Major Lazer Soundsystem
Sven Väth
Stepping into Digital’s neo-industrial
labyrinth, Stone sweeps us into the
cavernous main room where an already
packed fl oor is getting down to the warm
rolling grooves of resident duo People Get
Real. In an age where DJs who
understand the true role of the warm-up
are all too rare, these boys are a
revelation — they’ve got the art locked.
Not that there’s any denying tonight’s
main event. As Väth takes control of the
altar-styled DJ booth, the place goes
apeshit mental on impact with signs like
‘take me to your techno dungeon’ and
‘punish me naughty Sven’ thrust through
Planes, trains, automobiles the frontline since day dot — placing the air with the sort of delirious fervour
A train, plane and automobile later, and proper DJ talent and attention-to-detail you’d expect at a Take That concert.
we hit the Toon for phase two at Digital at the forefront of their priorities. Now, by rights there should be something
Newcastle. When it opened its doors back A survey of the Friday nights at Digital still faintly ridiculous about a man edging 50
in July 2005, Digital’s almost ominous outlays a constant, cross-genre conveyor playing to a crowd pretty much half his
crowning as ‘the fabric of the North’ was belt of the biggest noisemakers in the age, but the Cocoon boss somehow cuts a
probably a touch OTT. Yet the comparisons business. fi gure of eternal, unruffl ed über-cool as
were obvious. The in-house promotion Sub Prime is all he loads up a slab of his beloved vinyl.
In a city crying out for custom- about bassbin bothering ruptures and acts Waves of rolling percussive rhythms are
constructed big room clubbing spaces, like Skream, Toddla T and Rusko, then offset with more mechanistic
Digital gave the Toon just that. And much Turbulence and Hospitality bring the d&b barrages, as the sunken fl oor laps up
like fabric, it was one run by people who heavyweights, while the Digital Presents… everything that booms out from the
had experienced acid house culture from nights have recently showcased electronic Funktion 1s.
house pioneers Eric Prydz and John
Dählback. Any forage upstairs uncovers a scene of
But it is arguably tonight’s Wax:on that sweaty drunken carnage and Erol Alkan’s
has made the biggest impressions here. raucous electro with the only respite
Evolving into a modern day successor to coming in the intimate third room — we
mutant techno godfathers Bugged Out!, catch Death On The Balcony getting deep
their genre-mocking approach has meant and cosmic in here.
names as diverse as Ricardo Villalobos, By the time we return to the main arena,
Richie Hawtin, Fake Blood, Pendulum, Sven’s three-hour onslaught is
Digitalism and Simian Mobile Disco have thundering to an emphatic close.
all played for them at Digital — making Waiting for the nod and cutting a satisfi ed
them one of the best nights out in the grin amongst the ‘one-more’ chants,
country in the process. Sven drops down his encore to a raging
The fi rst time Cocoon overlord Sven Väth applause — a blissful, weirded-out
has graced Newcastle in as long as anyone two-step number.
can remember, tonight’s fi fth birthday is a And while Digital Newcastle might not
bit tasty even by their standards. have jumped out of Sven’s DJ diary this
Unsurprisingly, it’s another stone cold time round, we’re pretty sure it’ll raise
sell-out. one of his trademark grins the next.
ALLAN MCGRATH
When we arrive at Digital around
midnight, the buzz is tangible, too.
www.djmag.com
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DJ482.AAA_digital.indd 65 15/1/10 15:47:26
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