Hospitality @ Brixton Academy

Having navigated the combined tribulations of undelivered tickets (thanks Ticketmaster) and some standard London transport woes, we finally get inside the O2 Academy Brixton in time to see Danny Byrd step up for his first ever ‘live’ set. As we weave our way to a suitably booming acoustic niche, just a few meters back from the front speaker stacks, I’m reminded of one specific attribute that makes this venue amazing.
 
A purpose-built floor has been installed atop the venue’s own downward slope, flattening it out and raising the stage. This platform is somewhat hollow underfoot, so the closer you get to the front, the more thunderous bass rumbles up through your feet, resonating through mind and body. Mr Byrd churns through his biggest hits from ‘Ill Behaviour’, to ‘Sweet Harmony’ and ‘Red Mist’, but all in all, the validity of a legitimately ‘live’ set is negligible. What exactly Danny Byrd is operating from behind his light-cube booth is unclear, but tracks are neither dramatically nor impressively altered and then, when he starts “singing” ‘oh yeah!’ into a vocoder the whole vibe becomes a tad too ‘Bon Jovi’ for my tastes.
 
At half past midnight Hospital head-honcho Tony Coleman (A.K.A. London Elektricity) steps up to the decks to deliver the best set I’ve seen him perform in years. His selections are consistently on point, the highlights including S.P.Y’s cinematic masterpiece ‘By Your Side’, High Contrast’s pounding remix of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and Coleman’s own incredible VIP of ‘Song In The Key Of Knife’, whose monstrous double-bassline treats the entire room and its awestruck occupants to a ruthless sub-sonic battering.
 
For many, the most anticipated event of the night has to be Camo and Krooked’s debut ‘live’ set. When a huge cage-like lighting rig appears on stage and the pair climb inside expectations seem justified. They open with a contorted medley of new album tracks subtly perforated by the unmistakable lead line from their classic remix of John B’s ‘Numbers’, building as it guides revellers toward the drop. The remainder of their set follows suit; consisting mostly of the newer tracks edited, twisted and mashed together on-the-fly. But this is where they lose out. Even if their new material could stand up to the old (which it resolutely cannot) the tunes are not yet familiar to the crowd and whereas the ‘live’ DJ show can theoretically work, despite a solid execution, this feels more gimmick than anything else. It barely holds a candle to the sheer impact of their once iconic DJ sets. With decent vocal support from TC and particularly Ayah Marar, Camo and Krooked put on a passable but ultimately disappointing performance.
 
We forgo High Contrast to catch a bit of Koan Sound next door. Room 2  is actually the venue’s foyer rigged up with a sound system and is consequently subject to some deeply unforgiving acoustics. The one-time dubstepper rises head and shoulders above these limitations, expertly schooling his crowd in the new-school 100 bpm way.
 
A real treat for Hospital regular comes in the form of an incredible closing set from Nu:Tone back to back with Logistics. Previous Hospitality bills have seen each of these brothers play bafflingly early sets, often to almost empty rooms. In a time when my faith in Hospital Records is constantly challenged by lesser musical output and transparent marketing ploys, it seems that all I need to hear is faintest hint Logistics’ ‘Together’ coming in to remind me why I was here in the first place.