Spinning should not equal drinking. No matter how good of an idea it sounds, when a DJ spins, you should not drink. It can only end in pain. That said, if I could go back and do it all again.
After getting one of the politest, yet longest and most thorough patdown I’ve ever received by security, which involved them not only taking my camera out of is protective case but also opening the battery compartment to see if I was hiding anything inside it (do I look that dodgy?), they told me that the X-Ecutioners would be on about 30 minutes later than advertised. I was cool with that, it meant I got to hear more of the support acts and properly check out this gig.
Arriving inside during Staen1s set, the party was already jumping by 10pm. The half filled, and very diverse Manning Bar crowd seemed up for it, head nodding and dancing to classic party tunes ranging from Dr Dre to Busta Rhymes, whilst Staen1 showed why he has won the national DMC title three times. His juggling skills were great, and I found myself stopping conversation mid sentence to listen to the sound coming from the speakers, and admiring the skills on display. After a while though his set did seem to drag on, but that may just be due to the fact I was going to see one of the best turntablist teams ever in short amount of time.
It was about this time I needed the bathroom. To my surprise, the male toilets were covered roof to floor in large sheets of paper… I thought this rather odd, until I saw in one of the cubicles what looked to be a group of typical ‘lads’ (you know the ones – stripped polo, shorts, Nautica cap and a pair of Air Max TNs) with a texta, tagging away. Only thing about them is that they looked about 30, not the usual 14 year olds you’d expect to be tagging away in a venues bathroom. I must say, the paper was a great idea to combat the graffiti problem, but the fact that it was necessary in the first placed made me wonder what kind of people was this gig attracting?
With Wildchild up on the stage, doing the typical international MC hype thing (“what’s up”, “keep it real ya’ll” ect) I was losing interest in the night. He managed to keep most of the crowd entertained with his rhyming, freestyling and breakdancing too, but again, his set seemed to drag on. And on. Nevertheless, he was a good entertainer and a break from the turntablism, and made me even more eager to see the X-Ecutioners – who at this point, were standing about 2m from me out on the balcony, and seemed more interested in the booty on display than getting ready to rock a party.
Finally, about 45 mins later than I had expected, they took the stage. Precision, Roc Raider, Rob Swift, Boogie Blind and Total Eclipse were all up on stage and they kicked things off with a bang. It was at this point of the night I was talking to NSW DMC runner up Typhonic, who suggested we play a game, where every time one of them spin, we take a swig of our drink. Bad move.
They started off with 3 of them playing, and constantly switching who was actually mixing. Unlike most turntablist sets that involve the high amount of juggling, it was extremely danceable and fun. They got the technical out of the way real quick, and went from three of them playing at once down to one at a time, party fun. This is where the DJs just seemed to be having fun and showing off to the crowd, body tricks galore, including classic moves like behind the back and under the leg, at one point Roc Raider was using his chin on the cross fader whilst holding a juggle! This is also when they started to spin, and it was like, turntable tag team, each member having about 4-5 seconds on the decks and then they would spin and switch who was actually mixing.
What really impressed me was the way they could work as a team, and kept the music flowing. It’s really hard to describe in words how good these guys were and how much fun I actually had at this event, it was like nothing else. I have seen individual turntablists, from Q-Bert to Kentaro, and been in awe at them, yet these guys were on another level. Of the group though, Precision was definitely the best on the night, never missing a beat, locking everything up and when he juggled two copies of MC Hammer Cant Touch This, it was like an instant party in the room, not a single person not shaking their butt. What started out as a slow night for me, turned into one of the most fun events I have been to in a long time. If the chance ever comes around again to catch these guys as a group, or even individually, I would recommend getting along and checking them out.
XBenX says...
Not that Im particularly even a fan of tagging myself, if thats the first time you have seen a venue setup like that for tagging you need to get out more. Its an element of both the music and the culture.
TheDon says...
Sounds like a good night, but i'm against this paper in the loo thing. What's the point of writing a hilarious note on a toilet wall if it gets recycled the next day.
Hetfield says...
great night out!