24/06/2003 @ the Metro
LTJ Bukem
Makoto
Vice Versa
so it was a kenny solo gig, hadn't done that since lamb last year! ben thought about coming too, but he was too late. rocked up fairly early. sat back for the first hour as there were not enough people on the dance floor. there were just not enough people generally. but you now i like to rock up early and get my full money's worth.
the stage had an oval screen on the back, showing weird lights and video effects and the dj's name repeatedly. it was surrounded by around 12 giant white balloons, up to 2m wide, with patterns and lights bouncing off them. the dj was set up on a large table with the promoter's name printed across it. and the mc stood in front of that. and it looks like there's a few more speakers than usual. and that's all there was to watch. that's if you came only to stare at the dj's. (if you know me you know i'd be looking at something else. ;-) )
the night was local dj & mc duo VICE VERSA, new japanese fellar MAKOTO & MC DEEIZM, finishing off with LTJ BUKEM & MC CONRAD. two hour for each pairing.
about one hour in VICE VERSA's set i got down to the floor. they started off light and funky and finished with some old and heavy styles.
dance floor was filling up nicely by the time MAKOTO was on. biggest thing out of japan since...i don't know, ken ishii? anyway, the crowd was already there and ready for it, so he tore into it early. stomping numbers. the female mc had an annoying voice. good thing it was swamped by the music pretty quickly. as the set wore on, the mc's voice wasn't really that bad. i find myself naturally moving closer and closer to the speaker stacks.
maybe i'm getting too old these days (,maybe there were extra speakers?) but more than a few times i find myself having to move back. and then of course naturally i'd dance again, get carried away again, gradually inch forward again, then find my head/ears/feet/other hurting too much and having to move back again! i must have looked very silly to those around me. (well, just my dancing would probably have made me look very silly anyway.)
the vibe was fairly good, but the floor was getting packed a bit too tight. rocking up to a proper drum'n bass gig i quickly realised how little i really knew of the genre. through out the whole night i think i really only recognised two songs. (woo! makoto played london elektricity!)
makoto was awesome and heavy. (at times it made me think of nail guns, for some reason. must be all the low mechanical "hummmm" and high "kun-tissshhh!". some kinda deadly, rapid-fire nail gun.) i danced my head off. i haven't danced so crazy since underworld earlier this year. no, crazier, because there was a fair bit more room for movement tonight. (we were packed like sardines up front at the underworld gig.) in fact, i was going so crazy that by the time his set was over, and more and more people were cramming in for bukem, i was feeling wasted.
for bukem's set, i moved back to around halfway to the back of the main room. the main room was packed like crazy. (well of course! the night sold out!) so half way back in the room was actually packed JUST AS TIGHT as on the dance floor. except things were a bit clamer and i could give my ears a rest. relatively speaking. i didn't get into bukem's set as much though. the fact that i had to keep checking my watch for the last train probably had a large part in ruining my partying mood. and the people halfway back weren't as cool either. some bums getting grumpy over space sharing. where is the love, i say, where is the love? the good vibes disappears once people get too crowded. had to leave before even halfway thru bukem's set for the last train back home.
which makes me wonder. all these other people, how do they get home? looked like i was the only one there that night that had to catch the last train to hornsby. lucky bastards.
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