October 2003
marks Twisted's fifth birthday, a healthy lifespan for a club and
better than many, so these guys must be doing something right. It's
a monthly hard house night from 10pm to 7am now at The Fridge. The
Fridge has a large auditorium with stage as well as a balcony area.
A number of promoters have used the venue for their nights, and
it is well known, having a following loyal to the venue.
Recently, the management of The Fridge were reported to have
announced that they would be reducing the number of hard dance events
at the venue, so when I went to Twisted, run by
promoter Micky, in August 2003 I wasn't sure how
busy it would be. The line up was reasonably good, with Ed Real
and Ian M on the bill, as well as a selection
of other DJs, including Dean Peters and Alan
Yeates in a second room. Incredibly this is the old coffee
bar/chill-out room; more on this in a mo'.
When I got there about 11:30, the club was still filling up, and
I started wondering whether it was going to be a quiet night. I
needn't have worried as the place continued to fill, and by 1am
the dancefloor was packed. The lighting at The Fridge is superb,
with three green lasers creating some spectacular effects. The stage
was cordoned off for most of the night, with dancers performing
there, somewhat irrelevantly, as they often paled into insignificance
next to the lighting. Perhaps the idea is to build a rising sense
of expectancy, as the stage is later opened to the clubbers, (see
the pic), or perhaps they just want to make sure the dancefloor
looks full as soon as possible. Whatever, it does seem a bit of
a waste to close off the stage to clubbers for most of the night.
Musically the approach is to hire in from the usual repertoire of
hard house DJs, supplemented by some less well known. The second
room hosted three, but is in what used to be The Fridge's coffee
bar, which was a small haven in which to escape, the mayhem of the
auditorium and chat. This was usually packed. However, a while ago
the management of the Fridge dispensed with this, and have instead
installed a less than mediocre sound system which played host to
around twenty or thirty clubbers dancing to hard trance. What on
earth was the point? Despite the fact that the music here was great,
(I heard both Dean Peters and Alan Yeates
and recommend them both), the sound system did the DJs no justice,
and many people in the auditorium just had no clue there was a second
room going on.
|
Click the pic
above
to see pics from the night. |
The music in the main room, was, if not pointless, certainly
rehashed from any other hard house night you've ever been to,
with mixing and track sequencing at times falling below the
standards you would expect from top DJs. Despite the crowd being
well up for it, and into it, as well as being very friendly,
I was beginning to wonder whether driving down from the Midlands
had been a mistake. That was until Ian
M came on. Oh my golly gosh. Have you ever wondered
what the "M" in "Ian M" stands for? After
that set it's got to be "Maestro". What a virtuoso
performance! Whereas before him we were playing "Name that
Tune", suddenly we were transported to the world of proper
hard dance music - techno style - the style Ian has become renowned
for at Trade, and which he rarely, if ever, plays outside of
London. Whether people paid £10 or more to get into that
club on that night it was worth it just to hear that one set
- two hours of pure, unadulterated, joyful energy. Utterly,
mindblowingly, amazingly, MAGNIFICENT. After that they could
have played ABBA and I wouldn't have cared. However, Ian was
playing again at Twist the official
Twisted afterparty at club Fire down the road in Vauxhall, which
kicked off at 5:30am and ran through to noon.
Well, where does that leave Twisted? Friendly crowd, nice atmosphere,
great lighting, and if you choose a night when they've put on
a top DJ, great music. Not at all bad for a tenner for London
on a Saturday night. |
|
