Music / Review
Review: Hospitality on the Harbour, Lloyd’s Amphitheatre – ‘A great partnering of a legendary label and beautiful backdrop’
Following on from Friday night’s successful Groove Armada gig, Sequences brought us round two in the way of Drum and Bass’s global event brand, Hospitality. Many dance music heads are familiar with the name even if they aren’t into the genre, such is the weight and history of the label, Hospital Records.
The label has developed so much that you can hear a very broad spectrum of drum and bass on the label and at the nights, from vocal liquid to jungle rollers, from hi energy smashers to spacey steppers, they’ve got it well covered.
The sold-out event took place on Bristol’s harbourside, an exceptional location for a rave and it can’t be understated that this was an iconic backdrop for their biggest Bristol event yet.
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On the main stage American new blood Winslow kicked things off with his signature lo-fi soul vibes and was followed by veteran producer Nu-Tone with his take on soulful and energetic melodies, warming up the crowd nicely.
New-skool Junglists Aries, Kelvin 373 and Selecta J-man provided us with back-to-back and a change in direction hitting us with modern dub wise and jungle beats, mixing up the flavours. Particular tracks that raised the crowd were a Delirium Silence (Jayfor Remix) and an absolute infectious crowd pleaser from Gray’s Rubadub.
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Up next on the stage was Hospital Records veteran producer High Contrast, if anyone could be responsible for major mainstream crossover appeal then this man is guilty as charged, a real genius and highly creative with an incredibly impressive back catalogue of anthems. We were treated to an exclusive set featuring 20 years of his tracks and remixes, accompanied by Dynamite MC.
Highlights of his set were a VIP remix of his own Make it Tonight, remixes of the huge house anthems such as Robin S’s Show me Love and Eric Prydz’s Pjanoo amongst some of his own original classics including The Basement Track, If We All, Racing Green and new track, with Bou, Don’t Need You. It seemed like this set well and truly got us all feeling like this was a special occasion.
Time to switch things up and over to the second stage hosted by Bristol label and promoter, Born on Road, where I caught Gray featuring MC Jakes and Stay C featuring Traffic MC, a perfect opportunity for them to showcase exclusive dubs and favourites from the label to a new crowd.
The atmosphere over here was equally as energetic as the main stage and people were enjoying the characteristic dub wise rollers, wobbly basslines and chopped up breaks.
Back over on the main stage I caught the end of Grafix hitting the crowd hard with high energy two step synth bangers to bring the pace up a level, flexing out tracks such as Wilkinson’s XTC, Sub Focus and Dimension, Desire and Grafix’ own recent release, Blast Out. Bass was melting all over the crowd and appetites for more dancefloor hitters has been raised.
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On the Born on Road stage, drum and bass originator and V Recordings boss Bryan G played a smashing set accompanied by MC Jakes, showing his experience, dubs for days and ability to read a crowd.
Nothing but pure fire with roller after roller showcasing the best of modern jungle, dutty bassline rollers and classics such as DJ Krome & Mr Time’s Ganjaman, Dillinja’s Acid Track and Roni Size & Reprazent’s Trust Me. Bryan’s set was really appreciated by a gathering crowd eager to get in on the tear-out action.
The final phase of the night on the main stage was brought in by Hospital Record’s Lens, Texas and Emz who hit us with lots of dancefloor favourites and exclusives from the label.
As the sun went down The Kings of The Rollers & Inja played the penultimate set, a bit of rain not deterring the crowd from enjoying themselves.
They are a perfect example of how the Hospital roster has broadened in sound over the years, proving that dub, classic breaks, punctuated by modern production values, grizzly distorted stabs and bassline manipulations, works a treat.
The iconic St Mary Redcliffe church usually reverberates to the sound of choral choirs but tonight bass was taking over and rattling the interior of those hallowed halls. Starting with Paul T & Edward Oberon’s Somewhere Else, we were hit with filthy basslines and dutty breaks from Bou & Trigga Veteran, Voltage and Shy FX, Adam F Circles Pola & Bryson Remix. MC Inja said that “the world needs love” this trio certainly provided unity in the crowd.
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Last set of the night on the main stage was headliner Hybrid Minds & MC Tempza, known for their signature liquid- vocal anthems, they didn’t fail to disappoint. Mixing up from a soulful vocal and then into something harder kept the crowd on their toes for the end of the night.
Starting with mainstream crossover remix of Jome’s Cinnamon set the vibe gently for their own collab with Alexa Harley for Solitude before switching it up for the gnarly and unusual Sientelo by Mefjus, Camo & Krooked.
Other highlights were Flyaway by Urbandawn and Wilkinson’s Afterglow. The biggest crowd reactions came from their own massive vocal anthem Better Now, and the peak moment was definitely Higher Love which got everyone singing out loudly. They finished the set with a recent release called Dance Forever which showed their venture into different tempos and a taste of the future.
This was a huge success, a perfect partnering of a legendary label and beautiful backdrop in arguably the prime city for drum and bass. The only slight issues for the night were the toilet queues and relatively small range of food offerings but these were overcome by an otherwise great event.
Hospitality, Bristol welcomes you back for the next round.
Main photo: Rich Green
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