Jackmaster all night long in Glasgow

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  • "PLEASE DO NOT END" read a placard held up by one enthusiastic dancer near the front of the crowd. It scraped the ceiling as it wafted through the air, barely visible amid the atmospheric gloom. Whoever was holding it was damn keen—it was after midnight at The Berkeley Suite, a tiny basement club overlooking the roaring M8 motorway, on a snowy Sunday night in deepest January. Jackmaster, who had already been at the controls for more than three hours, still had two and a bit to go. With entry free before 11 PM, a crowd of maybe two or three hundred had arrived in force. From the snug, speakeasy-style cocktail bar upstairs to the dark room below, the whole place was rammed. There was no podium or elaborate stage lighting, so Jackmaster was impossible to see unless you were right at the front. This unfussy vibe and sense of anonymity worked in his favour. Everyone seemed to be there for the music, and the whole show reminded me of Glasgow's most famous Sunday party, Optimo, at Sub Club. Jackmaster's broad selections were given a chance to shine in an environment where hiding behind his celebrity wasn't an option. Not that hiding away is his style. Jackmaster's sets are built on energy, and here there were no dips or lulls. He played upbeat house and techno with infectious rhythms, every so often indulging in an expertly pitched foray into another genre entirely. The arrival of The KLF's "What Time Is Love?" was no surprise—he's a big fan of old acid house—but it was his love for gorgeous and defiantly unGoogleable soul and disco obscurities, such as the extended mix of Donna Summer's "Dim All the Lights," that added extra warmth and heart to his performance. Just like the guy with the sign, I didn't want it to end.
RA