As some of you may already know, I've been living in the UK for the past month. I attended my first party this weekend and what a party it was! Bedrock 11th Birthday with Danny Howells, John Digweed, Guy J, and 2 other Bedrock-signed mofos... for 20$CAD.

The party was at matter in the O2 Arena (about 20 minutes from downtown London on the tube). The O2 is a Bell Center/Palais hybrid on steroids - it has bars, restaurants, clubs, expositions halls, movie theater, and well ... an arena.

matter (capacity of 2600) has 2 rooms, 2 mezzanines for the main room and a caged bridge that connects the ends of the 2nd mezzanine. The rectangular wooden dance floor is pretty close to the booth that sits on an elevated platform. The ground floor is shaped like an amphitheater with curved cemented rows on each side, facing the DJ. There are 3 bars THAT ARE OPEN ALL NIGHT at the back of each floor.

Bottle of water - 4$CAD (no one seemed to fill up in the washrooms)
Bottle of beer (Stella/Beck's) - 6.5$CAD
Glass of vodka+Redbull - 11$CAD

The sound was very respectable, even on the 2nd and 3rd floors; the dance floor was literally shaking during some songs. No match for Stereo though.

Decorations and lighting were OK at best - couple of screens, lights, that's about it.

The crowd was older; no meatheads (matter's official policy - you cannot be shirtless - sorry zeKsg!), very few pilled out junkies, a lot of slags. People were generally nice, but towards the end you could see some guys wobbling around.

Lots of staff running around, collecting bottles and glasses. Bouncers were pretty nice, no problems getting in.

Howells opened the night at 10pm and went on until 1am. Started a bit hard for my liking, but then moved to his classic smooth funky deep house. Except for maybe 2-3 songs, I was in the zone during his whole set. Digweed followed and played until the end (7am). Although he threw some monster tunes, I found he played with no real flow. Maybe it was just me, since people on the main floor were going bonkers. I stayed on the main floor for Howells, but then promptly moved to the 1st mezzanine since it got really really packed (the club was almost sold out). I didn't bother with the 2nd room.

Overall, I'd say this was a solid 8/10 mostly because of Howells... he's a fucking legend.

I'm eagerly waiting for Papa Sven and other super cool Germans to play there on NYE.

Next weekend: Luciano vs. Loco Dice @ Q Club, Birmingham.

Cheers!