Limelite feat. Mark Knight @ Metropolis, Fremantle (07/03/08)
A night of pumping house music with world renowned DJ, producer and boss of Toolroom Records; Mark Knight. For those who are not familiar with Knight and his tunes, he’s from the UK, based in Maidstone, Kent. He has been a resident DJ at Ministry of Sound in London, and it’s enabled him to tour and play all around the world. He has made his name through hard work and constant touring, putting in time and honing technical skills that have won him awards such as ‘Best DJ Of 2007’ at the Kiss Awards, and nominations for Toolroom as ‘Label Of The Year’ at the House Music Awards in 2005.
He has a growing fanbase, which has a lot to do with the success of Toolroom, which was started in 2004. He initially launched it as a vehicle to get his own tracks and remixes out there, but it has since led to the release of great tracks from the likes of Martijn ten Velden, ATFC, Lee Cabrera and Richard Dinsdale. He gets huge support from names like Pete Tong, Roger Sanchez and Sander Kleinenberg, all due to his innovative style and consistent releases. Some DJs say it’s almost inevitable that you’ll have at least one Mark Knight track or remix in your record bag. And if not by him, then something from his Toolroom label! His style is first and foremost house, mixed with new skool progressive, electro and tech influences. Tonight it was all banging beats, high with energy that kept you glued to the dancefloor.
Metros resident DJ Decks Z started the evening out with a few hours of heartfelt enthusiasm behind the decks, mixing old tracks in with great new ones. Songs like Axwell’s ‘I Found You’ and the Robin S classic ‘Show Me Love’ were highlights. Mark Knight came on around 12.30am, and right from the get go the music style changed to his own unique blend of upfront house, mixed with new skool progressive and electro. His set was a mixture of his own tracks and remixes, as well as the latest from his label, with tracks like his D Ramirez collaboration ‘Colombian Soul’ getting a great response. It’s not hard to see why it was nominated for Best Track at the 2007 World Club Awards.
Metropolis Fremantle is a fairly large venue, with both a downstairs and upstairs area that support different styles of music. The area downstairs has a large dancefloor and multiple bars, and effort has been put in to the venue so it always looks good. Unfortunately, on some nights I feel it’s still lacking in style, and even though the door policy is strict, it can still sometimes attract the ‘wrong crowd’. Security measure can seem a little overdone, with compulsory finger printing at the entry. The whole game of getting in can be a bit like a bad spy movie some times; the right dress, the right attitude, multiple forms of identification, etc. The success of your night out feeling as though it rests on the mood that the doorman is in when you arrive…
The crowd was a mixture, both genuine dance fans for the love of the music as well as people looking for a good night out. If you could get past the door politics and onto the dancefloor, it was a great night of music. Unfortunately the venue downplayed Mark Knight’s performance; although most of the crowd on the dancefloor seemed to be having fun, oblivious to the fights breaking out in other areas of the club. The trick was to stick to the dancefloor, as it was all smiles there with the crowd having a great time. Mark Knight is definitely one to watch!
