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CHRIS LORENZO

Chris Lorenzo in Leicester and it’s £10 a ticket? That’s a sentence I want to hear time and time again. That’s right, the time had come for Chris Lorenzo to appear for his debut set in Leicester.

Friday hadn’t really been an excited day; finish exam in the morning, then proceed to play 8 ball pool (and real pool) for a further 9 hours until we had to leave.

We arrived at Streetlife at 12:15, hoping to beat the annoyance of the queue, however we were greeted to an empty street and we walked right on through.

None of my previous experiences at Streetlife had been particularly pleasant, with my only vague memory was of the ripped off sinks and piss-flooded toilets, I was hoping that the night would positively enlighten me.

As the letter “L” was written on my hand, I strolled on through to hear some funky techno being played. It’s not, nor ever has been, my go-to genre, but in the right setting and atmosphere I can groove to it. We squeezed through the masses into the smoking shelter and grabbed a spot on a bench, trying to avoid stepping into the sicky-muddy like channel that was running from one side to the next.

When it comes to grimeyness, Streetlife has it pretty planned out. It’s the only club that only has one sink and one working toilet, and that has murky water and toilet paper all on the toilet floor.

I came back from my only trip to the toilet and returned back to the left speaker, with little crowd to push past. I heard a roaring coming from the middle of the crowd, and not the good roaring you hear when a tune is played, the bad roaring and screaming that only means one thing. A group of topless lads from the stage were diving into the crowd, throwing punches and laying into another group of lads. The reason for the fight was unknown to us, but the atmosphere got everyone hyped and it kind of worked for the better. The night turned intense and the dark bassline echoed through my ears, sweat dripped off my face as I grinned for my love of bassline.

Taim started playing at 1, and he’s definitely a DJ to look out for. The bass/house DJ from Manchester is tearing up the bass scene, and Streetlife seemed to have exploded when he had come on. One of the best warm up sets I had seen all year, and he definitely hyped up the crowd for Lorenzo. His dingy bass was accompanied by light, bouncy house, a happy medium of both.

When I saw Lorenzo walking up to the decks my grin almost touched the ceiling, his stage presence was something else compared to other DJs. Every tune he dropped was a remix of the original, every tune was just that bit dirtier, and there’s nothing more I love that a filthy set. Who wants a chilled one?

The lights and strobes at the front of the stage were so bright, not just for me, but for everyone. When the strobe came on a gap would emerge where people would hide behind the speaker, so I never left from my little skank spot behind the rigs.

As I took my 400th sip of water, I broke from my stomping as the 8th reload of the night was reloaded. Although there is nothing more I hate than a reload, I didn’t mind it. The reloads were quite subtle, is that possible? Probably not.

The 1 and a 1/2 hour set that Lorenzo played for, my smile never left my face, nor anyone else’s. The next DJs slowly transitioned over into some disgusting jump up, but once again, the best and the dirtiest (in my opinion) part of the night only lasted 10 minutes, until they finished the night off with some soothing techno. Can you start and end a bassline event with techno? Debatable, although my love for techno did nothing but grow. It just got to the point where my legs added on another five stone to me so skanking was in near enough slow motion.

The sky got brighter, moods got lower, and eyes got baggier. The night drew to a close as I fell into a blissful 10 hour sleep, thinking to myself, “What is this constant thumping behind my ears?” and, “When am I going to stop feeling like an alien?”

Matthew Knight

March 13th 2017

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