It was the night that shook the concrete foundations of bassline in Ibiza. Together, the lovechild of drum and bass masterminds Chase and Status, rocked Amnesia one final time with a fierce line-up including Waif & Strays, Justin Martin, B.Traits, Sigma, Netsky, Eats Everything and DJ royalty Fatboy Slim. Considering the bass-fuelled extravaganza happened to clash with a certain Mr Carl Cox's closing festivities, the San Rafael venue was teaming to the rafters with like-minded music lovers eager to thrash it out on the dance floor, no inhibitions. Throughout the season, Together has been highly successful in constructing a firm following and last night's diverse roster allowed a treat for everyone (but also left me bamboozled as to which room I should be in and when!).
With the focus of the night solely on the deeper end of the audio spectrum, Belgium's Boris Daenen, otherwise known as Netsky, took to the booth a little after 1am, supplying his trademark fluid drum and bass euphoria. As he enthusiastically waved his hands over the decks dancing, he dropped Annie Mac's favourite Get Free (Andy C remix) by Major Lazer feat. Amber Coffman and I overheard the lad next to me whisper “I don't know how to dance to this, I feel like a dad at a disco!” Dad-moves-inducing tunes aside, Netsky finished strongly on his own belter Iron Heart, making way for the bass-master pair to take to the decks.
Weekly residents Chase and Status continued to deliver ferocious bass, firing through tracks to roars from the revellers in the Main Room and reinforcing the reason why they are at the helm of this drum and bass scene. With a back catalogue of chart topping hits from their own productions, the dynamic duo had a lot to play with. All the classics were there: Eastern Jam, Flashing Lights, Lost and Not Found, Next Hype, plus the Nero classic Innocence. But when have Chase and Status been known to rest on their laurels? With their fresher material retreating in to more dance music territory, the British twosome kept things fresh by remixing Time in to Tove Lo's smash Habits (Stay High) before springing Yeah! by Usher on to a very unsuspecting yet enthralled crowd.
Generally known as the more forgiving room between the two, the Terrace held its own with a stellar list of names on the bill and Amnesia's classic crystal-clear, custom-made sound-system. Side-stepping the night's main dubstep-infused thrust, house music's gem Eats Everything took to the turntables in the venue's Terraza. Bristolian Daniel Pearce provided his fair share of filthy beats, looking like the coolest guy ever as he flailed his arms about to the big, bouncing basslines, his consistent, high energy enthusiasm rubbed off on the crowd below him and, low and behold, he even had me committing the classic fist-pump. His solid song selection, Never Grow Old by FloorPlan, Bugatti by Tiga, and a remix of Professional Widow by Tori Amos, (just to name a few) proved his refined taste in music and showcased his ability to cultivate a song, building and building it, for the textbook amount of time before dumping the drop, leading the party-goers on an exhausting but immensely satisfying journey.
As the familiar tinkles of Praise You jingled through The Terrace, Fatboy Slim arose into sight, bowing down to Eats Everything as he handed over the decks to the dance music superstar. Fatboy Slim's distinguished track choices, unpredictable yet simultaneously familiar, created a fantastic and memorable set as he nipped between his more recent work (Eat Sleep Rave Repeat) to smooth classics (I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Marvin Gaye) then back to a crunchy slice of EDM (Bae by Laidback Luke feat Gina Turner). On paper, it looks like it shouldn't work but for Norman Cook, it completely does. His technical skills are to be considered amongst the greatest. Where he really scores is his knack for teasing the clubbers with only a small segment of a song, for example the first few bars of crowd pleaser Gecko by Oliver Heldens, then returning to it a few songs later. The ravers are already riled up and ready to sing their hearts out, add in a bit of crowd participation like Fatboy Slim encouraging us all to clap to the beat and – ta da! – the holiday makers are in the palm of his hand. Naff shirt - check! Funky dance actions and facial expressions - check! Swinging the DJ headphones around his head by the wire - absolutely check! As his set snaked on with belters like Tommy Trash's Lord of the Trance and Danny Dove's Carnevil, dance moves began to get spontaneous and I found myself marching like I was trying to get toilet roll off one of my shoes. A lad leaned over to me and said “I nearly got too carried away and started shuffling then!” but luckily I stopped him. Fatboy Slim dropped the bombshell Lrad by Knife Party and annihilated the Terrace one final time before handing the reigns back over to Eats Everything and Waif & Strays for their back to back.
Although, in my opinion, the dubstep dominance of the night was usurped by the dance music lord himself, it was a closing party that Together should be proud of and not one that I will be forgetting in a hurry.
WORDS | Francesca Evans PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
