**Tonight ** - Superfreq @ Fabric, London w/ Mr C and Steve Bug

kimajy

Well-Known Member
*** Superfreq @ Fabric, London ***
11pm – 8am - BE THERE
Tickets
£19 on the door
£10 Students / Fabricfirst
£9 after 4am
£6 after 5am
Main room – Superfreq
Mr C - back in from LA
Steve Bug – Poker Flat Label Boss in from Germany (special guest - announced 14 July Fabric website)
Luke VB & Tim Red
Room 2
Minilogue LIVE
Mike Shannon
Room 3
ONE RECORDS
Hector
Adam Shelton
Subb-An
 
Review - Superfreq @ Fabric - 16 July 2011

Fabric was something else last night. Underground Saturday night at the legendary converted Metropolitan Cold Stores opposite Smithfield Meat Market in East London that makes or breaks reputations, showcases progressive acts and brings international talent to the Capital, was stocked full of serious party people hell bent on a full-on night of sheer debauchery.

Numbers were mostly perfect for the capacity overall but I was glad of having bought a ticket in advance as the door-entry queue of guys in urban gear and chic party girls draped in svelt black mini-dresses was substantial by the time I arrived around 1.

The setting is perfect for the night and still edgy after all these years. Exposed brick walls and huge black beds for weary party people to lounge around on compliment the deep dark underground vibe.

Headlining the night in Room 1 is Superfreq, laid on by lifelong Bad Boy, unashamed self-confessed caner and former front-man of The Shamen, Mr C, whose own London club ‘The End' was a favourite of mine before it sadly closed down a little over 2 years ago. Now living in LA, he's brought over fellow LA resident [A]PENDICS.SHUFFLE (Kenneth James Gibson) to deliver a live experimental house and techno extravaganza to the London crowd.

When I check the line-up, Mr C himself is on at 5.30am. That's me in for the night then ! Superfreq regulars Luke vB and Tim Red have been warming up before the arrival of Steve Bug, boss man of cutting-edge Hamburg Techno label Poker Flat. Although Steve's set is still on the harder side of the ‘minimal middle' it goes down well and the quality of his mixing and delivery is highly impressive. The sausage : babe ratio is about 3:1 in Room 1 as his set begins, though… this is London after all !

Room 2's dark, trippy and hypnotic vibe delivered by Donato Dozzy cannot prevail with the contribution made by Swedish experimental Techno duo Minilogue, who are performing live. They stretch the sound system to the limit and are blowing the place apart. To be fair they could blow Berlin apart and you can feel the bass ricocheting through your body even as you approach the room. Inside it's positively dangerous. As the night goes on an unfortunate side-effect is a smell which belies the fact that it's so heavy some people have literally sh*t themselves. There are casualties being regularly led out of the room but it's still packed.

It doesn't get deeper or darker than this and fellow artist of Canadian label's Wagon Repair, Mike Shannon, has Room 2 firmly set in the black. But it's all a wee bit too much for me to really handle for too long at a time and I split most of the night between climbing the aluminium stairwell into the haven that is Room 3 and enjoying the show in Room 1.

In Room 3, Birmingham's One Records are having a party. A real party. For Fabric, they've stepped things up about ten notches from their often downbeat vibe and Hector, Adam Shelton (Below, Cocoon, Space) and Sub-ann (Below (Birmingham), The Weekend Club (Berlin), Warehouse Project (Manchester)) have the entire room dancing their nuts off all night. The quality is A+ and I'm a regular visitor over the course of my seven hour underground extravaganza of a Saturday night. There's plenty of room to boogie here and you can dance against the speakers with impunity. Gorgeous party girls ‘feeling the love' are having it large and the guys for once can really move.

The small crowd is ecstatic, grooving and hugging in a manner almost incongruous with the moody uber-hip surroundings. Things erupt into cheering and clapping as a diminutive bar guy periodically stacks endless empty drink glasses into a chain longer than he is tall and parades through the room with them like a mascot for the night's excesses. We like !!!

Back in Room 1, LA confidence enters the room as [A]PENDICS.SHUFFLE takes over from Steve Bug (who'd come over from Germany at the last minute after it became clear on Thursday that Fabric resident and crowd favourite Craig Richards couldn't be around to back-to-back with Mr C). He kicks a 3-hour live performance off by blasting out Rolling Stones' ‘You can't always get what you want' and I can't help thinking this was a tongue-in-cheek comment to the Fabric crowd, who take a while working this guy out.

He's on the stage opposite the DJ booth, larger than life with long dark hair and no shortage of stage presence. His live set is a unique full-on performance. When he gets going the crowd are won over and anywhere you can see the show, it gets as hard to dance in there as Pacha on a Guetta night. With your feet uncontrollably driven to move it's pretty frustrating and I dip in and out to get my full-on dancing fix upstairs with my new-found friends from Brum ..

It's light outside in the smoking area at 5am and it's already feeling naughty to be dipping back in to the underground mayhem with hours of partying left to go. Incredulous and exhausted first-timers are checking with the doormen that this party really goes on ‘till 8. The night's excesses have claimed countless victims, scores of whom are collapsed outside unable to lift their eyelids to more than a fraction of a slit. Most of the boozers who can't pace themselves have long since overdone it and been led away after taking their position embracing the huge vomit-bin that's carefully provided as a centrepiece in the arena of the smoking circus, overlooked by security. Well, rather that than in the loos or on the pavement. Party people in the know are still arriving to start (or end) a night's clubbing.

The One Records party's going to end in Room 3 at 6am but things carry on a bit later in Room 2. However, it's Mr C's set I've really been waiting for. He's is fashionably late and [A]PENDICS.SHUFFLE and Steve Bug keep things moving ‘till he arrives in the DJ Booth around 5.45.

This is only Mr C's second appearance at Fabric and his reputation likely contributes to security's nervousness as they scour the floor religiously, give the remaining hardcore clubbers the once-over with mini-flashlights. The crowd are far too well-behaved and savvy for there to be any problems here tonight. Staff keep the floor and surfaces religiously clear of empties and debris and the place feels as fresh as the start of a night. For a London venue, Fabric is intimate and relaxed and you can easily dance beside the booth all night if you want to.

The stage opposite the DJ Booth is now packed with ecstatic clubbers whose faces can only occasionally be seen through the smoke when the lights are raised enough for a moment or when stroked by a laser.


In the DJ booth, Mr C is flanked by pretty young chicks. In a brief instant, he strokes the tongue of one of them and pushes her mouth closed. He cups the hands of countless others off the floor as they're elegantly presented to be held in relaxed succession over the course of his set. He receives drinks from several appreciative clubbers, handed to him over the top of the booth, and politely drinks from every one.

The set kicks off with Jamie Jones' remix of Azari & III's ‘Hungry for the Power' which sets the tone, and the crowd immediately relaxes. There are some experimental moments in the warm-up, but by a little gone 6.15 the man's in full swing and delivers a real quality set with plenty of originality. By this time of the morning in jaded old East London you really need to be good to move a crowd. It's collapsed down to hardened party-goers and the energy in the room is electric. The careful and sparse use of signature rap overlays and nods to acid house which creep into his set after 7 go off like silver rain with a genius only Mr C can deliver and the place goes wild.

Been dancing most of the last 7 hours and by now, my feet are aching, knee tendons are strained, leg muscles are close to failing and I know my back's going to be in a mess but I'm still grooving like a machine and just can't stop.

I bid the big man a fond farewell just before 8am and wish him luck with his next two parties at Aura. The bar staff are still dispensing long rows of shots and whisky-cokes to party-goers. The music's piped through upstairs as I retrieve my coat from the cloakroom where the attendants are all grooving. What a place. What a night. What a disgrace ! C U later, Geeza.



Saturday @ Fabric – important facts



Mojito – £9


Redbull - £3


Double-redbull & vodka - £9.50


Water – stop messin' about – this is Fabric. Use the foot-pump on the unisex fountains !!
 
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Did you write this yourself?

Great review, but you do seem to remember lots of it haha

Love Steve Bug, would've been up for this night if it weren't for my holiday next week
 
Did you write this yourself?

At your service, when my hands stopped shaking enough to put finger to keyboard :D

Great review, but you do seem to remember lots of it haha

Ta. More than most that night, no doubt about that.. years of practice, mate !

Love Steve Bug, would've been up for this night if it weren't for my holiday next week

Not very freqish of you ?! Seriously top night for London and at £18 for a ticket, just a no-brainer. Felt like I'd done a festival by 8am. Fabric had quietly opened VIP to everyone so you cd stand on the balcony and look down on the Booth and across to the stage, and get a drink anywhere without a crush. Love those guys !

Sure Steve Bug will be back over again sometime - he's working with Mr C a fair bit. Sasha has signed him as his guest in Ibiza for Never Say Never opening party @ Ushuaia on 21st with Gui Boratto .. sooooo tempted to go out for it !!! B2B with Monegros ? If only I could get away for one or both !!
 
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At your service, when my hands stopped shaking enough to put finger to keyboard :D



Ta. More than most that night, no doubt about that.. years of practice, mate !



Not very freqish of you ?! Seriously top night for London and at £18 for a ticket, just a no-brainer. Felt like I'd done a festival by 8am. Fabric had quietly opened VIP to everyone so you cd stand on the balcony and look down on the Booth and across to the stage, and get a drink anywhere without a crush. Love those guys !

Sure Steve Bug will be back over again sometime - he's working with Mr C a fair bit. Sasha has signed him as his guest in Ibiza for Never Say Never opening party @ Ushuaia on 21st with Gui Boratto .. sooooo tempted to go out for it !!! B2B with Monegros ? If only I could get away for one or both !!

Excellent, well im impressed with your recollection of events.

I'm afraid I can't really do more than two big nights out a month, mainly as I need to be more on the ball with work recently and these nights out do not help in that sense :lol:

Good to hear Fabric opened the VIP room to everyone, it can get quite busy with the big names playing otherwise
 
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