Any Good? Positive (Sankey's Warehouse Review 28/08/05)

This is a guest article by MG

What follows is my account of the Tribal Sessions Bank Holiday Sunday all-nighter that took place on the 28th to 29th of August 2005.

It had been a long time in coming. Back in late spring, Sankey’s Soap, a nightclub based in Manchester, England announced they were to stage two 8hr+ bank holiday events in an underground car park that had successfully been used for their New Year’s Eve gig held in 2004/2005. The line-ups for these events had me eager to get down there once more, with Carl Cox and Francois K headlining the Saturday event and Sasha, John Digweed, James Zabiela and Infusion (who were to put in one of their highly energised live performances) making the Sunday gig a potentially legendary affair. So, in our wisdom, we decided to order tickets for the Sunday event. This was to ensure that we actually had to make ourselves attend instead of our group’s usual tendency to speculate on whether or not we should go, only to either run out of time in terms of obtaining tickets or to pull out at the last minute.

With Stretchy having obtained tickets in time before the event was to inevitably sell-out, it was just a case of waiting, speculating and anticipating the night that lay ahead. There were a few interesting developments prior to the night itself – not least a change of venue when Manchester City Council intervened, rumoured to have either decided that either Sankey’s aggressive strategy of flyer-posting around the city or the designated venue’s lack of fire-exits warranted such a decision. As a consequence, Sankey’s announced that the event had to be relocated to the Sankey’s nightclub and that the Sunday event had sold out as a consequence. This concerned a number of regulars to the club, who feared that this would downgrade the event’s character and that the number of tickets sold would lead to overcrowding in a venue what was described by one GU member as a ‘death-trap’ (hysterics). I, however, was still up for it. The thought of that line-up all in one area was a difficult one to dismiss, and when added to the fact that I am a huge dance music enthusiast and I hadn’t properly been ‘clubbing’ since February 2004, I deemed that it was the type of event I should be attending on a more regular basis.

28/08/05
It hadn’t been the best of mornings. As for the last 9-10 years, I awoke to the sound of my alarm a 08:15 as per usual in order to deliver the Sunday nationals for a local newsagent. Thankfully, the pack of papers deposited on our doorstep wasn’t overly large, so I thought it may be an easy morning. Not so. The situation quickly turned when it began raining and to cut a long story short, I ended up having an argument with my Mum after I'd finished that sent us back to bed in a foul mood. The idea here was that if I went back to bed following my round, it’d help with my stamina during the inevitable ‘endurance test’ that was forthcoming. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep as my mind was rife with negative thoughts – far away from being excited about the prospect of the night ahead.

With our train looming less than an hour down the line, I awoke once more and began preparing. With food consumed and money, phone, train tickets and toilet paper (the male toilets at Sankey’s quickly deteriorate into a farce!) loaded into my pockets it was time to depart for the station. Once there, Martyn and myself met up with Cammer and Stretchy for the journey ahead. We also saw Gordon and crew who had decided to travel to Preston for a beer festival! Good on them. I think Gordon knew where he’d rather be when I told him we were off to a nightclub (hysterics).

With a packed train arriving, it was imperative to get on there first to have at least some choice of seat. Thankfully, I saw a vacant table as the front carriage passed and we managed to grab it in quick time before anybody else had an opportunity. As Gordon iterated, 2 hours would have been a long time to stand – especially with what was to come (hysterics).

Once moving, Martyn and Stretchy quickly broke out the cold-ones, whilst Cammer and myself decided to wait – 3 pints of Double Hop (a fairly strong 5.0% ale) the night previously putting paid to my ideas of early drinking! In comparison to the last time I travelled to Manchester on the train a couple of weeks prior in an (unsuccessful) attempt to view the final day’s play of the third Ashes test match, it was a little more subdued (i.e. less rowdy!), but an excellent laugh all the same. I eventually gave in and broke out a (soon to be extinct) Carling Premier around the journey’s halfway stage, which quickly sorted my head out – hair of the dog, or whatever (hysterics).

Once near to Manchester, we began ringing a few of our mates who iterated they might have joined us if they were in the vicinity. Rob (‘fresh’ from the Creamfields event in Liverpool the night prior) (hysterics) was never really going to make it as he sounded knackered on the phone, whilst Stu was also elsewhere. With the train zooming by Deansgate, we consequently decided to leave the train at Manchester Oxford Rd and headed down to the apparently infamous Sports Bar…What a place that spot is. You walk in (with two huge bouncers at either side of the doorway saying ‘afternoon gents’ – cheers guys, don’t want to be on the wrong side of you) and are surrounded by a plethora of TV screens – they are at every turn, whether 28’ LCD, 42’ Plasma or projection based. It’s quite a sight. Amazingly, pints were only £1.25 as well! Got 2 in - this was going to be sweet. England on the precipice of taking the lead against the Aussies in the Ashes for the first time this summer, Manchester United away to a Toon side that are on the rails and cheap beer in a Man Utd fan-laden bar that was likely to have a cracking atmosphere? What a combination. The only minor downside was that we would have to stand – something that had the potential to come to our detriment later on! We found a spot where we could see 5 or 6 screens, which would have increased in number by another projection screen if the staff could have fixed a nearby unit that was faulty.

The major incident during the first half of football wasn’t actually from the action at St James’ Park; it was coming from Trent Bridge. England had set themselves a relatively small total of 129 to beat the Australians and take a 2-1 lead in the series. If we couldn’t knock off those runs, then it would have meant the Aussies retaining the Ashes again until at least Winter 2006 – which would be nearly 25 years of retention. Anyhow, as I kept checking the score on one of the television screens embedded into a wall at a restaurant table(!), the wickets kept on tumbling. At half-time, I remember us being 57-4, which looked as though we were finding it far from plain-sailing. I began to worry about the consequences of not winning the game, and that was with Newcastle holding Man Utd to 0-0 at this point!

Having previously seen a board outside the pub offering £2.95 meals, we decided to grab some pub food in order to supply us with required fuel for the night ahead. We arrived at our table, were quickly handed menus, and erm, subsequently found that the cheapest meal available was a hot dog served with onions for the meagre sum of £6. Neither I, nor anybody else was having any of that so we quickly launched operation ‘abort’, which seemingly didn’t go down to well with the foreign waitress who got a smile and a random muttering from me as she enquired where we were going (hysterics). Time for another pint… Which had doubled in price to £2.50. Still £5 for 3 pints can’t be considered expensive in today’s climate.

The second half of the game was thankfully more positive from the Man Utd point of view. Things weren’t looking overly great until Edwin Van Der Sar launched a goal kick in the direction of Wayne Rooney, who took the ball down past the nearby defender beautifully and finished with typical aplomb. That settled the nerves! Still, things were pretty tense until the final minutes when Van Nistelrooy slotted home a close-range shot to double our advantage and secure the 3 points. The Sports Bar punters lapped that up. What I didn’t lap up, however, was the fact that the cricketing boys had lost 7 wickets and could potentially lose the test match we had dominated so much! However, with time running thin before Infusion were due on stage, we decided to head to Piccadilly via the train in order to be in walking distance away from the club.

Once at Piccadilly, I received a message from Dru along the lines of ‘this is bloody tense’ (hysterics), and once at the Piccadilly Tavern pub we found the boys needing 10 runs to win with 3 wickets in hand. Surely we couldn’t lose? We ordered a pint in (after a very long wait – what on earth the bar staff were doing, I have little idea) and watched our lads attempt to knock off the remaining runs. Giles and Hoggard were at the crease, the latter of which is renowned for being very slow at accumulating runs. Thankfully, we won, which was met with large cheers around and a phone call with Dru in celebration. Get in! We’ve got a great chance of winning back the Ashes now – 5 days of rain for the next test wouldn’t go amiss to avert any tension! (hysterics)

At this point, Cammer and Stretchy were itching to get some food and get to Sankey’s to catch Infusion, whilst Martyn and myself were content to drink another pint and look to grab a pub meal in the Weatherspoon’s establishment. Unfortunately, the latter didn’t happen (apparently they don’t serve meals at that time during the week), but we had our pint, watched Martyn do his bandit tour and left, ready to get some food and head to the club. Martyn mentioned that there was a pizza outlet on the way, but we saw another one on our side of the road and decided to grab one there after checking out what the menu had on offer. This spot reminded me of both the pizza shop in Preston near Rob & co’s previous house, and more close to home, the Tasty Bite. We ordered a 10’ chicken, ham and salami pizza for the sum of £4.20, which subsequently provided us both with plentiful fuel for what was to come. As with the latter’s pizzas, it was very hot (then again, you’d expect to be after coming from one of those high heat ovens!), but we wolfed it down fairly quickly, wanting to catch the latter parts of Infusion’s live show. This was also encouraged by one of the lads phoning us from there saying that Infusion were 'on it' and we should make haste! Let’s go.

We made our way to the nightclub at approximately 19:45. With the event finishing at 05:00, I knew it was going to be a test of endurance to see whether or not we were going to make it until the end! As per usual, thorough search routines were conducted at the door to help avoid the smuggling of drugs into the club, so it was all out with the stuff in our pockets and 'prepare to be interrogated' time! Obviously, the searches on both myself and Martyn proved fruitless for them, so it was load up once more, and in we go!

With the courtyard navigated, we entered the club, finding Cammer and Stretchy right in front of us larging it to 3 guys on stage who were doing likewise. Infusion! They have to be one of the hottest live acts in progressive dance right now. I’m not overly sure, but their setup comprised of the vocalist on the left, the guy sorting the beats in the middle and the long-haired guy on the right doing, well, I’m not sure. I guess I was fairly drunk at this point. Whatever they were doing, though, was working the crowd into a frenzy. The mixture of breaks and 4/4 – all of their own productions, remember – mixed-up into one cohesive set was something to behold. As expected, it wasn’t predictable either, with the act’s array of tracks being played from scratch on the fly leading to them sounding very different to their released productions that were created in the studio. Not only were the guys hyped and bouncing around on stage, but they were technically excellent, too, although you would expect this with the amount of touring they do worldwide. As a consequence of all of this, their set was superb. They finished off their performance with their live rendition of ‘Girls Can Be Cruel’, which can likely be classed as a proper bloke’s anthem with the lyrics involved! A great way to finish off – they received a large ‘standing’ (hysterics) ovation from the crowd, and with James Zabiela entering the DJ booth there wasn’t going to be much let-up in entertainment…

Zabiela set sail with the vocals from Space Manoeuvres’ classic ‘Stage One’ – the ‘in deep space’ vocal really setting the scene for what was to come. Thereafter comes a brooding inquisition asking ‘any good?’, with the swift reply from someone else being ‘negative’. This sounds great on its own – with Sankey’s ‘Phazon’ sound system really doing it justice. Then came the beats once again. To my surprise he started out in 4/4 mode. I think the rest of Sankey’s must have been alert to this as well, as the floor quickly became tightly packed with bodies! This wasn’t so bad for the first hour as such but as more and more people came on afterwards, space to dance at all was at a premium! With the 4/4 in full force, it was proper heads-down, lets go stuff, even if the space was dwindling and the legs were starting to ache a little – even at this early stage! I can remember well at this point that whilst in head-nodding mode a guy nearby reached out, clasped my chin to pull it up and used his finger and thumb to put a huge grin on my face! Great moment. Not that I wasn’t smiling at various points of course, because the 2 hours or so that we’d been there thus far had plenty of those moments where it was impossible for myself not to grin profusely from ear to ear!

It was about this time when an edit of the classic Der Dritte Raum track ‘Hale Bopp’ was dropped. From my perspective, this was the only recognisable part of the first part of his stint. The track itself is a classic, featuring on Sasha’s classic Global Underground 009 mix from the late 90’s, and has aged well considering the evolution of the progressive genre! However, what was also so good about Zabiela dropping this was the things he was doing to the track with the various gizmos at his disposal. Whether it was the Xone 92 mixer, the EFX machine, the Apple Mac or indeed, the CDJ1000mk2s, what he was doing to not only this track, but also a whole load of them in the mix was amazing. Scratching, perfectly in-time stuttering effects that I can’t really describe, acapellas, EFX, the works – the way in which he messes with the sound near-flawlessly is sensational. Oh, and his track selection and the way in which he near seamlessly switches between breaks and 4/4 can’t be overlooked either – or at least on the floor, it couldn’t!

Anyhow, in addition to my legs starting to ache, I had decided by now that the dancefloor had become too crowded for my liking, so it was time for a drink. As a gesture for the last minute change in venue, the club had handed out envelopes with £5 worth of drink vouchers in them on entry. Half of these (£2.50!) were to be used when purchasing a Red Bull (no vodka!), which tasted excellent in the circumstances. I then had a wander around the back of the bar and found a ledge to sit on (small miracle with the amount of people back there!), sat down and drank the stuff slowly in order to pass time as best possible. This involved lots of downward head-nodding, so much so that a lass who was sat a few metres to my right actually came up to us and asked if I was OK! I quickly snapped to life here in order to show I wasn’t on any drugs – smiled and said something along the lines of ‘yeah, yeah, just chilling out’ (hysterics). Shortly after, Cammer and Stretchy arrived and sat with us for a bit. We were all in similar states (hysterics), with us sitting there thinking how we were going to get through the endurance test of the next few hours! It wasn’t going to be easy on the body.

Anyhow, with the legs somewhat rejuvenated and the music calling, it was back to the floor to join the swarms of people bouncing about. The end to Zabiela’s set was more enjoyable from the dancing space perspective, as I had managed to find a pocket of space for a good half hour that didn’t show as a passage for people movement! This added to the experience. Strangely, I had a couple of guys on the floor ask me if I had any ‘pills’(i.e. ecstacy tablets) at this point, to both of whom I obviously had to reply in the negative! I’m unsure about what happened musically from here, apart from the fact that it was pretty banging and apart from one brief departure outside, it kept me on the floor for until the end of his stint – at which point, we could partially see John Digweed enter the DJ booth, with Sasha to follow… Then the crowd was asked to hush by the guy on the PA:

‘Can I have everybody’s attention please… OK, I’ve got some bad news for you… I’m sorry to say that Sasha is ill and won’t be able to play back-to-back with John tonight’ (cue a row of boos!) ‘However, John has agreed to play 1-3, with James staying on to play until close (3-5). As a gesture from us, we are going to be running a free bar from 3-5 tonight!’ (cue claps) – ‘We want you all to drink the bar dry, on us’

This was an interesting passage. A whole load of the Sankey’s fraternity didn’t seem very impressed with this. However, I had partially forsaw that something was going to happen in this area, as Sasha and John had apparently been penned in for a UK exclusive back-to-back set at London’s SW4 event the day previous. It was thus unlikely that what had been planned wasn’t going to happen – and it never came as a big surprise when it ended up how it did. However, unlike a whole load of the other crowd, I was quietly pleased that Sasha hadn’t turned up. Anybody who knows my musical taste will probably have had it drummed into them that I think Digweed is the world’s best progressive-house DJ, and probably my favourite as a result. His albums on Global Underground, his radio show on Kiss each week and his sets worldwide all have such a special quality around them. As Dom Phillips, former editor of Mixmag in the 90’s (you know, when it was actually a half decent mag and not the load of crap that it is today!) said of the man in his Global Underground, Sydney sleevenotes: ‘John Digweed is a world-class DJ, and a consummate craftsman’. His resume is amazing - amongst other things he runs arguably the most successful label in progressive (Bedrock), has his own night under the same name, his own productions (with Nick Muir) under the same name, constantly plays gigs all over the world and is second only to Paul Oakenfold in money earned by UK DJs yearly according to the Sunday Times' ‘Rich List’. What a man. So the announcement that he was to get 3 hours on his own filled me with excitement, even though I admit the thought of both John and Sasha playing together would have been special. But in the climate, I hadn’t seen Digweed play since attending the Feel night in Preston in February 2004, and for me that’s too long to have missed my probable favourite DJ and a personal hero weave his magic.

He started out with an excellent 4/4 track, giving the crowd an indication of his unique style and sound that was going to come. I was stoked. What he did for the next half-hour was classic Digweed… He played a few minimal tracks that were really great for the heads-down crew. I don’t know how the Sankey’s crowd took this, but I have heard Digweed play second gear progressive for the nodders in the crowd before building it up on numerous occasions. Some would call it boring, but I could see where he was going…

Suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, he changed gears about 40mins in. It’s really difficult to explain – his mixing is ridiculously smooth, so detecting how he managed it was hard enough, but when he unleashed a couple of progressive monsters, we could see where this set was heading. It was going to be epic. For 30mins he had the crowd jumping around to some great music – he does that better than just about anybody else. It was relentless stuff, though unfortunately, this was hard work on the body, so I had to go for another rest – albeit unwillngly.

I bought a drink with the remainder of my vouchers (a bottle of water for £2.50 – there goes my drinks vouchers, but I intended to make full use of the free bar at 3AM!) and I managed to find a single seat around the back that enabled me to rest my legs before I went back on to experience Digweed’s output until he finished. It was frustrating listening to what he was coming out with on the sidelines (amongst others, he played a cracking track that I’ve had on in this very room before that I couldn’t put a name to), but the music was still loud enough to decipher and take in. More nodding of the head (hysterics). At this time, I saw Cammer and Stretchy standing next to the fag machine in front of me supping Red Bull, but they never saw me, and I wasn’t about to give up my seat (hysterics).

With time passing (1hr 20mins to go of Digweed’s set), and those two disappearing, I thought I would make headway to the dancefloor to make the most of what was left. I wandered over towards the dancefloor, and found that the two lads hadn’t gone very far from where they were stood due to finding a good space to dance in! Excellent. What ensued was massive. Digweed really was on it, teasing the crowd with builders before unleashing some massive dancefloor bombs that had the Sankey’s crowd in raptures, before starting again. Somebody had taken a low quality mobile phone video from next to where we were stood at this point, which showed the kind of madness at hand. The video shows the venue during one of the breakdowns, before partially showing the bedlam of the beat returning! One of the most memorable parts of the set at this time (I am writing this on Wednesday evening – a fair while after the event now), was a superb builder that lasted 7 or 8 minutes around 02:45 that gave the perfect platform for the last two tracks that finished off the set in typical Digweed style. As the PA said as the crowd gave a huge ovation: ‘John Digweed - what a fucking legend’, and I have to concur.

Cammer & Stretchy iterated that they were knackered and were off to catch the 03:20-odd train at this point. ‘Erm, I’m not’, I replied(!). They went, I stayed – the only person left from the 4 that started! (Martyn had seemingly left very early on into the night). Then Zabiela came back on. He started off no messing, but I had to take a break, and what better way to do so than take advantage of the free bar? I grabbed a bottle of Smirnoff Black Ice to help sugar intake (I hadn’t eaten since the pizza) and went out to sit in the Courtyard. This is the first time I’ve mentioned the Courtyard in this review (I did go out there for a stint previously, but was unsure as to when), but its an excellent place to chill-out, especially with the heat that was of a fairly high level in the club! (its been worse in Buffers, though) (hysterics). Previously, Cammer and Stretchy had used their phones to take pictures of us in front of a large advertising poster featuring the line-up on offer. This time though, with me being on my own, I sat down and relaxed. I asked a guy next to us what he thought of Digweed’s set. The expected response of ‘it was good, but Sasha should have turned up’ came. I told him I’d rather Digweed have played on his own. ‘I wouldn’t go that far!’ he replied (hysterics). Oh well. I’ll post some comments at the end…

With ‘unitage’ of alcohol inside, it was time to return to the bar, grab another drink, and ‘dance the night away’, as it were. This was set to be a stint from 03:30 until 05:00. It was fairly massive, with the stage area where I was at previously emptying out to leave a good deal more room for manoeuvre. Zabiela was less in ‘technical’ mode, and more in ‘bang it out’ mode than his previous set, and this worked wonders with the crowd that remained, who must all have been stalwarts to last this long! One memorable moment from the middle of the set was when he actually played ‘Stage One’, which was fitting considering the amount of times he’d sampled the vocal during the night. This really was a great moment (if a little detached from the rest of his set), as the track is fairly moody and epic and created a different sort of atmosphere for a few minutes. Then it was straight back in with some harder, more technically structured breakbeat. This sound is what Zabiela excels in – his selection of breaks tends to be impeccable, and when coupled with his wizardry in the EFX and scratching departments he really is a cut above (I’m probably repeating myself here, but why not? He’s class). Later on in his set, he seemingly played what sounded like a new Burufunk number, but that may have been the alcohol beginning to get to my head at 04:30 in the morning.

What stuck with me, though, were his final two tracks. The track he played before ‘ending’ was a fitting end to the night in itself, but when asked for an encore by the crowd ('one more!' they cried at 05:10 in the morning) he played his most recent end of nighter live edits in his long line of ones that have finished the nights on amazing highs in recent years. Enjoy The Silence, by Depeche Mode is probably one of the Eighties’ best records, and has been updated numerous times, not least by the band themselves in the last year or so. However, Zabiela had a new remix at his disposal. I don’t know what he did with his tools to this particular remix, but it was sensational with the Sankey’s lights on. He ended up looping certain sections of the track, and finished with the best loop of all, which really wrapped up the night in what has to be considered as near to the best possible fashion in terms of what I had gone through the morning prior.

‘All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here, in my arms’ (repeat x8 to fade with EFX)

I was singing this, probably with quite a few others who were left on the floor, with a huge smile on my face. What a feeling. It means so much. It makes me feel privileged that I’ve educated myself to enjoy electronic dance music to the point where I can go to a night such as this near-sober, have such a fantastic time and learn something about what I’ve been missing out on for a substantial period, let alone letting myself go for 7-8hrs+ without having to feel embarrassed. All 3 acts I saw did an amazing job of entertaining both the crowd and myself. I couldn’t care less about the politics surrounding the problems with the underground car park & the council, Sasha not turning-up, the apparent ‘gimmicks’ of the free bar, or whatever. Sankey’s put on an event that was enjoyed by many and one that I really needed to experience. It was nothing short of amazing in my eyes. The majority of the crowd lapped it up, the consequent atmosphere was really good and it gave me a substantial confidence boost when you compare how I felt leaving the building to when I had left the house the morning prior. The PA announced: ‘James Zabiela, future legend’, well, I believe he’s not far away from actually reaching legend status. He’s that good.

I left the building, snapping up free tickets to Lee Burridge’s gig this Friday (ooh, should I go?) and phoned Cammer and Stretchy, who I expected to be in Preston. They announced that they were still at Manchester Piccadilly and had missed their train! Oh dear – not the only thing they missed (hysterics). Still, we met up and tried to obtain a morning paper, which we were seemingly too early for. So we stopped for chips at the café outside Piccadilly instead. I opted for a child’s portion of chips and sausage (the price of which was substantially lower than the adult portion, and I wasn’t particularly hungry), which the foreign woman behind the counter seemingly didn’t like the idea of (hysterics). Well, I got it, anyhow, and it went down rather nicely – fuel for the trip back! Thankfully, Cammer and Stretchy didn’t miss the train this time…


Here are some 'selected' comments from Bedrock / GU board members who attended:

cameron_iom
GUser

I thought Infusion were fantastic... Diggers was on fire and played an awesome set, just building and building all night but DJ of the night for me defo goes to James Zabiela, who tore the roof off!

Young Jedi
Bedrocker

Infusion kicked a.rse - top quality, couldn't have asked for a better start to the night. James rocked it more and then Diggers did (who I thought was pretty damn banging from the word go). Back to James and he finished off in style.

So all factors put together I didn't really mind that Sasha didn't turn up.

bedrocking
GUser

Digweed rocked it and id rather see Digweed on his own these days tbh... JZ was superb as good as Digweed, absolutely brilliant as well.

One of the best nights ive been to this year, and we got a free bar after three as Sasha didnt show!

MrCarl
GUser

Feckin awsome night, wasnt too heartbroken that sasha didnt show as I loved digweed's set and have seen plenty of sasha this year... Jz as per completely tore sankeys apart (twice!)...

I definately love sankeys, such a good up for it crowd.

Si Kenyon
GUser

Digweed played on his own and was fucking amazing. End of.

Big Fella
GUser

Digweed tore the place apart, also the best i've seen from jz

bedrocking
GUser

JZ and Digweed were absolutely incredible.

marmalade
GUser

Digweed was immense. Played some headfuck tracks at the end. Never ceases to amaze me how professional he is. Impecible mixing and structure to his set.
Credit to JZ for when he came back on after Diggers. A lot of DJs would have half emptied a club that late, but he kept everyone there. He was fucking brilliant.

closey1200
GUser

Last night was absolutly amazing. Infusion started off with some rocking live performance which warmed things up nicely before JZ came on. Digweed was awsome and really pumped it out, mixing was just flawless. BUT the star of the night for me was JZ for the closing set. Everything that guy does just sounds out of this world. I loved the way how he was using the fx on both the pioneer and abelton. This guy just knows how to put this musical jigsaw together like no one and just totally rocks the place.

James if your reading, set of the year for me and it looked like you were having one hell of a time

simonpreston
Bedrocker

My response when upon hearing Sasha was turning up. (said in the cheeriest way possible)

"oh dear, what a shame eh?"

4 hours of Digweed... fine by me.
He was his usual vortex self.

But JZ definitely owned that room at the end. Had the place eating out of his hand to Depeche Mode.

james zabiela
Superstar DJ

Hi,

thanks for making this a great night everyone. A shame about Sasha but when you're ill, you're ill.

I feel I should say something to defend Tribal Sessions & Sankey's. Everytime I've played there it's always a really fun night (and that sound system)!....

They've were very unlucky with this night and it really boils down to just that.

A shame but for me one of the best gigs of the year. Diggers was great (many of you were a witness to my terrible dancing during his set....)

Thanks again for a fantastic night (and all the nice things said here)!

James Zabiela
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I think these comments give an indication as to how good this night was. Great stuff...

This is a guest article by MG, imported from Wordpress. Please ignore the 'author/contributor/posted-by' tag on this post, which is incorrect.