- The pangs of disappointment were almost tangible. The appearance of melodic techno don Paul Kalkbrenner and Stockholm-based H-Productions label head Cari Lekebusch had been derailed by persistent snow blanketing the country. The UK's belligerent weather gods had struck again. There was no reason to fear, though: When you've got John Digweed locked in for a marathon main room set, there's never a chance of a night going southward.
And by 1 AM fabric was perfectly primed; a full cloak room, hordes of kids bunched at the bar downing shots before staking their piece of dance floor real estate, and the club's famous sound system EQ'd to perfection. Guy J warmed things up, and just like Digweed, the Israeli favoured a deep rolling brand of prog and tech house marked by gradual builds and drops that morphed into gorgeous melodic interludes.
It helped, certainly, Digweed stay on-point from the beginning, building the set into a snake-like groove from its initial drum-heavy opener. When experiencing a DJ of Digweed's programming precision, it's sometimes difficult to know who guides who, the selector or the sweaty pit of mentalism below. Watch the Brit closely and he's got a persistent eye on the crowd, keenly tapped into the mood on the floor.
Yet each twist and turn of his eventual six-and-a-half-hour set is almost scripted in its brilliance, as low-slung driving basslines gradually built to teased out crescendos, timed—almost perfectly—to the hour or half-hour. He had the dance floor so perfectly in sync that when the melodic chords of Max Cooper's remix of Hot Chip's "I Feel Better" seeped through the speakers, the entire clubs appeared to groan in unison.
As his 8 AM finishing time came and went, he slammed down bulldozing techno, even drifting into schranz and industrial territory for brief moments. And, at one stage it even looked like the long-time progressive patriarch was smashing people out of the park. But Digweed, famed for his masterful finishes didn't disappoint. Using Lil Louis vs Josh Wink "French Kiss (So How's Your Evening So Far?)" to transition from techno to mellower old skool vibes, he eventually dropped "I'll Be Your Friend." And when Prince's "When Doves Cry" spilled through the speakers with its familiar key pattern, grins the size of watermelons spread throughout club. Long admired as an inspiring DJ, now we can add surprising to that list too.