Bugged Out: one of the UK's best parties, held a Halloween special at London venue Matter, housed within the vast O2 arena.
Bugged Out has been around for what feels like forever, constantly evolving and held dear to the hearts of most clubbers from the past 15 years in some capacity, as a result of their commitment to bringing innovative sounds and consistently good music to the clubbing world.
Rewind 15 years to the tail end of those heady acid house days: the legendary Cream had started to get into full swing and the era of the Super Club was just around the corner.
In then-underground techno den Sankeys Soap, Bugged Out was just beginning its journey. Relatively new artists like The Chemical Brothers and Justin Robertson were gracing the decks month by month, and as the music policy expanded, drum and bass, breaks and trip hop artists were also billed which quickly gave Bugged Out the reputation of being one of the most musically diverse nights in town.
Rewind 15 years to the tail end of those heady acid house days: the legendary Cream had started to get into full swing and the era of the Super Club was just around the corner.
In then-underground techno den Sankeys Soap, Bugged Out was just beginning its journey. Relatively new artists like The Chemical Brothers and Justin Robertson were gracing the decks month by month, and as the music policy expanded, drum and bass, breaks and trip hop artists were also billed which quickly gave Bugged Out the reputation of being one of the most musically diverse nights in town.
After the sudden closure of Sankeys in 1998, it then moved to Nation in Liverpool, home of Cream. It enjoyed a healthy 5 year stretch here before moving out of Nation and becoming more of an international brand, holding parties at venues and festivals all over Europe.
The days of stomping to Dave Clarke whilst he thrashed out techno in the Courtyard were now gone, and the sight of 1000 arms in the air in the Main Room, as the opening strings to Armand Van Helden’s “You Don’t Know Me” looped over and over, was just a fuzzy memory. However, onwards and upwards was the key for the folks at Bugged Out. It is common knowledge that things need to evolve or else they become stagnant, and evolve Bugged Out did.
The event at London club Matter for the evening of Halloween was very different to the North West parties of old however the music policy still remained of high calibre, with various acts picked from Tiga’s own label; ‘Turbo’ as well as some of Bugged Out's personal favourites. The guys from Sunday night session at Sub Club : Optimo kept it surprisingly housey, which despite their 'anything goes' policy that rocks the sweaty Glasgow basement week by week, was perfect to see in midnight and entice the punters onto the dance floor.
Following them was live act Mike Snow, whose mixture of acoustic sounds and electronica were the perfect way to catch a breath before Electro-giant Tiga took to the decks. He managed to bring the energy levels back up through the roof once again, and his distinctive style of glitch-y tech-house pleased the dancing revellers in various states of Halloween fancy dress, or undress as the case may be.
Attention was later on averted to the stage, where Glasgow based producer Andy Graham, otherwise known as Sei A performed a live set. His album “Editing Shadows” was released earlier this year to critical acclaim and his live performance did not disappoint. His knack of combining rolling tech-y beats with his own soulful vocals created sounds that would make the hairs on your neck prickle, whilst locking the audience into a groove that was near impossible not to dance to.
"Matter At The O2; Everything You Could Possibly Want From A Club"(?)
To say that a lot of money has been pumped into Matter is stating the obvious somewhat. However the impressive stage and not one but several DJ booths that were kitted out with the kind of equipment geeky tech-enthusiasts’ wet dreams are made of, need to be mentioned.
Large steps gave several levels to dance on in the main room and provided optimum viewing positions of any live acts that were to take to the stage. There was also an extensive chill out area on the second level that provided a balcony to overlook the dance floor for those who fancied a break. On paper, it sounds like the perfect venue, as if a clubbers worldwide poll had taken place to see what people really wanted from their club.
The décor of Matter was fairly industrial, with contrast in the plush VIP area and chill out section. However if the industrial feel was to make the club seem more ‘gritty and underground, it was the equivalent of your mother putting on The Lighthouse Family in order to be ‘down with the kids’. It just didn’t really work. The over zealous bar staff/security guards patrolling the venue with flashlights took away from the atmosphere on several occasions, and after paying £2.50 for a bottle of water, customers were informed by stony faced bar staff that if they wanted their bottle re-filling the only option was to siphon hot water from the taps in the toilets.
It seems that Matter are taking away safe
clubbing options through money
grabbing loopholes, something that is not
uncommon, but a sad state of affairs
all the same.
Despite some gripes surrounding the venue, Bugged Out still managed to maintain their reputation for holding kick-ass parties. Their calendar for the remainder of 2009 is booming; with parties planned in Shoreditch, Manchester, Milan and Barcelona amongst others. Artists billed like Friendly Fires live, Modeselektor and Boys Noize are proving that they are consistently committed to diversity and fresh sounds.
On this particular evening the unbelievable sound system and excellent lineup kept the punters dancing until the early hours, which simply proved that as always at Bugged Out: “It’s Just a Big Disco”.
For more information please go to http://www.buggedout.net/
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