a more professional level and I honestly felt like I was being accepted and a part of the anime and cosplay community. It only grew further from there as AVCon let us host our first convention after party, a goal I would have one day wished for let alone to get there so quickly.
It took many shows to really push to get somewhere in most cities but very much straight up, Adelaide was super accepting, has no idea who I was and took me in as one of their own. While Neko was always hard work, I always found lots of motivation and inspiration when working in Adelaide and the shows were generally the ones I could actually have the most fun at even while running the shows compared to how technical some of the other events were.
In recent years, I will admit, the Adelaide show while still great, it isn't our leading show and hasn't hit the insane levels that our Sydney and Brisbane shows get. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise, smaller city and a nightlife that became difficult to deal with (all my past venues closing down), we lost good talent interstate (Jadeabella and Sei stick out) but at the end of the day, unlike many other promoters, I decided not to give up on the Adelaide show and the events with Crown and Sceptre in recent years was a blast.
In 2018, after a 5 year hiatus, we got the call from AVCon, it was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up and it was amazing to be back. It was a great event, even if I had little control or involvement (in short, I have little control over the event a convention setting), it felt good to be back, a lot of people told me they enjoyed what we did, my set and also how much they were going to miss us.It was a small city I fell in love with in 2009 when I first visited by myself to check out Tokyo Electro Invasion, a one off Japanese music style event in Adelaide, I loved the people there and the experience and it's crazy how that one night was part of the motivation to bring the next Japanese inspired club night, except this time it wasn't a one off.
Adelaide, seriously, thank you, what an amazing ride, I'm going to miss doing Neko Nation Adelaide but it's a city that I'll definitely be back too. <3
