- The surreal quiet outside of Back to Basics on the night of Dave Beer and James Holroyd's birthday gave little evidence to the chaos inside. But once you stepped inside, a trying maze of bodies and glazed emotions led you from the entrance into a human thunderstorm blowing full force on the dance floor. Familiar faces were scattered about, the place exchanging subtle glances of acknowledgment before dropping back into a hypnotised stomp.
The place was ablaze with Buckley coolly rocking back and forth behind the decks, marching records from one locked groove to the next and subtlety shifting rhythms in a way that any aspiring DJ would envy with both malice and admiration. His style for me is easily recognisable as a typical Basics sound, but like Terry Francis—and other metaphorical giants of the resident DJ world—he twists it in his own unique way. I was embracing what has become an oft repeated experience over the years...listening to Buckley's wizardry while shouting wildly and smiling uncontrollably as my eyes roll casually into the back of my skull.
Some two hours later a Talking Heads rework cried out of the Funcktion One stacks. The mood by this point had gone far beyond the safe confines of controllable madness. Dave Beer was putting on a rare main room DJ performance to celebrate his birthday, which left me with a series of glorious strange memories. I remember a feverish feel to the music that swept out across the sea of bobbing heads. There was embracing, there was fighting for dancing space. And it was all under the umbrella of "good times." It was the kind of atmosphere and experience you would expect from Basics on special nights like this, where the crowd shames those club nights of lesser years.
I've no idea when Tristan da Cunha came on. The first I knew of it was catching a black blur of long curly hair being thrust about behind the DJ booth. It's worth noting that, for the most part, I've only ever really seen da Cunha play in the upstairs room where he trawls through wondrous collections of disco and offbeat house music. This was a different experience entirely, naturally flowing from Buckley and Beer's sets into an intoxicating rolling momentum.
A better man would probably summarise this night in short and insightful paragraphs. But to try and pull together the joy that gripped me throughout the night is a task best left to your imagination. My only regret was missing James Holroyd, but it had to be that way. I was glued downstairs, going through the motions of what will undoubtedly turn out to be one of the best nights of year.