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| The Lemon Grove |
Date: 30th
October 2002
Address: The Lemon Grove, Cornwall House,
Exeter University
Occurrence: One Off
Hours: TBC
Ticket Price: £9
Dress Code: None
Genre:
Capacity:
TBC |
| Line-Up: Timo
Mass |
The Lemon Grove: haven of misbehaviour,
r'n'b, poptatsic pap, crappy chat up lines and binge
drinking. How could that be made into a credible
dance arena? This was the challenge facing the Beatz
and Bobz promoters.
From the minute that this hack walked in, it was
obvious that the night was not going to be another
bog standard affair however. For a start there was
only one rugby shirt in the entire place and the
decorations looked great. Was this really the Lemon
Grove? The main room was lined by black drapes with
brightly coloured shapes that draped off the walls,
illuminated by UV and wide-angle light projectors.
White throws were stretched out from the centre
of the room, whilst the banners of the promoters
hung large either side of the decks. What is more
the decks were raised up on a stage, making the
DJ more of a focus that the usual booth allows.
The crowd was a pleasant mixture of Exeter's clubbing
folk, young and old; a few of the visibly alternative
students, Cavern regulars and a few of the much
welcome and obligatory crusties. It felt like a
normal club, not the Lemmy. By 9:30 the glow sticks
were out already as they grooved to the sounds of
Leon Alexander, one of Hope recordings head honchos
and Timo's mate.
Alexander played a selection of deep, throbby, tribal
breaks and house, a touch on the progressive tip,
that went down well. And as for the man himself?
Put it this way, as one quoted as saying, "Ya,
I guess I'm pretty funky for a blonde German",
he did not disappoint. Timo had a whole new sub
genre of dance music named after him ("wet
and hard") which only makes sense when you
hear him DJ. The music ranged remixes of the classic
disco track "I feel love" by Donna Summer
via some other familiar house fodder mixed with
a choice selection of acapellas as well as his own
new material too.
Last week Timo was voted number 57 in the worlds
DJ's top 100 and he obviously knows how to work
a crowd. True to form it went down a treat. Even
as he signed bits and pieces for a very excitable
crowd, as well as shaking countless sweaty mits,
he continued to mix royally and all with his inimitable
Germanic grin. What is more the other music editorial
staff, none of whom could be described as massive
dance fans, were difficult to find all night, stuck
right in the middle of the mayhem, grinning inanely.
As
drunkenness set in and notes of the evening got
sketchier and sketchier only one thing stood out
the next day from the end. In big big letters, "F***IN
JOKER!!!" underlined and circled in triplicate.
Ah yes! That German humour and his wide grin. As
he dropped a mix of "Flash Gordon" by
Queen just near the end half the crowd just looked
very confused, but the other half were doubled up
with laughter. An inspired moment indeed. |
Venue: 9
Music: 8
Crowd: 7
Sound System: 8
Total: 32/ 40
Rating: Silver Award |
Review written by: Charlie Clover charlie@uk-cl.co.uk |
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