Music / Clubs
Review: Rodigan’s Ramjam, Motion
January isn’t renowned as a party month. Everyone’s spent their money on Christmas, New Years, travelling to be with family. I got into a taxi at 11pm expecting to arrive at an empty club, but how wrong I was. Motion was sold out.
The main room was packed, raving out to the selections of Fireman Sam who warmed up the crowd with a range of genres. Grime, dancehall, bashment and UK hip-hop had the crowd moving in unison from the get-go.
Post Fireman and pre Rodigan I thought there would be ample time for a natural break so I went for a wander and was met with the most devastating toilets queue I’ve ever seen at Motion. It was so bad that three bouncers had been put on crowd control (this is just for the ladies). I made a swift u-turn into the Cave where Conducta was shelling out some serious garage.
is needed now More than ever
Little Man drew me to the dancefloor and I was lost to nostalgia. As someone who has spent many a night at Motion, I know how hard The Cave can be to fill: it’s generally seen as a walk-through or slightly quicker bar but this wasn’t the case tonight. Conducta read the crowd to perfection, switching up garage with grime and dropping a couple of old school hip-hop tunes in there for high demand wheel-ups. It took a lot of persuasion to move me from that dance floor.
When Rodigan bounced onto to the stage I couldn’t see the floor for people. It is a true testament to the DJ that he could engage a whole raving crowd with reggae. Everyone was there to see this veteran do what he does best and he didn’t disappoint. Reggae, dancehall: feelgood music flew out seamlessly and the audience was one of the happiest I’ve seen.
The feel-good atmosphere ran straight through to Stormzy who catapulted the energy in a way only grime can. The main room got to one-in-one-out status as the balcony filled to bursting point and sweat started raining from the ceiling. Stormzy delivered – his energy was infectious and reciprocated to moshpit levels.
Truth be told, The Blast teamed with Rodigan’s Ramjam had Motion busier than I’ve seen it in a while. If you were there, you know what I’m saying. If you weren’t – you missed out.