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WAREHOUSE RAVE

The 24th had finally come, the biggest Beastwang event yet and I don’t think we could be more hyped for it. Cause and Affect, Holy Goof, Skepsis b2b Darkzy were all on the cards and my excitement couldn’t be contained.

The standard Friday routine took place; get the morning lessons out the way, try to do work, get too excited and proceed to be scatty until we leave. We had walked past the mystery venue previously in the day, and it looked so dingy and done-in. I just couldn’t wait to get inside.

The venue was 20 minutes away from my flat, so we decided to brave the walk and we arrived alongside the people who just paid for a taxi. We arrived shortly before 12 (which was last entry) and waited for 45 minutes until we finally got in. I’ve never been in such a standstill queue before, and the sound of the bass almost shattering the windows was just too teasing.

The venue was covered in graffiti and smashed windows, there’s something about a dark venue which makes it so much more exciting than a venue that’s clean and proper. We finally got in and everyone thought the same when we were greeted with three flights of stairs, “my legs won’t be able to hack that”.

Before the music room, there was another “chill out” room. More like the, “My eyes are too big for me to stand up” room. We walked in and went straight to the bar, no queueing time at all which was a surprise considering the size of it.

We were bit gutted that Lorenzo wasn’t there for Cause and Affect but Kane absolutely smashed it (only just realised that Lorenzo had actually left Cause & Affect), and after his set he gave me the sweatiest handshake I’ve ever received.

On either side of the stage were projections onto a screen, I could barely work out what they were of but it was tripping everyone out. The venue was huge, way bigger than what you would expect it to be from looking outside, it was so busy with wide-eyed ravers but you still managed to have a decent amount of space. Unlike at other venues, in the warehouse you could get a comfortable sweat on, not sweating so much you think you’re going to pass out.

Holy Goof was on next, and to be honest, the DJ I was least looking forward to. Not that I don’t like him, but I just didn’t think he was going to be as dirt as I would’ve liked. I was hugely mistaken. Probably one of the dirtiest sets of the night, and he played every banger that I wanted him to.

We were stuck to the left speaker, and I would always turn my head to look over the crowd. The atmosphere was unreal; everyone was bouncing off the ceiling and no one was standing still. You could tell no one was hating on the night, it was all love and it was sick.

I went into the toilet before Skepsis and Darkzy, and the brightness was not enjoyed by anyone. I filled up my water bottle and was pleasantly surprised by the coldness of the water, constantly rubbing my bottle on my face for the rest of the night, and on anyone else’s who wanted a break from the heat.

Skepsis and Darkzy had only been playing for five minutes and I counted 140 reloads (slight exaggeration) but it was getting ridiculous. I mean, every tune was filthy so they literally reloaded nearly every one, and it kind of killed it. It was still a mad set and everything went off, but they reloaded the same song twice and it was just a bit goony.

I bounced from the toilet back to the crowd, dodging all the jaws and collecting all the fist bumps. The venue really made the night, a warehouse compared to a club makes the night so much more grimey, and it reflects what the underground music scene it really all about.

Skepsis pulled through with a short 10 minutes of jump up and it went off, it finished my night on a mad one because there’s nothing more I love than jump up. Maybe it’s a sign for a Beastwang jump up event, probably not, but I can dream.

The night we hyped for so many months was over, and is firmly locked in my memory. Beastwang hyped the night a lot, and so they should’ve, because it lived up to it.

Matthew Knight

March 29th 2017

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