Wheelchairs, weddings and boy bands don't usually roll together in unison but for Together (with new partners Defected)'s opening night at Amnesia which is based on contrasting luscious house and relentless bass, this standout observation makes sense somewhat.
Rocking up at three AM to witness a destroyed, face-planted casualty waiting to be peeled off the pavement into a wheelchair, venturing through the main room to see newlyweds getting on it to dubstep in the main room, and then settling in the terrace to see Louis Tomlinson of One Direction in the upper balcony of the terrace is some combo. An eccentric collection fleshed out with a bold crowd of a style savvy, Brit dominated demographic who ranged in age thanks to the eclectic diversity of the line-up.
The fierce beginning of the Tuesday night rave which boasts a diverse line-up for the season ahead, kicked off with two jam packed rooms commanding energised revelers with its split personality formula. Noir and Simon Dunmore, the pillar of Defected in the House, interweaved back-to-back in a rhythmic session which included tracks including Breach's lyrically body breaching track, Jack, and Shakedown's At Night (Kid Crème Funksta Remix) – no doubt favourites of any Defected in the House aficionado. Fluid and graceful might be two words to describe the bumper steps of the Defected in the House pack, but within five steps through the adjoining archway to the main room held a captivated army of an entirely different dancing breed.
Now dubstep, drum and bass, and breakbeat aren't my usual vocations into the realm of dance music, but the energy was infectious. I caught the the last ravenous half hour of Chase & Status which crammed in classics Blind Faith, Count On Me and Alive. With barely a minute's pause, Andy C, a pioneering force in the drum and bass genre, had the crowd up in arms amplifying the pace with his full throttled, tinnitus inducing heavy brand of bass. Knee-cap jerks and lurchin' chest rocks were the modus operandi. It was refreshing to see a good 95 per cent fully chucking themselves at it, on it, under it, over it…wherever. There was no prudishness for release. The self-awareness that can all too often characterise certain genres doesn't have a place here. If however, you fell within the five per cent, Wikihow has crafted up a dubstep dance crashers course manual which promises to have you “hitting those dimestops with the best of 'em” and it could be your bible; on first glance, I reckon you're best off cracking on with the two potato.
MK, the man born Marc Kinchen, whose pioneering house releases were revitalised nearly twenty years on took centre stage back in the terrace with a barrage of lyrically laced house tunage until the final 6am slot, filled by a second back-to-back with Sonny Fodera and Sam Divine.
In a nod to how polar opposites can readily collide, GotSome who were the main room's final act of the opening laid out Breach's Jack, first visited by Noir. The Bristol based production duo was unfortunately hit with a technical fault as Robin S's much remixed house anthem, Show Me Love was on its crowd leveling hinge. But the pair is generously littered throughout Together's line-up for the rest of the season for revelers to get a full Gotsome sesh.
It was a smasher on both sides of the wall, with a drag queen-esque molten black wig littering the archway separating the two adult playgrounds. Wheelchairs, weddings, wigs might then be a more apt title. Fortunately the night didn't culminate in a mashing of all three - or should I say unfortunately. It's a subjective one.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence PHOTOGRAPHY | Luke Dyson
