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Long time Howells admirer, first time seeing him live.
Utterly blown away.
Holy shit.
So I managed to make the trek to Toronto. Did not get struck by a lightning or eaten by a werewolf. Phew. I did forget where Footwork was so had to txt someone for directions. lol
I was at the line around 840 and there was already a line! Saw RJ, Marg and Liam holding the fort and just chilled for a bit until the doors opened. Line up at 830. Wow.
Got inside promptly (I lol'd at getting a ticket, only so that you can pay for admission inside) and I forgot how much I missed footwork. Proceed to the bar and start doublefisting right away. 8 power juices (aka rye and cokes) later, I'm tanked (my limit is sniffing the alcohol. my friends say I get drunk off the fumes of alcohol). Good times though. People were just chilling, catching up with friends. It was nice to talk to people without loud music interfering and catch up a bit. (Nahoy is my new nickname. lol) I did see Graham speak french on the phone (while being dragged in for a group pic) C'etait tres drole 
Word of the night: DISASTERVILLE! (done with a chopping motion of hand)
10pm hits and my survival instincts kicked in and got some watered or else I would have been a dead man. My liver was protesting furiously. Still no Howells. Some people getting a little bit antsy because Howells was late, but people were still more or less chill and just enjoying the night.
Howells didn't hit the decks until 1030. Apparently some mixup at airport and his luggage (incl his records) were lost. Oh well. I hate lateness, it being one of my pet peeves but I suppose I'll forgive him... This time only. 
Howells kicked off his set with some really groovy deep prog. I forgot who but someone said he's starting off a bit too hard and this made more sense as the night wore on. Loved the stuff he was throwing down. Recognized one tune only (I think I heard it off of Jeff Mutton's promo, I think a Milton Jackson remix) but the track selection and programming was spot on.
He stayed more or less in the progressive lane at least in the early part of his set, but did started to mix in some funkier stuff, some techier stuff. Lots of nice warm fuzzy prog feel to make me feel right at home. Vibe was already off the hook and people were starting to really get into it.
3 hours later and I'm now totally sketched out by the music. As I stated before, just perfect programming and track selection up to this point. Went up close to the booth and saw the master at work. Transitions were pretty elementary, but very much serviceable. Howells was having a blast, even if bothered by mundane things, like eating half a pizza while spinning. lol. That man still managed to read the crowd like a book. Didn't have to resort to outright bangers to get the crowd moving. Controlling the vibe at right times to ensure that people were having a good time and not worn themselves out. I guess being an apprentice to Diggers for 9 yrs pays off.
I would like to take this time to reprint some of the sketchy txt I was sending to people who were missing out.
| quote: | | This is so good that it's ridiculous. Ive never been so horny off of house tunes before |
| quote: | | I suggest you kill the bride and groom and make your way down to footwork right now |
| quote: | | It's so good right now that Graham is sexy dancing |
| quote: | | it's so hard for me to stand still right now. Tunes so sexy! Ok. I'll stop before you kill yourself or something. |
You get the idea. LOL
However, Howells did started to slow down around 3:30 ish. The dude did tell a story and it was darn well crafted. But he dropped Christian Smith - Flyertalk and I was like WTF. Up to this point, it was all good, but I didn't think Flyertalk didn't fit. Was wondering what was going on, and it's like Howells ran out of ideas and started to struggle to put together the rest of the set. There were still spots where he absolutely rocked and some outstanding individual tunes (esp. one acid house tune around 4am) but 2nd half was not as good as 1st half. Still better than a lot of DJs can put together though.
For the record, more I look like I'm having a terrible time, more I'm having an awesome time. I was just mesmerized by the music. Holy shit. I had my fits of giggles, outright laughs as he'd play couple of ridiculously good tunes in the perfect slot, clutching my hair at utter disbelief, looking generally sketched out, etc. LOL. I must have looked like a total Skasian and I was sober for the most part.
Vibe = one of best I've experienced. Sure, there were few annoying people, but it never crowded to sardine level and sketch was minimal. People came for Howells and for the love of house music and everyone was having a good time. The staff was very friendly. No problem with the staff at all. Thank you Footwork, for putting together one helluva party. Worth every penny of admission.
So glad I made this trip. Definitely party of the year for me and one of my fav of my clubbing career.
Rarely do I leave a club feeling completely satisfied by the night (and with a completely empty wallet. lol) I'm still shaking my head. My mind is still blown away.
Overall: 9.5/10
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| quote: | Originally posted by chinamon
not true. i say "ugh"
but i am a tranny. |
| quote: | Originally posted by kotsy
lol colour me retarded |
Last edited by Yohan on Oct-26-2008 at 19:23
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Review: Danny Howells- Footwork
Wooot! Glad I made sure I got there....mad thanks to Xaviar for getting me in. LOL! That was awesome!
