As one door closes on a weekend another one opens…

Four day weeks are akin to a delicious chocolate truffle with a poisonous gooey centre. Last weekend was monstrous 4 evenings of nothing but opportunity to pickle the liver for which I grabbed like some crazed person after those silver tokens in the dome contraption on the crystal maze. Tuesday turned up, I felt horrible but finally got back to reality to find the weekend was on my doorstep once again, urgh, but in a rather superficial “do I have to” way. So to understand the mistake I’m going to make by being back at work next Monday in pain, lets recap how I got there the first time round.

Secret Sundaze @ The Coronet Theatre

Thursday saw the weekend kick off with Secret Sundaze. Usually a staple in the London Sunday clubbing calendar and the one who tends to destroy souls on the weekend decided to opt for the pre-emptive tactic and destroy people before they’d even begun. Thursday night saw them bring another Detroit legend to town in the form of Kevin Saunderson who headlined alongside minimal Berliner Tobi Neumann. Out back in room 2, Italo-Ibizan night Monza entertained us with one third of the Romainian RPR sound system Pedro. Whilst another two rooms of disco and soulful house could be found in the old theatre settings of the Coronet.

Aside from the ridiculous queue to get into the moderately empty building, Secret Sundaze had a good sizeable crowd in attendance. Both the big rooms were packed out with plenty of dress up fun that only Secret Sundaze can do. The music was good in places, but seemed all a bit same old same old at times, the same house and techno that weren’t really going anywhere which seemed to affect the crowd after a while. There were flashes of inspiration and I did have a “laugh” but all in all it just settled into a usual night with average music from both the main and back room with a subdued crowd. I hope Secret Sundaze go back to their formula of small interesting venues with a more select up for it crowd.

M-Nus 10^th Birthday @ Fabric

So the jewel in the weekend crown for most was the M-Nus 10^th Birthday. Presale tickets had sold months in advanced, something unheard of for a Fabric Saturday, so it was pretty obvious that only small oily fish in a tomato based sauce would be comfortable. Undeterred I still went. Come on its Richie Hawtin in room 1 and after missing him at the End and being disappointed for the first time at Lost in July, I needed a good dose of Hawtin magic to restore the faith.

On arrival the queue was pretty lengthy even by Fabric standards. It was visible from Farringdon station which isn’t even that close and round a corner! There were rumours flying round of people being camped out since 7pm! That’s dedication to the cause big time! Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long being on some sort of lengthy list thank god. On the inside it was the usual mix of folk all cramped in moving fluidly round the club. If you got caught in the wrong flow you ended up in the toilet hoping sea rescue were going to pull you out.

Anyways I digress, all this talk of queues and people when I should really be talking about the music, which is easily summed up in one word. BRILLIANT. All rooms were rocking. Great techno all round with a real up for it crowd. It was nice to see Magda playing some decent music again. Last few times she had been really dull. Maybe because she’s made for the warm up slot and peak time sets don’t really do her justice? I dunno. But I do know she was rocking room 1. Marco Carola continued his excellent form in room 2 to a packed out crowd. Again the crowd were electric, people cheering and going nuts. Haven’t seen such enthusiasm since…. Urm the last time Hawtin and the gang were down. Gaiser ripped into Room 1 with his Gaiser sound and an entertaining sound at that. I’m pretty sure he laid down some new stuff too.

So to the main event, Hawtin rolls on at 5am with a planned 5 hour set and my god it was a journey that required seat belts. I couldn’t tell you what he played; all I know is that I was extremely happy at hearing that sound, his sound. OK he did go a bit filter- tastic but every time he did it people would go nuts. So I don’t blame him for massaging his ego watching people go mental at a turn of a knob. I did stay right till the end, however someone left an open hole upstairs on the balcony which I fell down and was lost of the last 2 hours of the night. So here ends the M-Nus report.

Circo Loco @ The End

Bank holidays usually mean a little piece of Ibiza invades the End. Circo Loco tries to re-create the aeroplane flight path terrace magic by having the UK party in an old underground station supplementing the aeroplanes with inflatable ones. But that shouldn’t matter; it’s really about the music!

Like Thursday night it seemed pretty good all round. Good music, good crowd, yet it seemed to lack something, well something in comparison to the mighty M-Nus night which just had it all. It might have been me coming to the end of the line, but there didn’t seem to be the electric atmosphere witnessed the previous night. All the DJs on did a great job, Gavin Herlihy and Dollz at Play working the lounge to great affect and Jose De Divina made mince meat of the main room. Unfortunately I missed Rhadoo, part 2 of the Romanian sound system as I was tucked up in bed!

This Weekend
After all that one would generally want to shoot themselves. But after a few days at work and some second thoughts, it seems like we should wish Mulletover a very happy birthday at Se One this Saturday. And if that’s not enough for you good ol’ Villalobos is tearing Fabric room 1 a hole. Get involved!

PS. 5^th April – Time Warp, we’ll be bringing you a full report on this massive big room techno fest known to man!