After spending the best part of the '90s gurning to Oakey in The Courtyard, it has been quite some time since I have been to Nation and was unsure how it would be under new management.
As I've never had a bad night at Circus's nights in the Masque, the night promised to be good and the lineup was first rate.
We arrived at Nation at around 11.30, the night was completely sold out so we were expecting it to be really busy. The queue for internet-bought tickets and guest list had a waiting time of about 10 minutes.
We first headed to the main room which was packed, where Felix Da Housecat had already started.
I knew I had friends wandering around but didn't think I'd easily find them, so it was nice to bump into them left right and centre, particularly when they all congregated in the Courtyard for Eric Prydz. He was an unexpected treat! After only hearing his chart releases I really didn't pin much hope on a good set but was set straight soon after stepping into the courtyard. It was so busy it was difficult to get a spot to get in your dance swing where you weren't be jostled, but the crowd was really getting into it and the atmosphere was buzzing.
I wandered between rooms for a while to see what was on offer. I ended up back in the Courtyard to see Paul Woolford who really got the crowd going with his eclectic, original house.
Wanting to make sure I still had enough energy left to dance, I was a bit disappointed that SOS were on in the Annex at 3am (legs just aren't what they used to be!) I've been a massive Desyn Masiello fan since hearing his seminal Essential Mix in 2004, but I've only has the pleasure of seeing him once, as he hardly seems to venture up North and over the last 18 months he's taken some time out to produce and work with the other SOS members, Omid 16b and Demi. However they didn't disappoint. As they were on last the crowds had dispersed a bit so there was room to dance. The crowd loved them and everyone seemed to be big fans. I spoke to a guy who had never heard of them before but was really impressed.
In the Main Room, Groove Armada really got the crowd jumping with Superstylin' and all who saw them said they were brilliant.
Armin Van Helden took it back to the Oldschool with 'House of Pain' and 'We Want Your Soul' and the Courtyard loved him.
I was expecting to see some cracking fancy dress outfits but was sorely disappointed, the most shocking thing I saw all night was a guy buying two bottles of Smirnoff for £250!!
Must have had a good night as my ears didn't stop ringing until Monday.
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An amazing collection of dance and crossover tunes from the 90s, '90 Club Hits From The 90's' is a much-needed 4 CD album packed with top club hits from the era that brought you the most hedonistic super-clubs, the biggest earning DJ's ever and the coolest remixes!
With tunes from Armand Van Helden, Robert Miles and Faithless this album encapsulates the absolute best of 90's dance music for the first time all in one package. For anyone who lived through the 90's, reading the tracklisting is like reading a who's who of the dance music charts, with songs such as Professional Widow by Tori Amos, Missing ' Everything But The Girl and The Brand New Heavies ' Dream on Dreamer, surely nothing can define an era more than this album?
Highlights include Baby D, Armand Van Helden, Berry, Orbital, Grace, Stretch n' Vern, Josh Wink, Lisa Marie Experience, Rui Da Silva, Sonique, Wamdue Project, Olive, Moloko, Corona, K Klass, Deee Lite, Robert Miles, Faithless, Tori Amos, Mario Piu, C&C Music Factory and much much more'
Club Connected rating 7 out of 10. An interesting journey back to the 90s.
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Believe the hype ' the warehouse project is back and this time its bigger and better then ever. Manchester's biggest series of nights has landed on the city again but this time in a new venue beneath Piccadilly station right in the heart of town. For everything the Boddingtons brewery lacked, beneath the streets makes up for plus more ' more bars, better sound system and more places to crash out and flake, for those points in the night were all you can do is chill out and listen. Contained within a series of arches and tunnels, the venue has gritty industrial excitement to it; more intimate and more involved with the audience. Although the capacity is smaller then last year, the slight decrease in size only makes the venue better. Coupled with more intense visuals and cracking line up, the warehouse project is the only place to seen this year.
For those of you who are familiar with resident Manchester night Ape, the line up will come as no surprise. Only on the Manchester scene for two years, launched as the brainchild of well established Manchester promoters, Sam and Lee aka Sabre, Ape reputation has exploded beyond belief, regularly filling venues of a capacity of over 2000 people. It combination of brakes, D n B, MC's and basically any thing with a good beat and base has kept Manchester's party army happy for the past two years. And tonight was no exception.
Arriving around eleven, the event was already well away. Hidden underneath the entrance to the station, it lacked the ques and security presence there was at the previous location. The surprise of the night was the last minute addition of Manhattan notoriety and chart favourite Mark Ronson, who despite sound problems went down a storm. But name of night had to go to Ape favourite DJ Yoda whose combination of classic tunes and deep beats was all round favourite ' who else could get away with dropping some Dolly Parton in the middle of a set and make it sound so good!!! The end of the night steered more toward harder breaks and drum and base, with only the hardest of drum n base fans remaining for high contrast and jungle drummers closing sets. Notable mention has to go to Exit Festival favourites Stanton warriors, who brought that festival feeling back to UK for a stunning set.
All in all, ape did not disappoint. The eclectic range of acts coupled with a top venue meant that the third weekend of this year's warehouse was one to remember. A high standard was set for the weeks to come, so make sure you don't miss out.
Sat 13th October
The Ape 2nd Birthday
High Contrast
Mark Ronson (just added)
Subfocus
DJ Yoda
Foreign Beggars [ Live ]
Q-bert
DJ Kentaro
Stanton Warriors
DJ Food
Youngblood Brass Band [ Live ]
Jungle Drummer Vs DJ FU
Rich Reason
9pm - 5am ///
£15
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Judgement Sundays have always been a highlight of our previous trips to the island. For months leading up to this year's holiday our eyes had been firmly focused on the Ibiza Party Calendar to check who was part of the line up. This year Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell, Fred Baker and BK had been brought
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Having not been back to Ibiza in the last two years, I was looking forward to seeing what changes the Space had made to the club. Up until now, I had only ever been to Space on a Sunday, so I was curious on what it would be like on another day/night. I was going to see Carl Cox's night which is on Tues nights throughout the season spread out over nine sessions. I was going to the fifth one of the season which featured Carl Cox, Monika Kruse, The Freestylers, Angels of Love, Carlo Carita & Lele Sacchi & Elio Riso.
The night starts at 8pm and runs until 7am, although it sometimes carries on past that time. I arrived there around 10pm to see the Angels of Love hosting the terrace. This was the only room open at this time. I had never seen what I called the new terrace before. This is just referred to as the terrace now and this can be quite confusing as I found out later on when I was trying to meet up with a few friends that worked out there.
The terrace was busy and there was a wicked atmosphere that I had remembered from last time I was here - even this early in the night. Wondering round to check it out I found a friendly 'up for it' crowd just waiting in anticipation of things yet to come. The night was building up quite nicely. Carl Cox came on to finish off the terrace for the last hour. At midnight everyone gradually made their way inside.
We then ventured to see Monika Cruse who was starting off inside. To be honest, I have never heard of Monika Cruse before, but I have now. I really enjoyed her set. She played around 4hrs from what I seem to remember. I was having that good of a time, I lost track of it completely. One thing I did notice, when I was in the main room is that the production side of things was brilliant. The sound was amazing and the lighting was really good. It was easy to get lost in the whole moment. You could tell a lot of time went into the planning and preparation of the production, it was well thought out, something you cannot always say about a club.
Taking a break from the main room we wandered round to see the rest of the club and stumbled upon the roof terrace. It was like a mini-terrace upstairs and served as a chill-out area and as a consequence the music was kept quite low. There was also this weird cylinder-like object on the end of the terrace in which people were sitting down inside with comfy seats. There were a few different ways to navigate the club from the roof terrace, you could go back down straight into the main room, or down another set of stairs took you back outside to the main terrace.
We checked out the new terrace after this where the Freestylers were playing the remainder of the night. This is the first time I had encountered breaks being played in Space and I was pleasantly surprised. I think it was a good move and it worked well. It is a good contrast to the other music being played around the club. I had never seen the new terrace since it had been changed and think it may have lost the atmosphere that it once had because of the way in which it has been changed. This can in no way be held against the night at hand, just a comment on space in general and the changes that have took place.
Back inside and Carl Cox had taken to the decks for the main set of the night. The room was packed and the atmosphere was electric. You couldn't really move much on the main dance floor, but that didn't seem to dampen the occasion at all. The pace had risen and it seemed the lighting and visuals had been reflecting this culminating in the smoke machine going off in the middle of the dance floor. Carl's set was really good and it seemed like it was going on for a while, despite the official closing time. It's great when you are in such a special place listening to great music ' you just don't want it to stop!
I would recommend anyone going to Ibiza to check this night out. I had a really good time there and enjoyed it a lot. Obviously being Space, the prices are a bit steep regarding the drinks and the long period you are there for, but that aside it is well worth it as you will struggle to have a better night out at many other places.
By Stu Bradley
Related websites:
www.carlcox.com
www.space-ibiza.es
www.intecrecords.com
www.angelsoflove.it