Platform One at the Banana Alley Vaults always makes me think of a rare find when you first step in.  A long brick tunnel, with a mix of inky blackness and deep red lighting greats you.  It’s as if an old industrial train station or an underground lair has been opened up for one night of going crazy. 

Just past 11pm Friday night the place was filling up with expectant faces and a happy crowd, looking like they were up for a big one and still very relaxed in their environment.  For me this has become trademarks to associate with any Drum and Bass gig heavily orientated towards its New Zealand fan base and The Operatives was going to be no different.

One end of the tunnel was dedicated to the performers – a massive setup of mic’s, wiring and speakers to accommodate what the flyer claimed as ‘ten dub-style warriors’, or to the actual billing “The Red Eyes”.  The other end of the tunnel (forty metres or so away) accommodated a well setup bar and couches, which turned out to be a great place to relax if you wanted respite from the ‘business end’ of the vault.

Enough of the venue, just to say if you haven’t checked out Platform One then make sure you get down there.  So, the music:  

Not knowing what to expect, just knowing that I was turning up to see a ten piece band play DnB had me itching with anticipation and I was not disappointed.  The Red Eyes turned out everything from slow, melodic instrumental pieces, through to fist in the air, screaming, cheering and moshing big bass dub tracks. 

Arming themselves with guitar, bass, sax, trumpet, trombone, drums and keyboards, then led into battle by El Witeri, a singer with phenomenal talent and a guest MC ripping out lines, the Red Eyes went to war on the crowd and left no head unturned.  This performance was such a cut above most of the turntable action a lot of us would be used to, rolling through solo’s by every musician in the band, it embodied the essence and power of a true live performance and should be put on everyone’s calendars. 

Catching El after the performance, he explained how humbling and overwhelmed he felt at times to have a lot of regular followers.  Starting of as an improvised jam session back in 2002 at Laundry, the Red Eyes have played Meredith and Earthcore recently, completed two six month stints every Tuesday to packed out crowds at the Evelyn and turned out two cds. 

Picking up both of these discs and chalking myself up as a ‘regular follower’ I can openly recommend seeing these guys in action to any music fan out there.

So what could top that you ask… well, I was unsure – but then Concord Dawn came on.  And everybody went nuts.

With a pounding sound rig and a crowd packed in shoulder to shoulder, the two figures of Matty C and Evan Killjoy took to the decks with a wicked grin on their faces and an almost nonchalance to their practiced technique.  Joined on stage by Tiki of Salmonella Dub, the combination of two masters of the art raining out a drum and bass assault on the audience, coupled to an MC that not only got the crowd hyped as hell, but jumped down into the front row and sung his heart out arm in arm with the punters led to one seriously rocking event.

Initially out for an easy one, Concord Dawn kept me going to till four thirty in the morning and seamlessly swept the crowd from deep, progressive beats to in your face, slamming bass lines.  At one point even two pop tracks, featuring a strong female vocal which was initially so out of place, yet after ten seconds just so right even made their way into the relentless driving DnB and again, proved why Concord Dawn are on top of their game.

If I could raise one other point it would be that the heat inside Platform One got pretty ferocious, a factor I thought may have changed since last I visited for the Drummatic Twins but evidently not.  Saying that, everyone’s in the some boat – and kicking it in a dark tunnel, dancing, moshing, and screaming along to two incredible acts with a brilliant crowd is always going to be a great night out – just like this one was.