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The Queen of Clubs Ebay bid winner’s party reviewed
Reported by Steve Milton
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Submitted 08-11-06 03:13
Bit of an odd one this. To allow you to understand what’s going on I’ll furnish you with the details that lead to this odd little adventure taking place. Hopefully all will become clear. So where do we start? About five weeks ago . . .
Kym Newman, the brains behind Queen of Clubs artist management rang me with an idea she’d had and wondered what my thoughts were. The idea was to put together a package of djs to play for a night at the venue of the winner’s choosing that anyone could bid for on Ebay. Provided all the technical requirements were met they would have the honour of the world’s number 1 hard dance DJ Proteus play for them on Saturday 20 October, along with support from Australia’s master of filth Grady G and some other bloke, well . . . me to be precise. It was certainly an original idea, but before I committed to anything I put out a few feelers to see what sort of a response I got. The results were mixed, however after further discussion with both Kym and Proteus, we decided to go ahead and the Ebay sale went live.
All the relevant clubbing websites ran news articles to aid in our advertising and soon enough the bids started to tentatively roll in. With the cost of a plane ticket from Finland and transport to the venue to be taken into consideration a reserve price had to be set, but it wasn’t long before this was surpassed with a definite increase in attention from potential bidders. Soon enough the bidding ended with the winner getting the package for a very reasonable £360. Now the work had to start in earnest with discussion between Kym and the winners taking place before the scheduled date of the event. A venue was found with others chipping in with both sound and lighting. Thunderbirds were definitely go!
Our destination was to be Portsmouth. So after driving to Oxfordshire to meet up with Kym and Grady G along with Adam (Lab4) sporting his newly grown facial hair we were heading south with our supplies of Stella and Cider (pikey booze) on board, ready for whatever the evening may throw at us. Well, I say ready but some were feeling the pace at this early stage in the proceedings. Grady was soon snoozing as we hit the monotony of the dual carriageway. Having only flown in from Australia hours earlier the jet lag was kicking in, so a quick nap was his order of the day and you could hardly blame the chap . . . hardcore or what! While we were winging our way south, official Queen of Clubs helpers Ali and Lewi were at Heathrow airport awaiting the arrival of Proteus. Some delays meant we’d have to get things going in his absence but hopefully all would be well.
We endured a relatively painless journey and were soon escorted to the bid winners house for some pre-party drinks. We were introduced to Suzie (the bid winner) and the first of many drinks shoved into our hands. More people arrived and the anticipation grew with a fair amount of excitement amongst those who'd received an invite to this secret event. We were told there would be roughly 50 attending, although I suspect by the end of proceedings word had got out and I’d estimate maybe double that were present, along with a dishevelled looking reporter from Mixmag and a TV crew.
The venue itself was an empty flat that looked like it had been designed for exactly this purpose. With a lighting rig and big sound system already installed in one room and seating and backdrops for a chill out in another, it really was ideal and had that underground squat party feel to proceedings. The only down side was the heat. Keeping noise levels within reason meant no windows could be opened and boy were we going to pay for that later.
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The music was already pretty hard with a combination of hardstyle and hard house being banged out by the local DJs already. I was slightly concerned about what I was going to play. My usual style of driving trance and hard trance wasn’t going to cut it warming up for Grady and Proteus, so out went all those tracks in favour of something much more aggressive. We made ourselves at home and got on with some more drinking. The hosts were pleasant and accommodating, which was a huge relief to all concerned considering what we could have ended up with, and the atmosphere and people in general all seemed up for a good time.
I was due to go on at 12:30 am followed by Grady G and then the big finish from Proteus, who incidentally had just made his entrance to everyone’s delight. It wasn’t long before he was rummaging in his record box and producing a bottle, which he offered my way . . . “Steve, Steve, drink this, it’s good for you!” he explained complete with a naughty schoolboy type grin. Knocking it back he laughed, “Finnish black vodka, very good!” and he is a man of his word, it was very good.
Finally after chomping at the bit my time came to play. After some quick cable changes for a new mixer and adding two CDJs to the set-up I was ready to rock. Some small technical difficulties seemed to want to put a spanner in the works but these were quickly dealt with and I got into my stride. I have to say it’s one of the most enjoyable sets I’ve ever played. Everything seemed to come off as I cut and chopped my way through a mixture new and old and the crowd certainly seemed to approve. They were responsive and dancing like loons. Even Proteus was giving it Larry Large at the back. I had to admit to getting a bit self indulgent towards the end of my set, playing Jon Doe’s ‘D6’, Ian M’s ‘Crazy Pills’ and then finishing the Jon Doe remix of K90’s ‘Red Snapper’, which absolutely went off. I was a happy puppy as I handed the reins over to Grady.
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I’d never heard any of Grady’s productions before but was assured he was top stuff and not for the faint hearted. Well yes, understatement of the decade. Here’s a guy who makes Karim look like Tweety Pie. This was seriously nasty stuff . . . in a good way of course. I was so glad I’d upped the anti early on as he raised the stakes still further with some absolutely blistering tunes of the highest quality. The heat in the room meant I was in desperate need of a sit down and some refreshment so I took my chance and left the now jumping crowd in Grady’s capable hands. Well, so far all was going swimmingly and of course the best was yet to come.
Soon enough I was back on duty with my camera grabbing a few shots and talking to those lucky enough to have received an invite. Everyone was having an absolute ball and it was now that Proteus showed us how it was really done.
Now I’ve seen Harri play several times before, but I’m consistently amazed at the effort and energy he puts into his show. I say . show. because it’s so much more than a DJ set. He manages to combine theatre and music in complete harmony and yet maintain the same technical abilities that most DJs can only dream of. This is what impressed me most.
He’s always been able to deliver the goods, but now somehow he does it with less effort. It’s deliberate in a fluid way that creates a whole greater than the sum of its parts — smooth spins-back, chopping cutting and some great scratching all interlaced with his usual manic stage antics.
One lady reveller, over excited by the proceedings, got more than she bargained for when he hoisted her over his should and still faultlessly dropped in the next tune. Crazy stuff. This went on for over two hours until finally the sound system blew its top and called time. Harri slumped to the floor totally exhausted with those present overwhelmed by the show.
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All that was left to do now was gather ourselves together, thank those involved for making a great night happen and start the long journey back to deepest Oxfordshire. It really had come off in a manner we hadn’t expected. Everyone was deliriously happy so it was a job well done and with this in our minds thoughts turned to more possibilities that may lie ahead. The final words come from Harri and Kym, so I’ll leave you with their final thoughts.
“One of the greatest nights ever! I remember when me and Kym from Queen Of Clubs came up with the idea of an Ebay auction gig about the start of this year and first we thought that it was great and funny idea. But when we thought about it more it felt more and more better and serious idea and we thought that it would be good opportunity to people who are not promoters to have a chance to book me, Grady G or Steve for a private gig.
Well then we started to look for good timing for the auction gig and it needed to be during a weekend when I have also playing a professional gig in the UK and Saturday 20th October was the perfect date for that. I have to admit I was little bit nervous about the whole thing when the date came closer and closer but then, when we saw who was the winner we were really happy and we knew that it will be great night because Suzie who won the auction is good friend of us! Also I have lot of friends in Portsmouth so I knew t would be an amazing time!
The night was one of the nicest and greatest nights ever and the atmosphere at the place and between people was like everybody belong to the big family! I want to thank all the great people who made it possible: first of all to lovely Suzie and her husband Brian, Kym and Adam Lab4, Steve from HarderFaster and his lovely wife Gnome, Grady G who was my “brother in arms” on the night, Ali and Lewi, Ian, Mike and Caz and all the great people from Portsmouth! I love you all!”
Harri XXXXXXXXX
“This night turned out to be so much better than we could ever have anticipated. It rocked! A fantastic crowd of people and rocking tunes through a really good system. We were on a high for about a week afterwards, just because we had such a good night! Thanks also to Matt Handy and The Great White who tirelessly helped their local punters find a suitable venue and equipment for the task at hand. We would definitely do this again — and we don’t give a rat’s about what any critics may have to say about it — we had so much fun that we would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Kym (Queen of Clubs)
See you on the dance floor.
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Other Features By Steve Milton:
The Final Zoo
The Death of Clubland?
Trousers, Caps and Trance Anthems - It's Dave Pearce!
Boom Box, Bulldog Breaks and V1 - It's Time to Reload with DJ-X(lab4)
Clubbers Guide to Photography: Part Two
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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![[HarderFaster] - Work Hard, Play Harder!](/images/mainbanner_top1-xmas.gif)
but it was smokey and my hair was up and you had just finished your set - which went right off might I add 
!!!! I was so excited when you played D6. 
