Concord Dawn - 2.4.2004

Fractured feat. Ali B & Concord Dawn - Friday 2nd April 2004

I was once a keen regular at Fractured when it was held at Seven, but was long overdue to check out how the night was going at Passion.
Last Friday seemed like the perfect opportunity to see what Passion had to offer. Headlining were two very big internationals; Ali B breaks- extraordinaire and Matt Harvey, producer and one half of one of New Zealand's most successful electronic exports - Concord Dawn.

Ali B, the once Fabric resident has been often dubbed the pioneer of the breaks/leftfield side and is known to leave his crowds sated after being fed a fusion of musical styles.
The headliners, along with the strong contingent of Fractured residents seemed like the perfect formula to merge drum'n'bass and breaks fans alike. My instincts were correct, I arrived to hear the last 40 minutes of Fractured resident Lynt pumping out some funky breaks and warming up the expectant crowd.

Passion has a den like atmosphere, its narrowness combined with people moving around everywhere made it seem much smaller than it actually is. The floor was filled with people who left me enthralled with their own take on the infamous 'Melbourne shuffle'. Perhaps because I have not been exposed to the drum'n'bass punters, but they combined massive feet movements with octopus-like, flailing arms that moved in all directions.

It was not long before Ali B jumped onto the decks. He got right into it with a little bit of soul, funked up breaks, house and a lot of hip hop thrown in for good measure. I was amazed at the variety of genres he fused with ease. His mixing and scratching was seamless. He played remixes of pop tracks from Missy Elliott, 50 cent, & 'Shiny Disco Balls', with the tempo things never sounded so funky. His energy level was constant and the crowd looked like they couldn't get enough. The venue, combined with the music could be described like the DJ Love track from one of his Fabric compilations -'Underground Funk.'
Ali teased the crowd by introducing the first few bars of the Blue Oyster Cult rock classic: '(Don't Fear) The Reaper' and Freestylers new Prince phunk inspired song, 'Push Up.'

Although the acoustics at Passion caused a lot of reverberation, the crowd could not have cared less. Many bopped away right next to the massive throbbing speakers.

Due to early work commitments I was forced to tear myself away from the dance floor at 3.30am. Overall, even though I only got a little taste of the night, Ali B really showed me how someone can move a crowd with such a spectrum of musical influences.

Written by Paesha
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