The Underwater opening party was fantastic.
Highlight in the main room was Emerson, who was class but should lay off the Pioneer FX unit until he learns how to work it as good as Morillo
. Tim Deluxe and Richard Scanty were both spot on, and totally rocked it. Nice little vocal interlude from Robert Owens as well.
More effort had been put into the decor than Subliminal Underwater last year.
Westwood made a good go of the Global Room and Goldfinger ripped it with some tougher stuff. Who'd have thought you could ever make people dance to Justin Timberlake at Pacha? When Scratch Perverts etc. come in here, it should go right off.
Low point was definitely Fatboy Slim- terrible
. He just played a random sequence of records, indulged in atrocious mixing (seemed incapable of counting to 4 or hearing whether beats matched), his choice of music was often unsuitable for the Pacha vibe, and he was absolutely torturing the sound system (when the level indicator lights on the mixer are going of the top of the red bit you're supposed to ease off a bit). There were more people trying to shake his hand than there were dancing during his set.
I think separating from Subliminal wasn't the best idea. It was the combination of Morillo and Emerson, and their contrasting but complimentary styles that was so special. They justified it by saying they wanted to give their label mates better exposure, but I'm sure they don't mind nearly packing out two nights at Pacha each week instead of just the one.
I think Underwater will probably do better than Subliminal this summer, despite the absence of Erick "King of Ibiza" Morillo.
