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A long overdue catch up with JourneyOM ahead of his next Tribal Village party this Friday 14th January 2022 at the Steelyard, London!

Party Proactive review

Reported by Latex Zebra / Submitted 09-11-05 14:07

“It was great!!” — many thanks to Bunny for the help with that review.

Right am I done now? Oh, all right then, I better substantiate that a bit. Let’s start right at the beginning.... In the beginning there was darkness and God saw the darkness and.... Hold on, I've gone back a tad far... fast forward a few billion years... here we are...

It’s Saturday 9th October, my train has been cancelled and I’m now stuck at the train station and eager to get into the cocooning environment of a club to wake myself up. I’ve already had a long weekend with virtually no sleep and I know that sleep is not scheduled for any time soon. Best to get right in the thick of things and more importantly get a few invigorating tequilas down my neck. So slightly later than expected I wander into the Fire Club....

Fire is located under one of the many arches near Vauxhall Tube station. It is a plush three-room venue, though for tonight’s party two are being used. It’s quite a dark club, giving it a very underground feeling, though it is sparkly clean and the Proactive team have clearly gone to a lot of effort in personalizing the venue for their night.

Before I get to the meat of the actual review I should commend the staff at Fire for constantly charging around, cleaning up any mess on the floor, fag butts, spilt drinks etc., and ensuring that at 5am when it finished, that it is almost as clean as when the party started. It’s a nice touch and plenty of other venues could and should learn from this.



OK, laying my cards on the table.... I was really looking forward to this party but wasn’t actually expecting to enjoy the music that much. I knew I would be surrounded by a nice friendly crowd and had told myself that this was a party I would enjoy for its atmosphere instead. Imagine my surprise then when I found myself dancing to every DJ that played, and absolutely loving it. Personally I am a bit of a trance head, I like my trance hard but hard house went off the boil for me quite some time ago.

Upon arrival Jacob Moss was warming up in true style. Zipping through a variety of tunes, none of which I knew the name of, mixing it up and skillfully blending classic hard house sounds with some techno influences, all at a BPM that was extremely agreeable for that time of night. The dance floor was growing in numbers quite quickly and I ventured off for a wander to the Fire Pit to check out what was going on in there.

Kurruption were co-hosting the room for Proactive and they’d obviously attracted a crowd as from start to finish the Fire pit was rammed. Surprisingly for me, I didn’t actually spend a great deal of time in the house room, mainly because it was so busy and also because I actually found the music a bit samey. No reflection or criticism against Kurruption or Proactive’s choice of DJs, this is more to do with the kind of house that is so popular at present. Dark and dirty grinding house, but for me, it wasn’t doing much. I find this incredibly ironic as I’ve often criticized hard house for sounding the same and here I am spending most of my night in the main room stomping to hard house...



One set I did make a point of checking out was the partnership of Alex Parsons and Steelo. Both are DJs I have a great deal of respect for and their blend of house and breaks was enough to make me squeeze my way through the crowd and shake my butt for a while.

Back in the main room Rachel Auburn was throwing down an awesome set, possibly my favourite of the night. I hadn’t heard Rachel for years and she was on wicked form dropping a load of classics among some newer stuff. It was exactly the kind of hard house I love.

By now I’m on my 10th balloon of laughing gas, my 4th tequila and god knows how many beers. Light headed and in a slightly bonkers mood, I’m chatting with people I know, people whose toes I’ve stepped on or just people that I think are in need of some of my inane ramblings. They all have one thing in common; they’re all having an excellent time.



The club by now is really busy and the dance floor is rammed and the music intense as you like as Cally Gage and Danny Gilligan join forces for a stomping combination of hard dance. Slightly more in my element musically I have a bit of stomp before heading back the to laughing gas stall where I am now on first name terms with the young lady selling it. Seriously light headed now I hear a voice over the sound system that I recognise, look up at the decks and see that The *Ting* is now on. No other DJ has the stage presence of Ting. A true party animal with the skills on the decks to match. Ferocious hard beats are thundering from the system and for a while I retreat to the safety of the chill out while I remind myself where I am, who I am and why my feet are so sore.

I head back to the bar area and watch as Ting bangs it out. The dance floor is a mass of waving arms and stomping feet and you just wonder if you can actually dance hard enough to do the tunes justice.
The final DJs of the night are up, the legendary Pete Wardman back to back with current hard house king Justin Bourne. This is the set I was I was most nervous about. I've heard Justin before, and while he is an excellent DJ skills wise, by the end of his set I thought my head was going to fall off. Given my current delicate state I was ready to retreat to the house room and finish off the night on a quieter level. Boy am I glad I didn’t. It was nothing like I’d expected. Together they put together an amazing set of classics and current favourites. The only one I actually remember the name of was Wippenburg — ‘Neurodancer’ and that was when Bunny helped me with the above review as we both bounced around like wallabies on acid. Soon after the music stopped and the baying crowd roared their approval of the endeavours of every DJ. I just stood back, applauded both the DJs and the team behind Proactive for delivering such an amazing night. This was only their 4th party and they sold out and rammed the Fire Club. By bringing together a good cross section of DJs, all on top of their game, they ensured a swinging time was had by all. The crowd also needs to be applauded for being such a happy and vocal bunch.

So there you go a trance DJ goes to a hard house party and has one of the best nights out he’s had for ages. For that Paul, Jo, Ting, Jacob, and the whole Party Proactive crew deserve all the praise I can give, and to you the reader I recommend you put Party Proactive’s next event on the 3rd December in your diary now. You don’t want to miss this party.

Thanks to Daf for his photos.
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Other Features By Latex Zebra:
From Little Acorns to Mighty Oaks - How Chilled in a Field has grown
Bar 414 unveils a new dimension with Base Mosquito
Brandon Block gets Funky 414 London!
Dissecting Scot Project
The HarderFather speaks! Meet him yourself at the HF vs The Residents Xmas Party
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.
Comments:

From: Becka on 9th Nov 2005 14:30.24
Nice review, PP rocks!

From: Jacob on 9th Nov 2005 14:34.15
Thanks for the fantastic review Dan... With December's party just around the corner, anticipation is certainly high!

From: raving_pixie on 9th Nov 2005 14:42.23
Excellent review. I much prefer to read a story of the reviewers night than a list of who played what and when, so well avoided. Wink I look forward to the next one. Thumbs up

From: Lizzie Curious on 9th Nov 2005 15:04.31
Good review, can't wait to experience it for myself!

From: Dickon Laws on 9th Nov 2005 16:07.15
Bring on Dec! Cant wait for sme B Nasty action!

From: steelo kuchiki on 9th Nov 2005 16:49.00
9th Nov 2005 16:49

no boobs

From: TEK-DJ Management on 9th Nov 2005 17:02.47
Proactive is deffo the way forward, fantastic!!!

From: Holly-Anna on 10th Nov 2005 20:19.38
Gutted I missed it, sounds wicked, will def try to make the next one

From: paul jack on 11th Nov 2005 00:40.58
yep indeed was an amazing night!

Perparations are in full swing for the next one and the veneu is going to look amazing!

From: bunny on 11th Nov 2005 09:06.58
Hehehe, glad that I could be of help Dan!Big grin

It was indeed a bloody fantastic night + I can't wait for December 3rd - Booowaii!!!!! Cool

From: Zoelee on 11th Nov 2005 09:36.54
Hmmmm.... Some parts good others not quite right... I pride myself in progressing Kurruption rooms very well...due to the fact that I have to spend the whole night in them!Wink I feel it was not samey I'm afraid Dan.We progressed from a funky house DJ onto an uplifting Electro/breaks house DJ,to 2 breaks sets and then an electro DJ to suit the new crowd coming in at that time.
Kurruption DJs don't actually play Dark and Dirty Grinding House all night long! We usually progress from house to Breaks to Electro unless asked to do otherwise. Understand your not having a dig...but just to explain! ... Roll on the next one on the 3rd December Wink

From: *Ting* on 11th Nov 2005 11:06.33
Great review Dan, glad I tingled your fancy. fernarrr. Wink

From: Daf on 11th Nov 2005 12:06.32
More photos : http://www.proactive-records.co.uk/Gallery.asp

From: *cheeky chick* on 12th Nov 2005 16:29.47
nice interview Dan.
an event worth checking out Thumbs up

From: K8-e on 12th Nov 2005 23:25.15
Well written review dan Claps Hands

From: Steve Gillen on 14th Nov 2005 19:47.37
great review. Well done to all involved. might have to come and check the next one out Wink

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