The Warehouse Project: Jamie XX Presents (October 29th)
Monday, October 31, 2011 at 10:54AM 
Halloween weekend usually means a huge weekend of music up and down the country; however, you don't get much bigger than one of the most well-known Dance venues in Europe playing host to Jamie XX, Jay Electronica, Four Tet, Julio Bashmore and more, all on the same night. My last experience at the Warehouse Project was overly disappointing to say the least, but I was expecting the music and the crowd to be a lot more positive this time round. Thankfully, that was the case...
We arrived in a wet, windy and freezing cold Manchester at around 11pm and made our way straight into the venue to discover that we were the one of the people first to arrive. An unknown DJ was just finishing his hour long set as the brilliant Fantastic Mr Fox was setting up to take over the decks - I was extremely excited to see him for the first time after following his work closely over the past 12 months, but I wasn't prepared for what was to come. I'm not sure if it was because of the line-up that he was playing with, but the set was very abstract - however, technically he was one of the best DJ's I have seen for a very long time, bringing together tracks/genres that I didn't think could be mixed, creating mind-blowing sounds live on stage and showcasing his unbelievable skills on the controller. Next up, Jay Electronica, the act I was most looking forward to seeing having never been able to witness a Hip-Hop artist at the WHP over the past 5 years - he didn't disappoint. Jay took to the stage in a long beige coat and a brown trilby hat (which I now own) spitting a Biggie verse, before effortlessly moving into his own material. He drew tracks from his incredible back catalogue which led to Jay-Z signing him last year, dropped his verse from 'Shiny Suit Theory', did four freestyles over four different Dilla beats and performed his own special rendition of ATCQ's legendary 'Can I Kick It?'. Words cannot describe how incredible the set was - he understood the vibe of the crowd as soon as he entered the WHP, his energy was through the roof, his interaction with the audience was the best I've ever seen from a Hip-Hop act and he is genuinely one of the most down to earth artists I've ever met. After having a much needed break away from the action, we moved back into the main room for Four Tet's live show - having seen his DJ set a few weeks ago, and having seen him live before, I thought I knew what to expect, but he is such a thoughtful producer/DJ that he once again blew me away with the level of mixing and uniqueness of track selection.
Ben UFO & Pangaea then stepped up to go B2B for an energetic hour long set, which mainly included uptempo Dub and Deep/Groovy House - it would have been nice to stay there for longer, but the main room was far too busy to even dance, so we moved into the back room for the first time to watch Ben & Pangaea's label mate Objekt smash the place to pieces with a more frenetic, yet just as enchanting performance. For the next two hours we decided to keep swapping between both rooms as we wanted to catch as much of Jamie XX and Julio Bashmore as possible. Both have had massive 2011's thus far and are currently leading the way as the two most forward-thinking and exciting Electronic producers this country has produced over the past five years. However, both could improve their live mixing - neither of them are bad, but any purist or intense music lover could be slightly disappointed when they listen to their music and then finally get to see them live. Not me though; their track selections were spot on, Bashmore's even better than last time, and they both had the crowd in the palm of their hands from start to finish. One of the main compliments I can pay to Jamie XX in particular is that he can play 30 minutes of downtempo/alternative music and then drop a monstrous Disco number to send the crowd wild, before seamlessly moving back into more dark and thoughtful material - mesmerising to watch. After that I went for a chill-out session in the VIP area, which was just as busy as the main room, but has a really cool lay out and I love the idea of having a much needed place to sit down, away from the filthy floor. Can't say I was too impressed with one member of the bar staff though, who thought it was acceptable to tell me to go away (in a much less friendly manner) when asked what time Jamie Jones would be arriving from Liverpool, even though every single set list had been torn from the walls by midnight and there wasn't even one person waiting to be served at the bar.
Away from the ignorant bar lady, one bouncer grabbing me by the collar after not allowing me to go into the smoking area with a bottle of water, the venue closing an hour early for no apparent reason and it being slightly over sold, the night was flawless. I wasn't sure how so many different types of music would work together on one stage, but Store Street never lets me down and every single person there was clearly a lover of real music. The whole vibe and atmosphere couldn't have been any more different to that of the Visionquest night, and it was the type of memorable event that I have come to expect from The Warehouse Project ever since I started going back in 2007. Big love to everyone involved, apart from the barmaid and bouncer.
Sidenote: I cannot wait for Jay Electronica's debut album...
Reader Comments (1)
Agreed on Jamie XX's ability to alternate tempos etc, he was amazing. Also, think the reason for it closing one hour early was the clocks going back at 1am!