Coloursfest 2004 - Review

Braehead Arena Glasgow Scotland 5th June 2004

Having begun in the summer of 2001, Coloursfest has now established itself as a firm fixture in the UK clubbing calendar. This years’ event has smashed all previous records and was probably the best gig Colours have ever been involved in to date.
Clubbers in the thousands gathered at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena & Waterfront for one of the best days out of the year so far.

With the sun shining (almost) and over 60 DJ’s and live acts spread across five arenas (both indoor and outdoors), there’s always something going on and if all else fails a spot of crowd watching never gets tiresome at an event like Coloursfest! Once everybody had gotten over the shock of making it past the sniffer dogs safely, it was on with the partying. Glasgow, being Glasgow, the numpties were out in full force! Did I say numpties? What I meant was your typical Scottish clubbing crowd - up for it and having it large ; )

This years event included Colours meets Gatecrasher, Hed Kandi and Back To The Future arena’s (all indoors), whilst Beat 106 and Glasgow’s finest Soma Sessions (Soma Records/Slamevents) were both located outdoors.

The Soma crew pulled out all stops to ensure things ran smoothly in their quarters. Due to Detroit legend Kevin Saunderson's no-show Slam were drafted in at the last minute and after Percy X had warmed up nicely, Slam fitted into Green Velvet's early slot in the rejigged line-up. It might have been early in the evening but Stuart and Orde had the Soma tent jumping with an excellent set containing classics like Smith & Selway's 'Giant' and Oxia's 'Hypnotik' along with newer tunes like Tiga's massive 'Pleasure From The Bass' and an excellent new bootleg of Laurent Garnier's classic 'Crispy Bacon'.

Orde Meikle also played a few tracks from Slam's forthcoming album, and very tasty they sounded indeed. His closed with another new tune, ‘Known Pleasures’, a string laden Detroit techno track that sounds like the spiritual heir to that other Slam classic, ‘Virtuoso’.

One Detroit legend that did make the effort to appear was Stacey Pullen and his set was one of the highlights of the day. Never one to play just one style of music in a set, Pullen worked his way through everything from Subliminal house to hard percussive techno, covering all bases in between. At one point he mixed Jeff Mill's techno classic 'The Bell's’ into a Paul Woolford tune but it worked extremely well. His set was just about faultless and he closed it off nicely with a couple of his own classic compositions. A hard act to follow.

Envoy was up next, showcasing tracks from his up and coming long player ‘Shoulder To Shoulder’, he played an interesting set backed by a full live band which didn’t seem to go down too well with the gradually dwindling crowd, making their way for the exit! I think the festival setting would have been better suited to a DJ set but to be fair, Pullen would have been a hard act for anyone to follow.

Green Velvet's later slot allowed the man christened Curtis Jones to play a bit more of a peak-time set than perhaps he would have in his planned slot, and for that we should be thankful. His trademark techno-funk went down a storm and even though it was a dj-set, the man couldn't help himself by taking the mike for his classic tracks 'La La Land' and 'Flash' (one of the highlights of the day for me.) He closed his excellent set with his recent Cajmere release 'Come' and that 'Crispy Bacon' bootleg (again), an outstanding performance.

Tom Middleton met with the decks next and knocked the pace down a peg or two with his fine set of chilled out house grooves, opening with a rather superb live version of ‘Take Me With You’ got things off to a fine start. Before long, time was up and it seemed as though his set just passed many folks by – probably down to the fact his times were cut back to just an hour in order to accommodate the re-shuffling.

It was back to the Soma posse to close the evening with three of their finest outfits. Ewan Pearson was first up and consequently stole the show playing the set of the evening. Crammed with funky, chunky techno goodness and acidic undertones, his set oozed sophistication and energy. Dropping in Jeff Bennett’s ‘Future Spell’ and Steve Bug ‘Future Retro 101’ made for memorable moments. Since Ewan has been living in Berlin he admits to being heavily influenced by the likes of Michael Mayer, this was definitely apparent in his set. Nice work!

French funkster and life and soul of the party, Hassen Gounard aka Master H also delivered a fine set. A far cry from the chilled but funky house music he usually pulls out the bag, his Coloursfest set was far deeper, dirtier and tougher than of late. Big H is without a doubt one of the most enthusiastic and energetic DJ’s out there and it should come as no surprise that he’s a firm favourite with the Scottish crowds (particularly amongst the ladies!) Dropping Slam’s new single ‘3b4 Zero’ went down well with the sweating masses before stepping up a gear into really smooth soulful house. Delicious in every sense of the word!

Headliners Graeme Reedie and Craig Morrison AKA Silicone Soul should need no introduction. These guys have been making waves internationally and on home ground alike for years now. Local legends in their own right, they have held various residencies over the years, including the likes of Relief and the recent Darkroom Dub Sessions (coincidentally also the name of their new label) as well as at La Terrazza, in sunny Barcelona. The dependable duo are amongst the brighter gems in Soma’s crown and are constantly moving onwards and upwards.

Never letting the side down, Graeme and Craig played a set bursting at the seams with deliciously deep and twisted house grooves, Darkroom Dubs stylee to an appreciative crowd whom were simply lapping it up.
A truly sublime way to end, what can only be described as the highlight of the year so far – lets just hope Soma get involved again next time Coloursfest comes round.    4 Stars!

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