NEWS
EVENTS
OFF Sónar 2015: Barcelona, we will be back
House | Wednesday 22nd July 2015 | Christina
For a week towards the end of June, Barcelona becomes the centre of the universe as a whole host of Sónar parties take over the city. We decided that we should experience it for ourselves.
We eased into Barcelona and the coming week of madness with a relatively tame first night; a few hours in Macarena. The club, on a residential street a stone’s throw from Las Ramblas, is perhaps the smallest club we’ve ever been in, it’s literally one room with the bar behind the decks. Size isn’t everything though because it has one monster soundsystem. It may have been the size of my front room but the music was on point, and we learned a key lesson for the rest of the week – never underestimate the power of a good system.
French techno label Form Music’s showcase on the Tuesday night was our first proper OFF Week stop although it felt like the madness had yet to kick into gear. Held in Bloc, another one-room situation with another good soundsystem, there was enough of a crowd for it to feel lively but nowhere near the levels of later in the week. Julian Jeweil was on duty as we arrived, deftly working the crowd with his techno show but the vibe fell a little flat when Popof took to the decks. He should have been the main attraction, but he couldn’t quite match the tension and release of his predecessor. We called it a day at 4am, the earliest night we would see until we left Spanish shores.
Things really got going on Wednesday; there were a lot more people in the city and a lot more parties on offer. We hit the FACT Music Pool Series for the start of their five-day programme. As we arrived well after dark the pool was unfortunately closed for business, but it was still obviously an impressive venue, and anything open air always gets a thumbs up. Sound can be a bit tricky with something open air, but props to the FACT crew because it fantastic. Ellum Audio was in charge of the opening party and they did not disappoint. Danny Daze brought crazy energy; some of the crowd would have been there all day, although you would never know it. The main man Maceo Plex stepped up for the final slot and completely smashed it – we didn’t get to catch him at ADE due to an afterparty mix up, so this was a long time coming for us. The man is a master mixer and knows exactly how to work a crowd.
It was another hugely popular party for us the following night, the Moda Black vs Avotre showcase. With a line-up including the likes of Ben Pearce, Russ Yallop, Richy Ahmed, Darius Syrossian, Sidney Charles and Santé, it’s not hard to see why the queue was snaking down the street from the doors of Warehouse BCN. The set-up was simple, Moda Black on the bottom floor and Avotre up top. It was more melodic house vibe, and crucially cooler temperature-wise, from the Moda Black boys, and though it was next level hot upstairs, it was impossible not to move to the sounds of Santé and Sidney Charles – they are Guestlist faves and beloved by many others, and it’s not hard to see why. There was no way we were ready to end the night when the party ended, so we followed it up with a trip to the beach to watch the sun rise. A pretty big way to see off a pretty big night.
By Friday Sónar proper was in full swing and there was a mad buzz to the city. We went slightly west of centre to Poble Espanyol, an old fortification, craft village and nightclub. The open air La Terrazza played host to Miss Kittin & Friends, and first up was Hot Creations man Miguel Campbell. He’s probably the perfect party starter as he delivered the sunshine-y house vibes that have made the label famous. The legendary Kerri Chandler followed him with a perfectly pitched set – classic, soulful house with a few disco nuggets like Chic’s ‘Lost In Music’ thrown in. Basically he played exactly what you would want to hear on a hot summer night.
Closing out the party was the lady herself, Miss Kittin. She had previously said that she wanted to do something a bit different to her usual for Barcelona, and boy did it go down well. She mixed vocal house with techier cuts and all round massive tunes, like Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’ and Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. Not only did she spin but she sang live at the same time, looping vocals on the fly and virtually mixing a track; it was incredible. There’s nothing like watching the sun slowly come up as you’re dancing away, and when she dropped the Todd Terry remix of ‘Missing’, the crowd went nuts even though it was 6.30am. Nobody wanted the party to end and she ended up running over time but nobody cared, we were witness to something very special.
There was no let up by the weekend, and on Saturday we hit Razzmatazz, a BCN institution. All the small clubs we had been in before were royally put to shame; Razzmatazz is fucking massive. It’s so massive that five completely different nights can be held simultaneously in the one building. Downstairs in the main room was Yousef Presents Circus with Nic Fanciulli commanding the crowd. Up in the loft it was Bugged Out with Julio Bashmore on deck, and he was immense. We’d wanted to see him spin for a while now, and he more than lived up to the hype. J. Philip followed him and kept the room moving till way past closing, people were still going even with the lights on. There were even DJ decks set up in the downstairs bathroom, something we’ve never seen before, and it kinda worked, you could catch a little hip-hop whilst freshening up. It should also be noted that Razzmatazz was properly air-conditioned – we’ve made a point of saying never underestimate a good soundsystem, but seriously, never underestimate the power of good ventilation.
The final OFF party was big one: secretsundaze 10 Years in Barcelona. People had been hyping it since we arrived, so it’s fair to say we were excited. The all day and night affair was held at Poble Espanyol, and this time we got to see the other side of the venue. The day portion of the party was completely outdoors in what can only be described as a small forest – loads of lights in the trees and pulsating techno from the legendary Derrick May, it was pretty epic. His set kicked off at 9.30pm, normally too early for that kind of thing but he took us effortlessly into sundown and beyond. James Priestly had the final outdoor slot, moving into a deeper and more minimal vibe, ready for the late night.
Once the day portion ended at 1am, everyone migrated across to La Terrazza for the night party. Jeremy Underground was first up and pushed things back into high gear. He’s a very interesting DJ to watch because he fully gets into his set, mad energy up in the booth, which is how it should always be really because if you’re the DJ and you don’t like your own vibe then you’re doing something wrong. After his set however, there definitely was a dip in energy – maybe the week had finally caught up with us but certainly around the 4am mark it wasn’t feeling particularly exciting, with a lot of people lounging outside the club.
Giles Smith didn’t have the best of closing sets. He had energy for sure but there were a few obvious technical glitches and mixing issues, and towards the end of the set, he somehow knocked an entire side of the sound out, promptly putting an end to our evening. We’d expected such a strong finish to the party but never quite reached the heights of the outdoor portion, which was mega.
And that was OFF Week done. But we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to leave without one more blowout, and luckily for us on our last night it was Sant Joan, the Catalan summer solstice celebration, which basically means partying all night on the beach. Perfect.
Unbelievably we only experienced a small selection of what was on offer for OFF Week, so there’s only one thing for it; Barcelona, we will be back.
