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10 Days Off 2002 - Day 7: And the beat goes on

26 juli 2002, Vooruit, Gent (B)

Tekst: Dave Roozendaal

Publicatiedatum: 27 juli 2002

10 Days Off blues is kicking in, striking our BEATS reporters in one way or another. Let's see how one of them managed on Friday night.

Day 7 started a bit late for me, coming in while Moiano were doing their thang in Room 02. Couldn't see them play though, due to that new door policy which worked out kind of . . . well, slow, I guess. We had to wait a long time for our friends, who weren't lucky enough to get the free passes that come with the job. Ghent-based live band Moiano sounded pretty good, with some nice, bossa-infested funky songs, and the girls can sing. It sounded like they had the crowd with them, too.

When our friends were in, Aim had just started pumping some serious hip-hop beats with jazzy licks. The Grand Central recording artist made it funky enough, but Room 03 was calling. Norma Jean Bell was about to start, and we tried to get up the stairs. Unfortunately, Room 03 was closed, not because there was no one playing, but because it was too full, apparently. So back to Room 02 it was, reluctant to descend into the inferno that was Room 01. Playing the good tunes, Andy Turner was getting the crowd to do some serious booty shakin', but there was something missing. Couldn't really put my finger on it until later, when we got back from Norma Jean Bell (yes, Room 03 was opened again).

While at Miss Bell's it was all about the interaction with the willing crowd, Aim never looked up from his decks to get in touch with his audience. And that kind of spoiled the set. Sure, he was playing some groovy tunes, but it wasn't a party. The flow was missing, and there was no building up, breaking off, building back up again. Then, towards the end of the set, he dropped Dee-Lite's Groove Is In The Heart, which, in my humble opinion, is something you can only get away with in 2002, when you're playing a really excellent set. Aim wasn't. In fact, the most exciting moment arrived when the bearded guy from Big Train & White Jazz wanted to start playing at five-past-three (they were due at three), and Aim wouldn't let him. "Just one more," he was saying to the guy, who got kind of upset. Mr. Turner insisted though, so he just kept playing. The tune that was on the turntable at that moment was pretty long, too, and we could see the Big Train dude getting really nervous. Then, at ten past three, it was time for Aim's grand finale: "Light My Fire" by the Doors.
Oh well.

Big Train & White Jazz are known for their 100% jazz sets, and they played exactly that yesterday in Room 02. Slowly, the crowd started to diminish, but there were still enough people there having a good time to make it all worthwhile. In the meantime, we went up to see Charles Webster deejaying. The man delivered an excellent album (Born On The 24th Of July) on Peacefrog earlier this year, which was a surprising little gem of downbeat bliss, with the occasional deep house song going on. His set focused on deep, soulful house, rather than anything else, and the crowd, all loved up by Norma Jean Bell's excellent performance, was taking it in gratefully.

Duty called however, and the long journey downwards became inevitable. Room 01 was getting ready for the appearance of the mighty King Britt. Chicago-based DJ Heather was bangin' away like there was no tomorrow, slapping the audience in the face with one pumping techno choon after the other. The girl knows how to work them decks, her mixing skills are absolutely tremendous. It was gonna be a hard time for King Britt to keep that crowd happy.

All in all we had a good time (again), even though we weren't blown away by any of the performances like we were on Day 2. But hey, you can't have it all, right? Three more nights to go — yeah baby, my hips go woo! (© Seedling).

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