Rotation with DJ Trevor Rockliffe
The Score:
Rotation's "slick double story venue" (flyer advertising) actually turned out to be the Racquet Club - a fact deftly concealed by promoters guessing that this place mightn't hold the best rep amongst rave crowds, due to its clubby feel and appallingly sticky carpet.
U.K DJ Trevor Rockliffe has only visited our shores once, supporting mentor Carl Cox in the back room of the Palace in '93. But this time, Rockliffe had a jam-packed main room all to himself. He took over the DJ booth at 2am, and with his wife (I'm guessing it was his wife) looking over his shoulder, launched straight into Jeff Mill's "Alarm" that had us all yelling. His set was pretty Millsian - aggressive, Detroit-style techno with a power-packed punch - it made you want to punch the air and punch other people. The yells just didn't stop, especially when Rockliffe dropped "The Line" by Dave Clarke, and numerous other favourites that would have made any Detroit fan grin like a Kraft cheese single. With his wife there (I wonder if his 12 year old daughter was there too-) his set was definitely not family-oriented or for the faint-hearted. Rather, Rockliffe seemed to have one purpose - to give the crowd what they want, and his set was definitely the most crowd-pleasing I've witnessed this year. One bad thing though - the downstairs room, despite the brilliant quality of music purveyed by Khalil, Scott Finemore and Simon Digby, was experiencing back-room syndrome and was depressingly empty (almost). Still, it gave two girls more room to dance to "Superfly 1009" and "Twenty Years of Disco Glory" like they were in Young Talent Time. Tech-house- Nah. More like music with personality.
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