The Bank Holiday Just Stomped Right Through All Over My Brain | Garnier, Villalobos & Secretsundaze

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Event Reviews

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Now that I’ve picked up the pieces (Yes its been three weeks..) its time to talk about the bank holiday weekend that recently stomped all over my brain. The first outing was way out at matter, where the French master Laurent Garnier was down to show off his new live show. Unfortunately being a working man meant it was a bit tough getting back and mustering up the energy to head straight back out again, so I didn’t end up getting down to the club till gone midnight and therefore missed the whole live show. Not to worry as I’ll be catching it at Sonar and Worldwide festival this year. But what I did catch was the mighty Francois K who did his usual trick of coming on and obliterating any warm up. It’s not a bad thing because it does often work and that night it picked the night up in the right direction. However I think he might have scared some of the after work drinks crowd with the blistering tunes he was playing.

The crowd itself wasn’t as busy as I thought it was going to be. Usually a Garnier gig is a road block event. Maybe it was, but with matter being so huge it comfortably held everyone with plenty of room to dance. The rest of the club wasn’t used though with room 2 being closed early on or all night and the upper floors of the main room being cordoned off. No biggie though as there wasn’t really time for room 2 and the temporary ceiling they put over room 1 made it a bit more intimate. Come 3am and Garnier hits the decks for his second showing of the night. I don’t know how the man musters up the energy at his age, but he sure does still have the spark. As always his set covers the expanse of dance music. He led brilliantly out of Francois techno before gently descending into some dubby grooves. He pushes the dub envelope so far that he’s actually dropped it down to dubstep before snapping it back into some house grooves. Only genius DJs can do that. Come 5am the crowd thins out a bit more, the toll of being at work all day or being at the early gig seems to have got the better of the crowd. I personally bowed out around then too, but I’m pretty sure Garnier was heading towards the mixed bag hour where D&B, disco and everything else were gonna be chucked in. A solid set just a shame the crowd weren’t there with him. Something about house and techno on a Friday just doesn’t work.

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Saturdays though are owned by house and techno. And who better to command it than Ricardo Villalobos. Back again so soon after his March gig but this time with Raresh in tow for a back to back set. March was an uncomfortable experience. High expectations from November and about as much room to always be 5cms someone’s armpit made it a so so night. But expectations reset I was fully prepared to give it another whirl. And my was it worth the second chance. The club was still really busy, but a bearable busy. Yes there were a lot of people but you could still get on the dancefloor and have a fairly decent move around compared to last time. But more importantly Villalobos was on fine form. Maybe Raresh was a good influence, maybe Villalobos was fresher than last time (rumours were that he was at the Robert Johnson till ridiculous-o‘clock last time), who knows. All I know is that some incredible tracks were laid down. Plenty of percussive rhythms, quirky samples, massive basslines, it was all being banded about. Raresh seemed to bring a house balance to the pairing as the set was very house-centric compared to the last time I saw Villalobos. I could try and name some tunes but I generally never know what Villalobos plays. I do however remember the new Reboot tune Pra Dizer being dropped with its ridiculous acoustic guitar breakdown and that Ralph Falcon Whateva track whose lyrics have burrowed deep inside my brain. I ducked out around 9:30am, but it seemed like the party wasn’t ending anytime soon.

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Actually I know it didn’t end anytime soon as there were plenty of clubbing casualties at Secretsundaze the next day who said they were there till gone 11am. I myself would have been a casualty at home, but the amazing sunshine meant it was prime Secretsundaze weather which shouldn’t really be passed on. Another sold out event meant everyone was crammed onto the Ministry courtyard hustling for space in the sunshine. Even though I’m getting bumped around, feeling horribly comedown and sweating out the weekend antics profusely, I’m still loving the fact I’m outside soaking up sun and hearing some great house music. It must be something to do with past memories from Ibiza or something. Some aeroplanes overhead would have made it pretty special. As for the music. Well, I never seem to have a bad word to say about Tobi Neumann. The guy just plays brilliant groove laden house music and Sunday was no different. Reboot’s Pia Dizer got another airing which says to me it might be pretty huge this summer whilst Matt Tolfrey’s recent tune on Cocoon went down a storm.

So that’s two out of two for Secretsundaze and sunshine. The next one is indoors with skylight windows, probably for the best as their luck is sure to run out soon.

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