Boomslang

Saturday 4th February, The Junction £10/£15 adv.

BOOOOOOOOOM. SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG. I can’t really put into words how pumped I was for this night. The line-up was ridiculous; I’d been watching live videos of  Knife Party, Redlight, Shy FX and many others on YouTube for the whole day. But then the snow came. This somewhat dampened my spirits. The first problem was actually getting to the Junction; not only a difficulty for me, also for many of the key acts who should have been performing.

However, this review isn’t going to be an angry rant about how cheated I feel that certain performers couldn’t get to Cambridge. That would be grossly unfair. It was nobody’s fault. Besides, the DJs that were there sure gave the audience a show and made everyone go nuts – you wouldn’t have thought anything had gone wrong at all.

The only real problem was the amount of topless dickheads in a permanent ‘ultimate badman’ competition. They definitely need some more practice, as they were only embarrassing themselves and anyone that was associated with them.

Firstly, David Venn, the support DJ deserves some recognition. I can’t recall exactly how long he was on, but it was definitely way longer than he had expected. No mean feat keeping a massive room of ravers happy, despite many of the DJs they had paid to see not showing up.

After he had warmed up the crowd nicely, fidget-house favourite Hervé took to the stage. I must say I’m not generally his biggest fan, but as a live DJ he definitely knows how to get the dance floor moving. All of a sudden things were starting to kick off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdzQPSN2FvE

Knife Party- Fire Hive

Nextmen followed, and the arrival of Dynamite MC was exactly what the night needed. ‘Cambridge, welcome to Siberia’ got the crowd laughing and he then proceeded to get people pumped for the night ahead. A quality remix of Damien Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock got everyone (including me) singing ‘out in the streets, they call it muuuuuuuurdeeeeeeeeerrr.’ Not your usual Cambridge sing-along.

Dynamite MC

I assumed Gemini would have also been caught up in the snow, but to my delight I saw him getting ready in room 1 at the end of the Nextmen set. I cannot describe how good Gemini is live. The music he played is designed for lasers, smoke machines and massive sound systems. Just absolutely epic; you have to see it live to understand.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAJY1fyZd6c

Feed Me & Gemini- Whiskers

Having taken the opportunity to go completely nuts in room 1, I then realised I had lost all of my friends that I was with. A quick visit to room 2 reunited me with them. The DJs were laying down some breaks and hip hop with some funky turntablism skills, a much-needed respite from the mayhem of the other room. Sam Sherman, a fresher from King’s was really enjoying himself, complete with a new hat he had gotten off ‘some guy.’ One of his friends Jamie, also a fresher, summarised the night quite well; ‘I have no idea what is going on, but whatever it is, it is QUALITY.’

So, all credit to the event organisers and DJs that struggled to get to Cambridge. They succeeded in making the best out of a challenging situation. I can’t begin to imagine how amazing it would have been if everything had gone to plan.