SEQUENCE v LOCKED: NYE: Pacou, Landstrumm, Rob Hall, Elektrabel, Altern8 + MORE

[teknorich]

Will set times be posted inside the venue?

[Sam_Horam]

Will set times be posted inside the venue?

Got the set times for the Locked room printed out here right next to me

See you all there tonight...

[t-dj]

great night with a good variety of different styles
excellent OLDSKOOL set by the Altern8 man (was it Chris or Mark, not sure...)
Landstrumm did his bleep breaks techno thing, similar to his last album
the locked floor had some very straightforward techno stuff
I guess there was something for everyone :-)
Thanks to all involved for a quality night.

[teknorich]

I thought it was a weird night to be honest. I arrived during Miss Say Say's set, which was banging. Sam Horam did a fine job too, getting everyone moving and in a good mood. The night was going really, really well.... then Elektrabel came on. He absolutely killed it, and not in the good sense! He had no idea how to control an audience. He would work it up, start really banging it out and getting people into the vibe, then suddenly stop for a very long, wobbly bassline breakdown which just left people standing around, waiting for the beats to come back in. Finally we got a beat again, we all looked at each other , smiling, got dancing again (here we go!) and 30 sconds later he dropped it out again for some more wobbly b-line noodling. It was terrible...
I had brought a large group of mates up from Lpool (about ten of us in total) as after having been to the Regis and Sims Locked nights, I thought they would well enjoy it. We ended up just hanging around, even sitting at the sides with a pint, waiting for this guy to finish and get off the stage so the party could continue. I nearly cried when I heard he was playing another hour!
I know it's not your fault if someone cancels (Pacou? Leif Ryan??) and you need to find someone to fill in, but you should have put Sam back on or something. Really! By the time Elektrabel had played over two hours (which felt like days) we were all just p*ssed off and not in the mood any more. We left about 3:30am and went to a house party instead.
I was just so disappointed because the start of the night, with the residents playing, was absolutely spot on; really, really good! Exactly what I had hoped for. And then this guy came on a ruined it. Yeah, people were dancing, but having paid £20 and drunk a fair amount etc, people would dance to anything.
We chatted with a few people here and there (mainly on the sidelines, looking equally unhappy) and asked what they thought, and the general opinion was that Elektrabel was playing badly, and ruining the night. People just weren't into what he was doing, but he soldiered on with it, instead of changing things a bit and trying to please the crowd. It felt like he was playing for himself, not for us. We weren't responding to what he was doing, but he didn't change it.
I'll definitely be back to Locked, as the two nights I had been to previously were absolutely great, and I'd recommend it to anyone (and I have done!) but I was really let down by that one artist.
A wicked, wicked night up til then, and I know for sure that locked has amazing potential. Just make sure not to book Elektrabel again ;-)