Magnetic Man & Katy B @ HMV Institute, 6th November 2010
I had been looking forward to this gig since it was announced. Before I got asked to review it I was already going as part of a friend’s birthday celebrations, and the night certainly lived up to my expectations.
I haven’t been to a gig at the Institute for a very long time — I think the last time I actually saw a band there was when it had become the Sanctuary and Biffy Clyro were playing on their tour for their first album as part of Groovy Garden. To be honest not a lot has changed inside the venue but a lot has changed in terms of my musical tastes. Saying that I haven’t been to a gig where you actually need to use your ticket to get into the room in the venue after you have been to the toilet, but as a guess they must have had more than one event going on.
Some of my friends and fellow DJ’s have been asking what has been going on with my music tastes recently but I would challenge anyone to not have got into the venue and started dancing regardless of what music they were into. On arrival there was a DJ on which according to the stage times was Pete Jordan — I couldn’t tell you if it was or wasn’t him because he was hidden away at the back with a small blue light shining on him. Whoever it was, they were certainly getting the people in the venue ready for a night that they will not forget for a long time (unless of course they were fuelled by various narcotics).
We didn’t have to wait long before Katy B hit the stage with her live band featuring drums, bass, keyboards and percussion. The set consisted of about 5 tunes. She initially dropped “Louder” which features on her On A Mission EP and this showed just how up for it the crowd were. She commented on dropping it a bit “old school like 2007” this made me smile a little because I didn’t realise that 3 years was old school, I guess when you are young it is though; what she put out was a selection of tracks with some blissed out Balearic beats reminiscent of the late 90s and took me back to the sounds of Ibiza whilst chilling on the beach outside Café del Mar. Her final two tracks were ‘Lights On’, which will be Katy’s next single featuring Ms Dynamite (who unfortunately wasn’t there) and will probably be a guaranteed number 1, and the genius previous single ‘On a Mission’ both of which got the whole venue bouncing in a way that I haven’t seen at a gig for years. Essentially Katy controlled the crowd throughout her short set, she was hugely confident and clearly loving what she was doing and there was a huge mass of evidence that showed she is going to be huge.
Following Katy B we had another DJ who according to the stage times was Mr E. But once again it was anyone’s guess who it was; but what he did do was mix up New Orders Blue Monday with a dub infused track which was AMAZING and he also dropped one of my favourite Caspa tracks giving the final wake up call to the venue and making the crowd well and truly ready for Magnetic Man.
Then Magnetic Man came onto the stage. I thought they might have done it to ‘Flying Into Tokyo’ this was not the case but the track did feature later on in the set. Instead we were hit with from what I could make out was ‘Ping Pong’ and it got the crowd buzzing for what was about to ensue. Skream, Benga, Artwork and their MC were enclosed in a V shaped cage which was surrounded by what I assumed was colour web. This ensured that the visuals were spectacular throughout the show. One of the many tracks that stood out came next which was ‘Fire’ which was swiftly followed up by ‘The Bug’ both of these tracks were given an extra lift by the light show going on around the cage. I am sure there will be loads of videos on YouTube for you to see what I’m talking about.
The great thing about the set is that we were given about an hour and a half of continuous music. There was hardly any time to pause before you were launched into another genius bit of hybrid infused dubstep that made you want to bounce around like a maniac. This made it really difficult for me to work out the tracks that actually appeared in the set. After ‘The Bug’ came another track, which was once again a dancefloor winner, and this was followed with ‘Getting Nowhere’ and ‘Flying into Tokyo’, two tracks followed which I think included MAD and then a pause. Throughout the night we were regularly told by the MC that it was the last night of the tour and during this pause he began with “Birminam it’s gettin hot in here, I think I need some….air” and the entire room knew what was next. After bouncing around to the single ‘I Need Air’ which had a lot of audience participation the room continued to move for another three tracks until the introduction to Karma Crazy which was just building the anticipation until the track dropped engulfing the venue into a mass of head nodding, bouncing, dirty faced people. This was pretty much the case for the whole night together with several “rave moshes” in different locations around the room.
Katy B appeared for the final two tracks of the main set, which were Crossover and the most recent single Perfect Stranger that of course went down really well. After this Magentic Man left the stage only to be granted with a chant of “One More Tune” by the crowd they came out and dropped an amazing tune to really end the night on a buzz. Essentially the set featured the majority of the album together with a few surprises.
I go back to my initial statement about why my music tastes have changed. Essentially they haven’t, what has happened is that they have got a lot broader. Tonight was my first time at a gig of this type aside from seeing artists like the Prodigy, Pendulum and the Chemical Brothers at festivals, I have never been to an “intimate” gig for “dance” music. It clearly showed me that there are no longer any boundaries in music at all. There were people of all musical tastes and of all ages embracing a relatively new and exciting sound. It was a perfect case of indie culture finally truly meeting dance culture and it was amazing. This is a gig that I will never forget!
Review – Imran Khan
Photos – Tom Horton
Masterfully exposed Tom, masterful.