'Avin It At Fabric - London Day 3

Yesterday I went to Fabric, possibly the largest club in London. It was somewhat of a pilgrimage with residents Hype and the rest of the Tru Playaz Crew dominating the main room while LTJ Bukem took the second room for three hours. Hopefully you'll see from the bit of video I shot that the place was absolutely insane when I showed up at 10:30. People were hand clapping and going totally bonkers right from the beginning. The atmosphere was more like a rock concert without the crowdedness. A psuedo-mosh pit erupted at one point, but without all the slam dancing, just jumping around like manic apes. It was unreal, and I thought I would get addicted.

After being offered pills twice in the first fifteen minutes, and watching the alcohol flow from behind the bar, I got the sneaking suspicion that the night might turn sour. No matter, the place was spacious and well ventilated with free water (unlike the US, restaurants do not drop water off at your table when you sit down) and I was finally there, so it was time to party.

I raged downstairs, I went upstairs and raged from the balcony... wherever you went, no matter how far from the dance floor, people were dancing if they could hear the music. It was fantastic... amazing lights and unbelievable sound, crisp and clear, great acoustics... but then it started to plug up.

I bought advance tickets due to the potential sell out crowd, but I don't think they ever stopped letting people in the door. I've been to countless concerts, raves, and festivals of all sizes... from half a dozen people to fifty thousand in a football stadium, and I've never been to a place this crowded. I think it was the drugs that allowed most of the attendees to forget about the crowd and just bump around, but for a 'dance music' event, it was completely unbearable. By the time LTJ Bukem came on in the second room for his three hour set, I couldn't even make it into the room he was playing in. The crowd had simply stopped moving forward. Being nearly trampled in a fifty thousand person stadium field concert felt almost agorophobic compared to being squashed in a room of unknown size with god knows how many drugged-up sweaty young brits, unable to see your hand in front of your face because of the fog machine. If there were exactly half as many people there, it would have been ideal, as it was for the first couple hours, but after that it was totally unstable.

That night allowed me to formulate something I've noticed about the right of way of people and car traffic while being here: the moving object (the delivered of force) has the right of way to the stationary object (the receiver of force) in almost every situation. It's hard to get used to, but there are none of those awkward moments where you dodge left, the other person dodges in the same direction, and you go back and forth trying to avoid each other. You simply move forward, and if you happen to bump or slam into one another, so be it. I want to attribute this to the congestion of the city, but when raving in New York City earlier this year, there was plenty of room, and everyone gave the others plenty of space. The amount of allowed personal space here is much less than anywhere else I've been, and it can get claustrophobic.

The crowd was definitely energetic, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first couple hours. I felt right at home, and there was an almost even male/female ratio. The ladies were going apes**t right next to the fellas, except they were looking much more posh in the usual London style (finally the guys were in t-shirts). All the folks knew how to dance to this noisy, ruff-as-hell style of drum and bass, and most of them knew the intricacies in the basslines enough to dance to them instead of the drum side, which is remarkable and much more flexible.

As I noted, the club was comfortable with plenty of seating and good airflow... very, very rare from my experiences with a crowd that size. The bouncers, like most Londoners, don't really look you in the eyes, even if you ask a direct question. I left at two in the morn', just before Hype came on. I've seen him many times, and the main room was just packed enough for me to dance and jump around with my back on one of the side walls, which I did for the final half hour. The last DJ, Commix, spun a more uplifting style (fah th' ladies, as they say), which is more to my liking as it isn't just drums and a dark noisy bassline, but is padded with pianos, vocals, and other real instruments.

At the moment I'm in an Internet Cafe outside Paddington Station, waiting for my train to whisk me off to Castle Cary, where I'll catch a shuttle to Westfest! I'm exhausted, didn't sleep well last night due to the nature of hostels, jet-lag, and the pressure of checking out bright and early at 10 am. I'm not sure how many red bulls I'll drink tonight, but I know I'll be raging hard in seven rooms of music featuring DJs that just plain never ever come to the states, spinning a style that you can only hear occasionally in Seattle a few times a year. Some of these guys I've been following for almost ten years, some a bit longer. I'll be on emotion overload, and will feel secure knowing I've got a private room in a hostel in Bath tomorrow. Check in is at 12pm, and I'll probably sleep all day. From there, I may spend another day in Bath, may go on to Manchester, not really sure. The party flyers I picked up in London over the past few days may draw me back for another few days of partying at smaller venues, but at this point I'm out to figure out how well I can be a hosteller... jumping from point to point with little to no plans. I've shipped home some stuff I bought and some stuff I didn't need, so I've got a smaller pack on my back than ever, and I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Feeling a bit old compared to the other travelers, but younger now that I'll feel next year, so now is the time.

My train leaves in fifteen minutes, farewell for now... not sure if I should sleep or enjoy the view from the train... oh well, cheers!