SASASAS BRISTOL TAKEOVER
The 7th of April had arrived, my first year of lessons at university were over and it was time to return home to my humble-ish abode of Swindon for the Easter holidays. Luckily, Motion and The Blast had decided to host the SASASAS takeover on that night, so the Easter holidays were off to a good start.
We had a flat to stay in this time, instead of a crusty wait at the train station for the earliest train home, so this night was amped up to be the best night in Bristol yet.
The sky was clear, the air was warm and moods were lifted. We got to Motion at around 11:20pm, and waited in the ever-growing queue for 30 minutes or so. The lineup had been running through my mind for the past month; SASASAS, Turno b2b Dominator, DJ Q, Mr Virgo, Skepsis, Darkzy, Voltage… I couldn’t comprehend the carnage that was about to unfold.
We got in and were greeted by a huge outdoor area, much larger than the other time we had been, and we got strolled around, bobbing around Motion to get a feel for all the rooms. We only got the set times when we were well into the night, so we managed to blag the last 10 minutes of P Money.
I had such big plans for the night; I would see Mr Virgo, SASASAS, Turno b2b Dominator, Skepsis, Darkzy and DJ Q. Somehow I saw 2/7. That’s right, we managed to miss every bassline DJ that night because we didn’t realise where the room was. As gutting as it sounds, we were stuck in The Tunnel to DJ SS for his entire set and couldn’t have asked for a better time. A narrow corridor, two huge speakers and a crowd of jungle lovers. The atmosphere of the room made us not want to leave, and why bother if you’re having as much fun as we were.
SASASAS were on next, and I couldn’t be more buzzed for it. Macky Gee and Phantasy have been on the top of my DJ bucket list for a long time now, and I was about to cross them off. I walked into the main room, was hit by a heatwave of sweat and groans, and I was swept away in the current of beaming dnb heads.
The crew was split up for the next hour or two, as the room was so rammed that you literally couldn’t help but be pushed and thrown around. You didn’t even have room to skank, I just stood there listening to rankness, sweating one out and smiling to myself. Tom and I gathered 2/3 of the crew and went upstairs to see the set from the top, and it was so much better than downstairs. As much as I like a sweatbox, it was just too much, as you need to be able to skank when Macky Gee and Phantasy are in front of you. It was like a sea of sweaty people, every bit of the floor was covered and every space were filled with a person. SASASAS delivered with a huge set, with barely any reloads, much to my appreciation.
As SASASAS came to a close, the sea of wide-eyed sweat heads emptied out the main room like gurney mice. We bobbed to the other side of the room, only to find the Marble Factory, hours after DJ Q, Mr Virgo and any other DJ we wanted to see had already played. To stop the urge of crying and going to a meltdown, Turno b2b Dominator were on just in time to cheer me up.
Ticking Turno off the list of DJs made it so much more exciting, and his jump up is so much different to other jump up DJs. It was much more wobbly rather than so aggressive, which can be the problem for me, so this set really sorted me out. We stayed for the whole set until 4, alongside the other zombies in the crowd.
As the set finished, I ticked Turno off the list and we stayed for a bit of the following unknown DJ. He finished our night with some wonky bassline, which was not expected, some Squire of Goths and Phatworld got everyone wobbling all over the shop. It was one extreme to the other; hectic jump up to hectic bassline. Twenty minutes into it the crew and I all gave the same squint-eyed, tensed look at each other; it was time to leave.
We crawled back to the flat and reminisced on the night just gone, and we couldn’t wrap our heads around how mad it was. The most hectic night we’d had as a crew in a long time, and a spaffy way to be reunited. Despite the hectic amount of people, and the fact SASASAS had me sweating out my bodyweight in sweat, the night was mad. Sound people, off-key music, and an all-round nice vibe.
Big up to Motion and The Blast for providing a hectic wann!


Matthew Knight
April 13th 2017