DMZ 6th Birthday?

[clifford_-]

was it chef or joe nice that played 'pump up the jam'
whoever it was, they made my night...

[herbalicious]

I think that was Joe.

And might I add...Joe is probably the safest bloke of all time.

[clifford_-]

[imetik]

Big big vibes!! Shame about the youngsta / kryptic set but regardless some super heavy stuff was going on in both rooms. Wish I caught goth trad dropping cosmos must have been big! Humidity levels in room 1 were ridiculous and the cloakroom was full so I had to rock a goose down which was not the one. Largin up all the crew that were heading to room 2 not only for the riddims but to get back to a decent temperature. Cant believe the moisture was messing with the decks haha only at dmz!!


Respect to all involved and the 5 - 6 am stumbling gang, this one you


till the next one!
peace

[subsick]

Goth trad/vivek were big. Again, that good old dark low slung stuff, and the system was just starting to get cranked properly. Some real heavy hitters, and one tune from either trad or vivek, i cant remember that was fecking MENTAL!!!! It got a reload, but its a tune that starts out fairly standard I spose, as an intro to a head nodder. But then out of nowhere comes this absoloutely fist pumping techy drop that absoloutely smashed it. Possible tune of the night!

I'm not sure if this helps but was it Goth trad's sandsnake remix?

[ghandi]

The skinhead waving the fwd t-shirt

The girl who threw water over the decks during Youngsta's set

The brostep in room 2 towards the end of the night

Everything else The variety kept me interested all night. James Blake or Kode 9 playing Salem

[TooMuch]

I don't really get how you can let these little things like being too crowded and certain people acting differently spoil your night.

I had no problems in room one in terms of moving about. I'm not the biggest guy but I managed to storm my way into the middle everytime I came back into room 1 and I had 6 mates who followed me. We had no problems and I'd probs say we all for about 60% of the night were able to throw some shapes when it was right and wobble when it was fitting.

Yes there was a selection of skinhead pricks at the front pitting but sooooo many people gave em shit. Why that twisted up fuck was allowed to stay on that stage for so long ill never know. It was embarassing tho after a while. He tried to stay up there for kryptic minds and youngsta. He didn't know what to do with himself without the high pitched screeches. Kept sitting down on the barrier until he was turfed off stage.

The heat was very bad in there and I had both a jacket and a hoody tied round my waist with the cloakroom being closed. I just manned it out tho as all my mmates did. Went outside after long periods for 10 mins. Got a bottle of water and kept hydrated.

Don't see why you would actually just stand in the corner because of a few small issues. Its what you wanna make of it not other people. There was nothing ridiculous about the behaviour. I never felt intimidated in there once. Just kept my distance from the moshing twats and their antics.

On a different note: loved the reaction of the crowd when the replacement deck came in for digital mystikz. Held high and weaving thru the crowd towards the stage

[kay]

Argh. Wrote a long thingy and hit the wrong button and lost it. Letsee...

Got there 7pm, no queue. Excellent. Went to the Effra for the traditional jerk pork dinner and pint. Met up with some mates and bumped into a few heads there - Wiggle Baron, Wub, Herb, Phrex and I think Particle Jim. Cheers Wiggle Baron for scouting the queue.

Strolled on over to Mass at about 8.30pm, queue was still quite short. Mystikz crew came through every now and then with boxes of t-shirts . Took bets as to when the doors would open, I think I was pretty close at 9.20pm. Got inside, bought my t-shirt, bumped into Wub, then starting bounding up the staircase all hyped up. Unfortunately, the tune ended at that moment, so it turned into a slouchy walk instead. Then the next tune came on! Yay! Hopped up the stairs, paused outside Room1 to soak it in, then went to the cloakroom. Unfortunately, there was another queue there. You'd think that with only about 50 people gone in ahead of me there wouldn't really be a queue.

Anyway, finally got into the room halfway through Distance/Tunnidge. Pretty high energy start for DMZ. Started jumping around immediately, didn't even think about getting a drink till sometime later. Brilliant start.

Then Joe Nice/Chef came on with Pump Up The Jam I don't think that many people appreciated that coz most of the room just stood there trying to work out what to do. Good fun start though! They dropped some nice mixes, a few standout tunes. Then they were on to their last tune and I was like "NOOOOOOoooooo! You can't not play DMZ vs MZN!!!!" Unless of course Joe Nice did play it and I didn't notice. I don't think I'd've missed it though as bad as my memory for tunes is.

Vivek and Goth Trad: 'Nuff said.

James Blake and Kode9 came on playing different sounding stuff as expected. I can't say I fully enjoyed everything they played but it was a pretty decent hour.

As for Loefah's set, it was a bit half-and half for me. I kinda like his new sets but the beat gets a bit samey after a while. So I stayed for the first 15 minutes or so, then went over to Room 2 for some refreshment and air. I think Zed Bias might've been playing. Then went back to catch the last 20 minutes of Loefah and to get in place for Mystikz.

The plan was to find some space next to the corner speakers but we ended up next to the fire exit instead. Which turned out to be a pretty good thing. More on that in a bit. Anyway, Loefah finished off, and Mala came on. With Anti War Dub!!! Mad skankage ensued, which basically describes the rest of the set. Thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed that. Despite the sweat that was just gushing out of me. I think the airconditioning wasn't working because I hadn't felt any air coming out of the vents that I normally stand under. Fortunately, they did open up the fire exit so I was able to stick my head out to get some air every now and then. There was also a decent amount of room to move there for some reason. I suppose it could have been due to the sweat I was probably flinging around. No way was I stopping and leaving though!

Then the set came to an end and Skream/Benga came on. Had never planned to be present for their set, so took that as a good time to leave the room to cool off, dry up and get rehydrated. Went over to Room 2 for a bit where it was a lot cooler and vibes were more chilled. Then headed back to Room 1 for Kryptic Minds and Youngsta, which I had been looking forward to the whole night. Kryptic Minds absolutely smashed it and I was really hyped up when Youngsta stepped up. And then the music stopped. Everyone stood expectantly for it to come back on. Nothing. Then the lights came on. Uh oh. Still nothing. Half the room drifted out. I think you might be able to an idea of the demographics of the oldheads/newheads/nonheads/deepheads/whatever present from that. Then the music came back on. Yay! And went splat again. More waiting. Worrying now. Then the music came back on again! Yay! And went on for a while. And then crackle crackle splutter splat. And they packed up after that.

Dejectedly made my way over to Room 2, which was now seriously packed. Moxie was playing some good tunes though. But most of what she played had already been played by someone else by that point. Still, it got the good vibes going again. I thought she was gonna play out the rest of the night, but then Hatcha and N-type came on. They launched straight into the wobble bangers which was ok I guess. Then they played some tune with a female vocal in it which I think they kept adding effects to or mixing oddly or something. But I found it pretty horrible and so did my mates. I decided to call it a night at 5.30am and went to the cloakroom. And proceeded to queue there for half an hour! It wasn't even a particularly long queue, it just didn't move! I guess there must have been a ton of people who'd lost their tickets.

Managed to make it to the traditional MacD's stopover, but before they changed to the breakfast menu. Bonus! For the first time ever, I wanted McNuggets. Then was disappointed when they said they only had big macs and cheesburgers. Oh well. Got a Big mac meal, went to sit down and bumped into Wiggle Baron again. Which turned out to be a pretty lucky for him. Sat for a bit with other mates after that, then started on my 2h journey home.

Definitely enjoyed this birthday party more than last year's, despite the technicals. Moving the decks to the other side of the room definitely helped with crowd movement in and out of Room 1 because last year, people couldn't even get past the door while there was probably space further in. It didn't help with the heat situation this year though, mind. Also, it means that randomy people were less likely to jump over and do a pull-up, which seriously killed it for me last year. Vibes were definitely a lot better this year, none of the aggression crap from last year. Hope this will be the start of another good year for DMZ!

[kay]

was it chef or joe nice that played 'pump up the jam'
whoever it was, they made my night...

Joe Nice. It was an excellent choice!

[kay]

Yeah found myself spending more time letting people get past me going in/out of room 1 than actually getting a good old head-down skank on.

I learnt from last year that you just have to head a bit further inside. I know it was hot and wet this year but not getting interrupted by people barging by more than made up for it for me.

[brockolio]

good times the last couple nights.

had been lookin forward to finally see Yunx tho, so that one hurt a little bit. those 20 or so minutes with KM were probably my highlight of the night, especially as it started to thin out a little bit and you could get a nice skank on. Spent a good deal of time in room2 as well. awesome finally getting a chance to see zed bias do his thing. I think overall, the 5 days off night was the one for me tho. some serious once in a lifetime business at the Melkweg on Friday night.

big up all the people I got a chance to chat with and meet. By far the most enjoyable 2 hour queue I'll ever find myself in. with 2 rooms of music, it seems ridiculous to be complaining about what skream & benga played, when a different selector is a stones throw away.

If you didn't enjoy yourself, I don't know what to tell ya. definitely an experience I'll carry with me for the rest of my life. out to the DMZ gang as always and all crew (save for FWD shirt dude and the water chucker) inside.

[herbalicious]

Managed to barge my way to the front for Kode 9/JB, Loefah and Digi Mystikz....was emotional.

Out to whoever teefed my jumper though. Bomba. Shouldn't have left it on the stage bit I suppose.

The fact I don't even really care truly shows how big the night was. Madness. Sticky-icky it were.

[mymatedave]

I don't really get how you can let these little things like being too crowded and certain people acting differently spoil your night.

Its a shame man, but i viewed dmz as one of the few nights where i wasnt expecting to be putting up with all the gurners going for it. It wouldn't of ruined my night if it wasnt for the fact that it was so busy they were constantly rubbing their gurns in my face. Plus the epic amount of money & time it took me to get there and get in. I tried pretty hard to get involved but it just wasnt happening, £100 on a night out to not be able to move is just a bit of a downer for a self employed dj/producer.

The music delivered 100% up to skream tho. Goth-trad made it worth while big time.

EDIT - also, i left as Skream started thats why I say 100% up to Skream. No disrespect to him/Benga.
(But if he did really play those tunes I think its only fair he gets the same reaction that anyone else in the scene would.)

Respec!

[Ruttah]

Yeah that guy with the FWD T shirt was a fuck head, he looked like he was trying to summon up a demon or something, I think he scared me more than pissed me off haha.





Also wasn't impressed when I overheard a girl say to some fella after about 10 mins of dancing together "do you just want to go to an alley or something".

[kay]

I don't really get how you can let these little things like being too crowded and certain people acting differently spoil your night.

Its a shame man, but i viewed dmz as one of the few nights where i wasnt expecting to be putting up with all the gurners going for it. It wouldn't of ruined my night if it wasnt for the fact that it was so busy they were constantly rubbing their gurns in my face. Plus the epic amount of money & time it took me to get there and get in. I tried pretty hard to get involved but it just wasnt happening, £100 on a night out to not be able to move is just a bit of a downer for a self employed dj/producer.

I get what you mean. It was like that for me last year. Believe it or not, this year was much much better. It was actually aggressive last year. Don't know if you go to the normal DMZ nights, but I'd recommend those if you haven't been, and to stay away from the birthday dos.

[kay]

Oh, and one final thought. I dont know if this new stage set up has been around for a while, and if theres normally that much lighting around it, or if was just cos the boiler room guys were in...but I couldn't believe the lights that were left on for soooo long! There were 3/4 big disco light things swamping the crowd right up until loefah got them turned off. I couldnt believe how much they killed the vibe for me! I was every now and again noticing that I suddenly felt much more into the music and was feeling it more, before then noticing that all the lights had just gone off for a few seconds before coming back on again. Dunno if it was a mistake, or if it was done for the boiler room guys, but I really didn't like the lights being there. Didn't seem to fit with the idea of DMZ to me, but I guess im not mala, coki or loefah! I do hope it all wasn't there cos of the boiler room guys needing something for the stream (the big spot light in the middle, lights on the stage/crowd originally and the occasional strobe) cos I go in to DMZ with very little expectations on the music (in that I know ill never know whats coming!) but for me the DMZ vibe is much more specific. To change the feel of the night so that it can be streamed seems a bit weak to me. Anyway, more than likely not the case. Soon as loefah appeared the disco/stage lights went straight off, and apart from the spotlight at the front it was then nice and easy to find yourself a good dark spot.

There's been more lighting around ever since they shifted the decks and put up that random netting stuff on the ceilings. I hear that's all the rage in the clubs these days.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that just because the boiler room guys were present, they didn't literally have to turn the place into a boiler room.

[say_whut]

Never been to a DMZ birthday or night, but it sounds phenomenal. Are the normal nights as busy as the birthday events? I told myself I will go to a DMZ night one night, but living up on Scotland it will cost me a fair amount just to get to the door.

[TooMuch]

I think its fair to say he's got some making up to do does Skream. I don't think I've read a positive comment. Ha! I can understand he is very popular so plays a wider variety of tunes for those different 'fans' but if I were him and knew it was DMZ I'd be thinking old school straight away.

Would of loved tunes like chestboxing, headbanger and 0800 DUB (just as some examples) instead of 'Make our day' and 'watch out' by brosteps finest english representatives.. Those guys at the front must of been fucking loving it.. Shame he made the minorities night and not the majority

[kay]

Managed to barge my way to the front for Kode 9/JB, Loefah and Digi Mystikz....was emotional.

Was wondering where you were the whole night. In fact, hardly saw anyone from the Effra in there, apart from Wiggle!

[kay]

Never been to a DMZ birthday or night, but it sounds phenomenal. Are the normal nights as busy as the birthday events? I told myself I will go to a DMZ night one night, but living up on Scotland it will cost me a fair amount just to get to the door.

Usually nowhere as busy. The July Summer Blazedowns are probably one of the more popular ones. The room doesn't normally get filled till after midnight, and tends to empty out after 3.