Inner City (Boomtick Arena) @ Aberdeen Hotel, Northbridge (16/04/2006)
A relatively short review in honour of the shortened working week (and
even shorter evening’s recollection)...
Inner City at the
Aberdeen Hotel was my destination – after scoffing countless chocolate eggs
and enduring ceaseless family conversations. The Boomtick Arena was my
beat (bit of a mixed bag on offer here). As well as frequent requested sojourns to the
Loaded Dice Arena (drum and bass) – just to have a geek and a gander as to
what the kids/performers were getting up to.
Few surprises to
begin with on arrival. No outdoor stage at this event – unlike the excellent Park
Life earlier in the year. Had been half expecting one – but the dodgy weather put
paid to that. Also unlike Park Life there was no mega-MASSIVE queue
stretching half way through Northbridge all the way up to the door (I guess competition
from the more salubrious Diz’play line-up down the road thinned the crowd
numbers a little). Next surprise – the advertised finishing time of 10pm had been
extended out to 1am. Good news for those of us wanting to make a night of it at the one
venue (plus extended playing times for most artists). Bad news for those punters who
had tickets to Inner City AND Diz’play. With the major kerfuffle at
that gig re: entry – anyone sporting a double-pack of tickets would have been in for a
nasty letdown when they finally danced their little hardcore asses round to Metros
.
<< oh there isn’t any room and you can’t
come
in.. there isn’t any room for strangers.. etc..>>
Last
surprise. Not necessarily a nice one. Entering the venue at quarter past five and
catching only the end of Kid Kenobi and MC Sureshock. Bit of a blow to find
them playing so very early in the day. So very very early. Pity. They always put on a
more-than-decent show. Ah well. I’m sure they be back again quite soon.
Looking more like the guy behind the counter of my fish and chip store. Minus the
grease and sweat stains. Nevertheless the expatriate former DMC champ unveiled
himself as the surprise packet of the evening. Playing an awesome hard-edged
electronic set. Bleeps with bass and balls. Had more detailed notes on his performance
but somehow managed to lose them within my phone. Fiddle dee dee. One of the
night’s absolute highlights. Definitely an artist to investigate further. align=justify>Out steps Felix da Housecat. Pulls out his usual bag of electro/
housey/techy beats. Quite rocking. But a little dull at times. Nowhere near as good as
his set at Science Fiction a couple of years back. Still bad Felix is at least a
dozen times better than non-Felix. And it WAS a lot cooler inside the
Aberdeen than the sweat box they crammed him into at the Belmont
Racecourse. Tying it all together with his love of a good heavy bass riff he ran
through the expected tunes (namely his signature Silver Screen Shower Scene
and Alter Ego’s Rocker) with a couple out of left field (a banging remix
of the Kaiser Chiefs and the not-so-banging Coldplay). align=justify>Walked outside to poke a squiz at Uberzone. “Live!!” the
promo material had proudly proclaimed. From what I could observe there were two
guys. One on a laptop. The other playing the worlds smallest drum-kit. Some decent
breakbeat. Some impressive work on the drums. But I lost interest rather quickly and
preferred to amble back inside to see what Felix was up to. Not much it would
seem. He finished up quite promptly.
Enter the veteran Dave
Seaman – with his satchel full of progressive-stylings. Bit of a small exodus as
punters flock to Zinc and parts unknown. I stick it out for a bit. Drink. Drink. Gulp.
Gulp. It’s all smooth-groove, melodic and seamless. Not really my bag. I head
upstairs to check on:
Bugz in the Attic. Caught them at
the Good Vibes prior to last. Golly they were good. Was kinda hoping for a
similar live performance but it’s primarily a DJ set twould seem. How do nine DJ’s fit on
one tiny stage and one tiny 90 minute set? Were there even nine DJ’s up there? I’m
afraid I didn’t hang out for the full set time to count. By this point of the evening I’m
flying back and forth between artists and acts like a demented hummingbird in a pinball
machine. Boing. Bonk. Bonk. Outside to see:
DJ Zinc and
MC Verse – Zinc the drum and bass legend. Can’t admit to being a big drum and
bass fan in a live setting. Kind of creeps me out and brings on the paranoia. Especially
at this more-than-a-little-influenced point of the evening. Boom. Boom. Boom. The
hard driving sounds eventually driving me off and about. And around. And about again.
Til I wind up at:
The Boomtick Arena once more. With
the evening’s closers - the Audio Bully’s. Everyone’s favourite
cheeky-electro-Englishman. Playing their own tracks. Other people’s tracks. And their
own versions of other people’s tracks. Including of course their oft-heard retake of
Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang”. And one of my personal faves –
Prodigy’s “Outer Space”. Kind of cool but perhaps the line-up times
could have been re-jigged a little. Later set for Kenobi? Felix as a
closer? Audio Bully’s a little earlier in the evening? They seemed to represent
more of a curiosity value (“I wonder what they do/sound/play live..”) than a
guaranteed sure-fire send-you-on-your-way-with-a-smile-on-your-face-and-sunshine-in-
your-heart finishing act. Leastways that’s how I determined it. So:
was at the same venue. But still representing better value for money than the damnable
Diz’play down the road. Leastways those with Inner City tickets got
to tromp inside and out of the cold. With a couple of international DJ’s for company. And
more than a few drinks in the belly. I’m sure even Jesus would have preferred hanging
out with Felix, Seaman and the Audio Bully’s to having been hung off
that big old wooden cross.
align=justify>Heronimous Wang
