Having
sold out well over three months in advance, Damian Lazarus’ cutting edge
Crosstown Rebels label came to visit Manchester’s essential Warehouse Project. Now
reaching the end of the five year journey Warehouse Project has enjoyed at
Piccadilly Station’s Store Street car park, Data Transmission ventured up north
to see the sights and wonders Seth Troxler, Jamie Jones, Art Department and
mighty head honcho Damian Lazarus had to offer.
We
arrived to squash into a tightly packed crowd bouncing to upbeat tempos and
soothing samples. At the front, Art Department were just settling into their
set behind a blinding display of lights essentially forming a table the length
of most of the stage - in other words, blink,
and the imprint still permeated your vision. The front was crammed with eager fans crushed
against the barrier as
Azari & III’s
timeless, Prince-esque
‘Manic’ was
pumped from the wall of speakers either side of the stage.
Next
up was a two-hour back-to-back set from acclaimed DJs
Jamie Jones and
Seth
Troxler. Futuristic vocal samples accompanied pumping bass and filtering
hi-hats throughout the exemplary set. A highlight of the night was the pair
playing the full version of
James
Blake’s ‘
Limit To Your Love’,
which spanned nearly ten minutes. Everyone – from front to back of the room - were
singing in unison before some rather drunk Egyptian themed dancers slipped to
the front of the stage to begin dancing. This didn’t last too long as one of
the Cleopatra’s underestimated a backwards roll and fell off the stage, which
provided a bit of light entertainment as Troxler and Jones brought the tempo up
and kept the cow bells in constant attendance.
Last to play in the main room which
remained as packed as it was at the start was label owner Lazarus. Playing an
array of
Crosstown Rebels releases
from the last six months (which is a lot, I may add), the crowd were still
making every effort to
push forth to the front. However,
the set surprisingly lacked some of the very newest and tastiest releases
including personal favourites from
Ma
ceo Plex, although tracks from
Jamie Jones’ inspirational Fabriclive
album featured heavily.
Another essential show, straight from
one of dance music’s most prolific and loved entities; the dance music world
waits with baited breath to see what 2012 holds for Lazarus’ imprint. Judging
from the sets we witnessed tonight – and the unstoppable juggernaut of parties,
releases and Rebel Rave tours – we’ll be receiving plenty more of the same for
some time to come.