It was going to be a long night, I knew this as soon as my eyes scrolled past the fourth act on the lineup and we still hadn’t got to the headliners yet. All in all there were going to be six acts on, which meant only one thing; by the time the night was over, you'd have lost half your body weight in sweat. I wasn’t sure what I thought of such a congregation of drum and bass being staged at The Met, but all of my fears were swept aside when I saw that they had closed everything off and left Coco the only area populated. This gave the night an intimate atmosphere. At DnB parties there are often a lot of people in a relatively small space and that’s half the fun, so this setup encouraged that kind of scene. Plus, the Coco booths are beautiful little nooks to hide away, despite what your opinion of the Met might otherwise be. So this was the most perfect use of the venue, with all the right people there listening to the right music.
Dank Morass DJs Swob and Danck were nearing the end of their set when we arrived, and it looked to have been a crowd winner as the cheers elevated, notably since the night was still so young. I had wanted to hear Danny T do what was billed a dubstep set. His origins have been in breaks and he is technically very gifted, so I wanted to catch what kind of techniques he would apply to dubstep. The result was a perfect blend of industrial grinding breaks that shook the amps with an easing, almost laidback, dubstep rhythm. The combination of these two seemingly opposite vibes resulted in a nice introduction to the night, one that was easy to bop your head to.
Then it was de la Haye and Operon’s time to shin, winning over the still relatively empty dancefloor. Bringing out their own little bit of progressive dubstep, de la Haye got the feet on the floor with a nice working of Graphic’s I Am Metal. The set was paced well enough to encourage the people to come out from the beautifully cushioned booths, all the while keeping people from going completely nuts. You could tell the crowd were going to be up for it; you don’t dedicate your Thursday night like this and not expect to let loose. De la Haye’s solid set and Operon’s well crafted tunes complimented each other, so it never felt like a ‘take-turns’ scenario. It was fluid and polished.
Sweeping aside the thought that Justus could possibly have been a Kiwi cover band of French electro Justice, I was keen to see what kind of time he and Aniki would give us for their half hour effort. It turned out to be the turning point of the night. They laid down more of a jungle vibe which moved the rhythm up a notch and started to fill out the dwindling empty spots on the floor. When a dubbed up verion of the Fugees classicReady Or Not was released, it somehow fit perfectly and had the crowd well and truly won over.
By 11.30 the floor was at capacity and even those with seats were on their feet, all thanks to beats that were dolling out energy and begging to be danced to. But it wasn’t until a Pendulum tune hit the dancefloor that people really started putting the effort in. It was undeniably a decisive moment in the night, and shifted the atmosphere, breathing new life into the people. Perfect, then, that the pace was carried on with some wonderful ragga DnB that made the room bounce as one. Erther and Dreadknowledge had the room well and truly lit, so they were prepared to keep up with the pace now set. All the more impressive, they managed to make some French Baroque sounds marry perfectly with a swift hardcore DnB base. They piled on the bass and made it run through your feet, keeping everyone on their toes for the forty five minutes they were allotted.
Finally, it was time for the act that had drawn so many people out on a school night, withConcord Dawn (aka Matt Harvey) opening to a great reception. He began somewhat modestly, but that was only to give his build up more time to nourish itself. When Broken Eyes came out it was used to its fullest effect. Concord Dawn have a great talent for giving their sound a real “live” feel, the most recent studio album used instrumentation to great effect and it’s this sound that was captured at the gig tonight, even though it’s only decks in play. Not content with just relying on Chaos by Design to carry the set, some Don’t Tell Me from 2003’s Uprising made sure nobody backed down from the floor. Those who were dancing were certainly up for it, and sometimes that’s better than having a full floor populated by lacklustre hangers-on.
At 2.20am, around five hours of dancing had been squeezed into one evening and I was almost ready to do as the song playing suggested and Fly Away Home. If only that song hadn’t been one of my favourites on the album, and a great example of liquid DnB in its own right. I cannot honestly recall exactly how the night ended due to a healthy mix of alcohol and delirium brought about by dedicating yourself to five hours of exertion at the hands of masterful drum and bass overlords. There was an all-in DJ brawl billed and whether this was a battle of turntable dubstep wizadry or an actual bloody fight to the death, I would never know… I had to afford some time for sleep so that I wouldn’t wake up the next morning a zombie. I left the die hards to their DnB battle royale and went home exhausted but freer for it.
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