Friday 21 August 2009

"Are you... Portugese?" Calvin Harris Album Launch Party

After he announced it on Twitter at 3:26pm, it seemed like most of East London might be ready to celebrate the launch of 'Ready for the Weekend' five-and-a-half hours later. Because of the impromptu nature of the gig, the East Village Club venue, packed by 8:30, initially seemed a little overwhelmed, but the vibe was good and via some shameless loitering we squeezed like the world's best informed toothpaste through the door to the basement club.

Deadmau5 was phenomenal. A huge set of thumpingly modern electro-house, then a really down-tempo moment, causing a few people around us to suggest that this meant it was 'time for Calvin', before a brief 'Knights of Cydonia' singalong and an unbelievably teasing mix of 'I Remember' (well, teasing to anyone over familiar with the colossal drop on the Caspa remix). There were a few in the crowd wearing Deadmau5 t-shirts, clearly drawn by the rodent-monikered Torontan rather than Mr Harris, pouring out enough reverence to encourage a lap of honour from the DJ in a massive red Deadmau5 head during Calvin's set. Well done Deadmau5.

At this stage, apparently, JLS were there. Too busy 'cutting some rug' to notice. Does this mean we were 'too cool for JLS'? If we had arrived in the public consciousness via some kind of blogging reality show there would, no doubt, be headlines like 'Life in Flashback in JLS Snub - Aston Speaks Out' on the front of Heat next week.

Calvin stepped up to the standard set by Deadmau5, dropping a series of crowd-pleasers including 'You're Not Alone' (his one, not the Olive one from the 90s. Although 'You're not Alone '96' vs. 'You're Not Alone '09' has clear mashup potential. GET 2MANYDJ'S ON THE PHONE PLEASE.), both 'Bonkers' and 'Dance Wiv Me', plus the inspired choice of 'The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)'.

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