- Reality takes shit from no one. Like when you wake up at 5 AM on a Friday morning with 2 litres of red wine still trudging through your veins and a set of eye balls that shrivel up in anything other than total darkness. Suddenly that great idea of mid-week drinking turns into clawing your way through a day of work while your body turns on you like five day old milk. Putting on FCL, Lawrence and Sacha Dive all on one night also seems like a great idea. The reality, though, is that this kind of line up across three rooms in a venue that holds somewhere in the realm of ten million people is in trouble from the start. Three sets of underground DJs are not going to draw the crowd you need to fill all three floors of Sound Control.
Nowhere was this more prevalent than in the upstairs room at midnight when Lawrence was playing. The room was half-full and the sound system seemed to have completely forgotten what anything other than high end and muffled bass sounded like. It wasn't the right kind of setup for someone like Lawrence who can use a more intimate space to showcase his enviable take on deep house that hugs you until your mouth cramps from smiling.
That was, for the most part, my only dealings with the upstairs room. The rest of the night was spent firmly locked in the basement. Those that have been there before may recall a poorly configured sound system that could only be heard in a limited number of spots. I don't remember this, but everyone else assures me it is true. This is no longer the case. Now it boasts what might just be the best sound system in Manchester. Every note was clear as day and the bass hit you clean between the eyes while tickling your balls like a well-trained erotic baboon.
But baboons—erotic or otherwise—are no substitute for DJs like San Soda and Red D, AKA FCL. They let loose with one of the most entertaining house sets I've heard. The groove swept up the room and dragged what must have been everyone in the club downstairs. From the Inland Knight remix of "Stoned" to the elbow jacking delights of their own We Play House releases and an interesting collection of sometimes dubious but always fun classics, they were the saving grace of what came across as an overambitious night that could have been perfect had it been held solely on the basement floor and FCL smack bang in the middle of the party.