- Up North in a town called Middlesbrough, at a small underground house night called *riffraff, someone once thought it would be funny to bring along a lampshade and wear it as a hat. The result, as with many trends, was that the peculiar became the popular. Many variants proceeded to catch on, including pillowcase hats and boot polish face paint. Random though it sounds, it adds to the niche, debauched atmosphere of the event, and the party hats were out in full force at *riffraff's recent eighth birthday celebrations.
Held on the first weekend of every month at The Medicine Bar, *riffraff provides a prescription of deep and tech house to the locals and crowds from across the country. The venue, formerly known as the Purple Onion, has been host to the club night before. But, thanks to an upmarket renovation several years ago, it now has a decadent, secret feel. Conveniently, the bar upstairs doubles as a pre-party and lounge area, with just the right atmosphere to fire crowds up for the main event downstairs, or for people to chill out mid-set with a cocktail. The birthday celebrations were kept close to home, with past residents of the event invited back to play a selection of new and old raff favourites.
The promoters usually pride themselves upon booking relatively contemporary names. But, for their birthday, they bucked that trend, enlisting one of the most well known names in house music, Marshall Jefferson. The Chicago icon managed to draw in crowds of all ages, spinning an upbeat and uplifting piano house set, giving the crowd hits of his musical past, with tracks such as "Promised Land" by Joe Smooth and, of course, his own classic, "House Music Anthem" making an appearance. He seemed comfortable and relaxed for the duration of his timeslot, something that must come with a 25-year history in the industry. The crowd lapped it up enthusiastically, one fan even taking off his t-shirt for Marshall to sign.
By 3 AM, two of *riffraff's residents took over, and the crowd were still on top form, as heads littered with metallic cones were still bobbing along to the beats, party bags in hand. Lee Pennington and Gow took turns in belting out a more modern and expected *riffraff sound, but still with a few hints from the past with Gow's own quality remix of "Missing" by Everything But The Girl, leading to a mass sing-along.