the rolling london dancing thread

Wow, reading this thread is such a nostalgia trip, so many great nights.

Raving is an occasional treat rather than a regular thing these days but will be going to the Unabombers/Lowlife party at Corsica Studios next weekend. I basically only ever go to Corsica these days, but that's alright as it's basically the best venue in London.

I'd like you to say KFW was terrible, I was planning on going and then only realised that today was the day at 11pm.

(although thanks EDB, yours is the kind of vague reassurance I feel I need before venturing out myself! Also helped by the fact that after well over a month of trying I finally have a smartphone and need never fear getting lost again [unless I lose the phone itself].)

I'm sort of semi-tempted to go to Fabric in the middle of the afternoon today, just because we can.

The KFW show was quite good, though the sets were all too short. Keith played for like 30-40 minutes. The other sets were like 20 minutes (what the hell is up with that?). I might be a bit biased, though, since I found a 10 pound bill on the floor that night.

Good to know about Corsica. Considering that Colony/Plex Suregeon, Traversable Wormhole, etc. thing, which would make me grateful if I am able to walk out of that party alive.

Heard from an unreliable source that Fabric is disappointing, but I want to see for myself. Thinking the upcoming Tectonnic night (scuba, addison groove, pinch) might be a good induction.

That and the *free* bicep night is basically what I've been working around.

Ha, I just got a smartphone too. It definitely is reassuring.

My plan was to go to Fabric at noon on sunday and spend the day there, but I don't want to over do it this weekend.

oh Matt you're coming to Low Life as well? I am so looking forward to dancing, my life has been the poorer without it. It'd be good to get to a beauty and the beat party soon, too.

haven't been to Fabric in ages - got really turned off by it a few years ago. I... don't much like the vibe, I guess? also, it's kind of gropey.

Actually, I should probably go to fabric tomorrow afternoon. Why miss such a golden opportunity (i.e. a stellar line without having to sacrifice sleep).

* stellar line up. I just hope there isn't a stellar line to get in.

if you haven't been to fabric you probably should. just to experience it. i've had some great nights there but these days i only go about once a year (and have already been this year so i doubt i'll be back).

always used to say i'd turn up at fabric at breakfast time/middle of the day but that never seems such a good idea when you wake up fresh and sober and it's a nice day outside. why on earth would i want to go inside fabric on a day like today?

i plan to rave a bit more this autumn, the past few months have been ridic busy and i haven't had the time for anything. low life will be a good start.

If I end up in London today or tomorrow I'm def going to fabric. Think it's like timing traffic around rush hours for queues with that place.

Been talking about going to Beauty and the Beat for years now and still haven't been. Anyone been to Gold Dust?

At the 'bric now: is a hoot. Currently im just sitting outsideod to take advantage of the good weather, rest my ears, and, uhhhh, read about sovereign power and control over death. Anyways, am glad I came here ( though probably won't make a too regular habit of it).

C#M - yep, definitely going to Lowlife. That lineup basically = Croatian boat party so will be amazing.

oh god you fuckers are gonna spend all your time going "BOAT!" aren't you, i might have to go and find some new friends

good thing it is low life where everyone is lovely

I would like to do more London dancing. All my mates in hitchin are basically non-clubbers and it's almost impossible to get em down to London.

Is there anywhere to dance in Hitchin? I drive past/ride the train past regularly and the place scares me a little. Is it like the town in footloose?

didn't make fabric birthday this year unfortunately as was out of town (heard moodymann played nirvana this evening lol) - next time at fabric will prob be rhadoo & rareash in dec

not sure about this weekend, possibly fred p at secretsundaze

I actually broke my dance duck last night with a little lol hipster house surrounding Nite Jewel at the Shacklewell Arms. It was a bit grim and deadening but such is the nature of that specific situation I guess - if I can do it there I can do it anywhere.

Might go along to Lowlife, if the conference I'm at that day doesn't take too much out of me. Don't really know what to expect and as good as the blurb is ( http://www.corsicastudios.com/index.php/october-2011/493-low-life-october-29th ) it isn't telling me an awful lot, but the collective enthusiasm here sells it enough.

Hooo... That was a fun 14 hours at Fabric. And yes, Moodymann did play Nirvana! (seconds after I walked into the room and passed someone wearing a Nirvana shirt. It was a moment of weird cognitive dissonance: the mixture of seeing a reference to something and hearing it - as if your mind were creating some strange sensory cross-referentiality - and the even more strange fact of seeing moodymann, of all people, playing it. For a moment everything felt as if it was either no longer, or way too, real).

low life will sell out,get tickets. it's run by the people behind djhistory.com, has a bit more of a grown up vibe, it's ace, you should def get to one.

can't recommend beauty and the beat enough, it's a shame it's not bring your own booze/smoking indoors/just do what you want anymore. they have the best club soundsystem i've ever heard. warm and wonderful sounding. the same system david mancuso uses for his loft parties (which are also a fun evening out!) eclectic in a good way, always make a new friend when i go :)

this weekend, i'm looking forward to ital "secret east london location" on friday then probs cosey club at the baby bathhouse on saturday.

low life has already sold out iirc

Is there anywhere to dance in Hitchin? I drive past/ride the train past regularly and the place scares me a little. Is it like the town in footloose?

― owenf, Sunday, 23 October 2011 22:46 (Yesterday) Bookmark

Hitchin is quite nice - a bit like Stoke Newington or somewhere like that - not scary. There are a couple of townie clubs you can dance to, ranging from meat-market hell to acceptable r'n'b/dance. I put on my own nights at a local venue, but it's mostly gig-based with a few DJs when really I'd love to be able to do a medium-sized specialist DJ night etc... Would've been able to do something like that 10 years ago, but smoking ban/noise complaints/council restrictions have quashed a lot of the better venues and pubs.

I actually broke my dance duck last night with a little lol hipster house surrounding Nite Jewel at the Shacklewell Arms. It was a bit grim and deadening but such is the nature of that specific situation I guess - if I can do it there I can do it anywhere.

That venue kind of fucks me off. When I saw Ford & Lopatin, I was thinking "This place is smaller than the club I promote in, and I'm sure I'd be able to get a bigger/more responsive crowd than this", but of course because I'm not promoting in a big town agencies and bands just aren't interested in visiting. I'm sure this wasn't the case a few years back when Hitchin venues rivalled places like the Cambridge Corn Exchange for touring bands. In the eighties, Spandau Ballet, Thin Lizzy, the Specials, Squeeze and many others played right next door to where I used to live. Also the Fall recorded one of their best known albums at the same venue.

I'd be well up for an ILX "FAD", but of course I'd need a bit of notice. Have to give myself a good run up if it involves staying out in London all night and getting the early train home.

The Shacklewell Arms gives you a very, ahem, particular catchment area in terms of clientele.

the shacklewell arms is full of cunts at all times

it's nearing old blue last levels of AVOID

dog latin i would be into that!

a FAD?

In the eighties, Spandau Ballet, Thin Lizzy, the Specials, Squeeze and many others played right next door to where I used to live. Also the Fall recorded one of their best known albums at the same venue.

A lot of act, even British ones, just don't put in that level of legwork any more. Although the acts you named would have been going for a very broad, more-or-less mainstream audience. You're never going to get that with an act like Ford & Lopatin especially if the manager (rightly or wrongly) assumes that 80% of the intended market will be living within a two-mile radius of Dalston.

Yeah, I understand the psychology of putting them in London. I'm sure if the price was right I could put anyone I liked on within reason, but of course in London you can get away with charging £10 for a short set by an obscure act because at least a handful of people in London will have heard of them. In Hitchin I have to rely on mine and my organisation's reputation as promoters to put on decent nights. Pleased to say that after several years it's working and people will take risks and turn up.

I had no idea this thread was still going!

Since we moved back (nearly 8 weeks ago) I've been mostly going to Fabric and Plastic People, plus Corsica Studios once. I'm heavily biased towards places that I can walk home from, though, and despite some of the problems with Fabric (e.g. overcrowding) it's a 5 minute walk from us, so it's probably going to be the main place I go. It's also one of the few places that sometimes has a schedule that doesn't mess up my sleep (I get up at 6am in the week which makes late nights tough; so yesterday I went to Fabric at 7:30am and stayed until 1pm, which was perfect for me).

The other problem I have these days (apart from falling asleep before 10pm) is that having basically destroyed my knee last year it's very hard for me to dance (or even stand) for more than 4 hours, often a lot less, which also makes a lot of club nights less attractive - I need to save my knee for DJs I really want to hear rather than wait around for a few hours for them to start.

I'm also way out of touch with pretty much everything - what's so good about Low Life?

anything going on in london dancing-wise from nov 2 to 10? i'll be in town, we should go out

Oh, and I've been out a few times on my own already (in fact every time I've been to Fabric) and it hasn't been an issue - but then again it didn't even occur to me that it would be, so perhaps I'm a bit weird that way (I've gone to plenty of gigs on my own, which I know some people don't like doing).

xpost: there's loads! Just scroll through RA listings. Though 20 hours of event-going in 5 days has left me drained, though I may go to the free Feel My Bicep night on the 2nd.

are you guys saying that there are djs are Fabric, like, 24 hours a day?

are = at

no not usually - it was their birthday weekend so it was 30 hours straight. But they not infrequently have nights that run 11pm-10am or later.

its usually villalobos where it runs late, the last one, in aug ran on till 2.30pm. it normally finishes around 8am. they tried running it later with Zip but don't think he had the profile to carry something like that

Zip playing on the 19th at camp tho!

This is a good thread. I met my wife while was on dancing my own in the Key (gone, sadly). I don't dance on my own much these days, only if I'm out with one or two friends who decide to leave before I'm ready. I've had a few rubbish nights in London since I moved back two years ago. Shacklewell Arms being one and another being Love Fever earlier in the year. Going to Mulletover this Saturday hhmmm..

i was at that love fever i think. god it was shit. really nice people on the door and a nice crowd and a decent venue, but i was astonished at how poor the system and worse, the music was. it sounded great and the way they sold it it looked really good, but it completely wasn't.

there's been more than one love fever this year, the one with sprinkles in april would have been a whole different thing to that one in may - which was super disappointing

I couldn't make the Sprinkles one which was a shame. The one I went to was in May. The music was all over the place. The DJ played that Steve Moore 12" on L.I.E.S. and then moments later Braxe's mix of Kelis' Bossy. The crowd were pretty transient. They were charging £15 which was OOT considering it was so low key. I followed that with SecretSundaze in Greenwich, oh dear. My friends from out of town did see the funny side of it.

the may one was really disappointing, won't go to another of those

would have gone to sprinkles but was at soundstream/portable/sud

not sure what to think of secretsundaze....tempted by fred p this weekend but i dunno...they don't seem to do too good with venues. i heard the moodymann one was good but the zip one not so much. v likely to be going to zip at camp tho

SecretSundaze has the same problems that Superfreq, Wiggle, Faith etc. has for me. It attracts an older, generally male crowd which has some nasty and heavily druggy elements. They have been around for years and need large venues which London doesn't have enough of. They're not all bad obviously but it can be enough to ward me off. I think it's because London promoters have the difficulty that certain nights attract certain types where smaller cities often have more of a mixed crowd; fashionable, gay, students, music-heads, older clubbers etc.

Zip at CAMP will be ace though.

I'm also way out of touch with pretty much everything - what's so good about Low Life?

I've not been to a normal Lowlife party but they've been doing them for like 15 years or something and they always seem to sell out - I'm not expecting anything revolutionary, just really enjoyable house and disco. There's a big group of us going due to a friend's birthday, which always helps.

Zip at CAMP will be ace though.

Problem with this will be that it's at CAMP, atrocious venue.

yeah last fun secretsundaze i went to was at canvas..not sure they ever managed to find the right venue after that.

i have just been talked into going to this krankbrother halloween loft party on friday w/ matt tolfey but it's 'secret east london venue' arggggh

best nights i've had in london this year were both at cable (ostgun ton night with marcel dettmann + ame and the resident advisor party with loco dice)

i find it hard to have a good time at fabric normally