Posts Tagged ‘Hotels’

V for Victory

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

A victorious weekend – played both V Festivals and have to say they are two of the best shows I’ve done this year. I arrived at the first on Saturday up in Stafford and wasn’t too sure about how it was going to pan out – not many people dancing and a subdued vibe but going out in the crowd I sensed people were ready for some action. The guy who was meant to go on before me didn’t show so they asked me to play half an hour extra/earlier. I took this as an opportunity to do the same trick I pulled at the Cargo gig the previous weekend. I went on and played some 4/4 bangers and immediately the crowd picked up. I think V attracts a more mainstream crowd in general so playing house seemed a good way to build up the crowd and the vibe before unleashing the jungle. So when I dropped the Show Me Love mashup I concocted the crowd were fully primed for detonation. I wondered whether dnb would hold a festival crowd like this for 90 mins but they were there the whole way, loving it. A great gig with so many happy faces in the house. I didn’t think the next days show at Chelmsford could possibly top it but… I think it did.

Got a bit caught up making my way to the fest and showtime got too close for comfort so I ended up being able to drive my car all the way through into the middle of the site, right to my stage, which is always a winner. I had to jump on with only ten mins to go. I did feel a bit sorry for the band on before me because the crowd were chanting my name during the few songs I heard. The crowd were gagging for the dnb. And when the first tune I played dropped, I think that’s the most kinetic reaction I’ve ever seen at a show – the place just erupted and it seemed like everybody just spontaneously threw their drinks into the air and at each other. If anyone has video of this please post it here, shit looked crazy. That crowd was LIVE. Even the security were brocking out, something you don’t normally see at fests. And at the end, think we had to do four one-more-tunes. Heavy gig.

UPDATE: Here’s a clip that conveys some of the mayhem at Chelmsford.

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Posted in Festivals, Film, Imponderabilia, Music, Photographs | 17 Comments »

Carry On Up The Andaz

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

In stark contrast to the previous hotel ‘review’, here’s my take on the Andaz Hotel, Liverpool St, London – SICK.

The indoor garden. You might have to be there to appreciate fully.

The indoor garden. You might have to be there to appreciate fully.

Any hotel with a faux Guggenheim stairwell is A-OK in my book. Informal check-in procedure, five restaurants, an indoor garden, FREE mini bar selection. But where’s my industrial strip lighting above the bed?! Stayed here while in town to play at Cargo for the Next-Men’s album launch which was hella fun but hellishly hot too. I did a mash-up set, whatever that means – well, it meant I played half house / half dnb, which I thoroughly enjoyed. People didn’t know what to expect from my set going in but the room took to the housey/electro beats enthusiastically. However when I dropped the little Show Me Love – Robin S bootleg I knocked together (starting out as house and then speeding up to dnb) the whole place just erupted. The dnb beats kicking in really hit me and the crowd, total europhoria after the housey buildup of the first half of the set. House tunes just never drop as hard as dnb can.

Checking out the next day, the very helpful lady at reception had a chat with us about Tarantino re IB and she hit the nail on the head – “He does does seem a bit odd but I guess it takes strange people to make really good films.” Amen, sister! Amen.

Where's the Rothkos?

Where's the Rothkos?

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Posted in Imponderabilia, Music, Photographs | No Comments »

Staying at The Overlook Hotel

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

I DJed in Birmingham the other day and stayed at a particularly dispiriting hotel – The Copthorne on a road deceptively called Paradise Circus as it’s actually a roundabout surrounded by tunnels and fly-overs. To be fair though the night porters were quite entertaining (upon finding out I’m a DJ, the one porter asked ‘Why haven’t you brought any girls back to your room?’. I replied ‘Because I have a girlfriend’. To which he turned to the other porter and exclaimed ‘See?!’ which I assume referred to a previous conversation they must have had on fidelity. Either that or they were taking bets on whether I was gay.)

A trick played by many hotels is to make the lobby look as good as possible to lure you in and then once you’re checked in, they hit you with this…

BrumShining

You can’t see it here but there’s actually four rows of industrial lights on the ceiling. Now, I have a fetish for fluorescent strip lighting as much as the next guy but this really felt like some laboratory test room merely simulating living quarters. Like the coffee cups were glued down and the view out the window was just a painting.

It was kinda awesome really. Somehow they managed to make every element of the room completely clash with every other element.

And that’s an adjoining door to another room. Just as I was about to drift off to sleep at around 4am, I heard a roomful of guests arrive next door. I couldn’t help but hear their conversations which thankfully were rather amusing.

Voice 1: So, what do you wanna do? You wanna call some escorts? You want some pussy, man?

Voice 2: Nah, nah, man.

Voice 1: Come on, tell me what you want. You want some pussy in here?

Voice 2: Nah, I’m alright, man. I’ll just have another drink. They’re no good round here, I would only get some escorts if we were in Kazakhstan.

I’ve yet to see the official comparative study on the quality of international escort services but word on the street is Kazakhstan is the shiznit!

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Posted in Imponderabilia, Photographs | 10 Comments »