- You can almost hear the sleigh bells ringing as Christmas draws ever closer; the glowing street lights and busy footpaths indicating the presence of shoppers galore.
But for those in Waterford interested in a little jig before the arrival of Santa, there was a chance to cross another techno legend off your list with Billy Nasty, a man pivotal in the rise of techno in the UK scene from its earliest days at clubs like Strutt in London, making another of his frequent visits to Irish shores.
I remember one of Nasty's first Irish gigs at Sex Kitchen, Galway in 1993 where many got their baptism in early prog/ techno with an apocryphal performance. Since then, Nasty seems to have become almost an adopted son for many Irish techno followers, and along with Garnier, Mills and Cox has struck a chord with many, being one of the first DJs to make a real impression on anyone here with a disposition for driving beats.
Waterford DJ Alan Harris, got things in motion with a real up-tempo start, throwing some throbbing grooves at the early visitors to the Forum. Trentemollers "Polar Shift" and Funk D'Void and Phil Kieran's "Black Worm" boosted the energy of the bobbing crowd while "Heartbreak" from Tiga, Beyer&Lenk showed Harris had brought the big-hitters with him and was pulling no punches tonight.
Anthony Rother's "Father" was soon served up; dark European electro and techno our carte du jour. Harris wound up a fine warm-up stint with some more great tracks and "The Wound" from Henrik B; he exhuberant crowd lapping up the sounds and another amazing visual feast, provided once again by the ever diligent Stress.
With the night off to a great start the baton was handed to Necksnapper's Travis Bickle, tonight only a solitary figure; his partner absent due to a family-related illness. Early on he used Plastikman's "Spastik" and a track from Chris Liebing to beat out a militaristic brand of pounding, percussive techno. Using a laptop and sequencer, Bickle manipulated sounds and delivered more pounding, pummelling workouts in a DJ Rush/Marco Remus style; even the staunchest of techno fans finding it hard to keep up with the momentum.
Then, just before 1am Senor Nasty made his way through the crowd looking as inauspicious as ever. The music stopped dead and Nasty took things on a different route with some funkier material while still mananaging to instill a dark groove. Tomas Andersson's "Washing Up" on Bpitch Control lacerated our ears and a melodic, electro number from Tiefschwarz showed that Billy Nasty was willing to dip the tempo at times before moving up a gear when it suited him. One huge build-up with effects got the crowd shouting and punching the air to salute the techno veteran; Nasty responding by curling his abs.
Even though the venue wasn't as full as on previous Musiklab nights, Nasty managed to entertain us with Adam Beyer's "Snuff and Noise (Part 2)" and Hardcell & Grindvik's "Square"; the pre-Christmas partiers became gradually unhinged by some rugged groovers. A few more numbers from Beyer and Carola kept the pace up; Billy taking a four to the floor approach in favour of any broken beats. By now we were definitely doin' the Nasty with the amazing visuals from Stress really catching the imagination of everybody and making Nasty look as if he was coming out of a spinning, colour-filled vortex.
Although Billy Nasty may not be riding as high on the current techno DJ circuit as in previous times, and his labels in somewhat of a lull, he has still been able to fill this venue twice a year for the last 5 years or so. And even though tonight's set wasn't quite the vintage Nasty we've come to expect with his usually frenetic, drum-led techno a notable absence, he still provided great entertainment.
A few cheeky spinbacks and some more Bpitch Control offerings and his set drew to a close; Nasty's girlfriend joining him on stage as he played his encore, which incited one particular reveller to hop up on stage in a vain attempt to become the main attraction.
All in all, a fairly good night in Waterford again courtesy of Musiklab, and bringing to an end a great year of electronic music in Ireland. Memorable sets from a number of talented performers, in particular Laurent Garnier, UR, Carl Craig, Jeff Mills and Chris Liebing, proving beyond all shadow of a doubt that good, rhythmical music is an artform which is still thoroughly appreciated in the right ambience. Eminem's misconception that "Nobody listens to techno" and additional glum outlooks regarding the scene from other 'experts' has been proved wrong yet again!
Special thanks to Luke and all involved @Musiklab and the Forum and indeed, anyone who has worked hard this year to bring good electronic music to Ireland.
Let's hope 2006 will be another year to savour.......Happy Xmas!