London’s one of those places that, even when you live there, it’s pretty difficult to keep up with the city’s progress. Scratch that, it’s near enough impossible.
So taking an entourage of people from Manchester on May 28th to enjoy 19 hours in the capital was always going to keep everyone happy, not least the member of this travelling fraternity that hadn’t ventured into Britain’s biggest city for over a decade. Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and an accidental excursion via the Bank of England were all to follow, as was a cash machine close to Liverpool Street Station that only gives out Euros (much to the dissatisfaction of anyone looking for Sterling in a hurry) and more than a few hours at Fabric.
Arriving sometime after midnight Farringdon’s most prominent venue was in its usual fit state, half teeming with tourists, locals, and more people celebrating a birthday than one could imagine possible. Which is no real surprise, considering native imprint and purveyors of en vogue soundtracks Aus Music were hosting a less-pounding-than-normal Room Two, meanwhile the third soundsystem would be punctuated with a performance from Alexander Robotnick- one of the finest producers to have worked in electronic music, period- while heavyweight resident Terry Francis would finish off the main area. And none disappointed.
So that could be Midland’s guttural soul, wherein accents of dubstep infused with garage played out to a techno rhythm. Or Will Saul’s typically well selected combination of smooth machine drums and solid bassline-driven four fours. And as for the final set, let’s just say rolling compulsion defined the tracklist, serving as a reminder of why tech grooves all night, and well into the next morning. With daylight hours already arrived a familiar pattern of thought emerged from the shattered minds attempting to catch that 9.20am from Euston to Piccadilly. Fabric’s loud, well organised, and somehow manages to keep that gap between mainroom clubbing and the underground bridged 12 years on. Hat’s off then, as if we even needed to say that.
