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| HeatUK |
Date:
Friday 25th April 2003
Address: Evolution, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff
Bay
Occurrence: One-Off
Hours: 9pm – 6am
Ticket Price: £12
advance / £15 on the door
Dress Code: None
Genre: Hard hard house!
Capacity: 2000
Pictures: Click
Here |
Main
Room: Eddie Halliwell, Marc French, Lee Haslam,
Paul Maddox, Rob Tissera, Big Al
2nd Room: Andy Farley,
Paul Glazby, Karim, Ilogik, Spencer Freeland, Mr
Charalambou |
Expectations were high.
Outside promoters trying to put on a night in Cardiff
have a hell of a lot to contend with. As any local
clubber will tell you, the Cardiff market isn’t
an easy one to crack. Politics are rife. Corners
are fiercely defended, and any number of crafty
underhand tactics will be used to ensure newcomers
or competitors are knocked out at the first hurdle.
So far, only the big brands; the Creams, Gatecrashers
and Godskitchens of this world have managed to burst
the bubble at all, and for obvious reasons. But,
having pulled off hugely popular and successful
parties at Turnmills in London, offering a purist
and hard house line-up to rival all others, and
coming to Cardiff on a night where no other sizeable
parties were planned, surely Heat had what it took
to get temperatures soaring?
Beforehand, there was speculation as to whether
the line up was too good to be true. Line-ups this
big had only ever been brought to Wales by the big
brand clubs and one time too many, there have been
no-shows resulting in disappointed punters. Heat
and it’s sizzling reputation isn’t that
well know in Wales and unfortunately, some of the
more narrow-minded clubbing fraternity saw no reason
why it should be. Promotion was also slack and,
although many had heard of the rumour of Heat coming
to town, specifics such as the date, line-up and
venue were not made as clear as they could have
been.
But on the night, dedicated hard house fans were
thrilled with the climate, jumping straight in to
soak up as much Heat as was humanly possible. Some
clubbers, playing safe, wore a nice hat to protect
them from the rays (and lasers) but soon found they
didn’t need it and bravely embraced the Heat!
Others (though small in number), found the Heat
a little too much to bare and left without even
taking off their coats. Which was a shame, because
of those that stayed, most found they acclimatised
quickly and enjoyed the night immensely.
Opinion was divided as to the choice of venue for
Heat in Cardiff. Evolution is commonly renowned
as a ‘cheesy, beer boy club’ and some
believe that the shape and décor of the two
arenas (something like small symmetrical cinema
domes) lack atmosphere. But for an event such as
Heat, it was the obvious choice, being the largest
capacity club in town and easily accessible from
the motorway. Evolution also provides plenty of
carpeted sitting space, large queue-free toilets
and a burger bar, all welcome conveniences to the
needy clubber. And on this night, Pen and Lolly
Clubwear had also set up shop, in case you fancied
a change of outfit. Most importantly though, the
dance areas are huge and, surrounded with mirrored
walls and shiny wooden panelled flooring, I felt
akin to John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Only
without the hair. Or the moves! Or it being a Saturday
night. Ah well! The fever was definitely there though!
So, although Heat wasn’t as packed as it could
have been (bearing in mind this was a darn big venue
to fill), it was a pretty hot attempt at a clubbing
alternative for Cardiff. Whether they’ll be
back is a hotter question all together. Since the
event, they’ve been up against a lot of fire
from other local promoters, claiming that the event
was a huge flop, seemingly in an attempt to keep
them off ‘their’ territory. But like
any other enthusiastic clubbers, I believe the guys
from Heat are just trying to share what they do
and what they love. And by this measure, the event
was a sure success. |
Venue: 6
Music: 8
Crowd: 9
Sound System: 7
Total: 30 / 40
Rating: Silver Award |
| Review written by:
Pammy T |
pammy_t@uk-cl.co.uk |
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