MY NEON NOIR NIGHTS – Print series (#MNNN3)

Despacio:

This gallery in the MNNN print series is dedicated to Despacio, which I have been documenting since its inception in 2013. In my opinion and each and every one of its legions of fans I have met on its dance floor over the years, it is the greatest sound system and the greatest disco dance party in the world. It is also an extraordinary sensory experience like no other.

The jaw dropping sound being projected from the decks upon which its creators James Murphy & 2manydjs deliver their joy generating vinyl selections, which is then pumped through no less than 40 Mcintosh powerhouse amps, is accompanied by an ecstasy inducing light show channeled through one of the biggest and baddass disco balls you will ever see as its centre point of gravity. It kinda makes you feel like you are being sucked up in a tractor beam into a vortex of wonder and then propelled straight into a celestial spaceship fuelled by pure happiness which is then launched into the stratosphere of bliss and beyond…I might have got a bit carried away there but that’s how it feels..well to me at any rate.

To order a print or for any more info please email info@babycakesromero.com

(offer ends 15th Dec so there is time to get it to you b4 Xmas)

Despacio Is New York!

I always felt Despacio was born to be in New York as it is a city who’s clubbing history and heritage are somehow encapsulated in the spirit of the sound system. Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, Studio 54 and Mancuso’s Loft Party to name a few of The Big Apple’s disco royalty are all woven into the strands of the DNA  of this updated augmented version.  What they all have in common is a relentless dedication to analogue sound quality perfection and good time vibes. And what a good fit Despacio in New York (DNY) turned out to be.  It was the perfect combo I always imagined it would be. The scariest thing to me is that I almost didn’t go and only decided I had to at the last minute simply because it was just not something I could ever live with missing. Despacio in New York? Hello? Are you crazy? How could I not be there?

The event was taking place at the Knockdown Centre in Queens which is a long way out from the centre of the city, and we drove to what seemed like the outskirts of town and then further and further still into an industrial district of NY I had never seen.  The area looked liked when you’ve got totally lost in Grand Theft Auto and you have no idea where the fuck you are. The longer the journey went on the more my anticipation grew and the remote destination somehow added to the sense of occasion. It really reminded me of, driving around country lanes, back in the day, in the middle of cocking nowhere, looking for an old school rave in a field somewhere in the back of beyond.

We walked into the giant warehouse space and were lured through the venue by the ambient sounds emanating from the darkness. We turned a corner and there it was, Despacio was back in all its glory, alive again. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I gazed at it.  It was 8:01pm and therefore the first minute of the first of three 8 hour sets which would take place over the next 72 hours in disco heaven.

It was quiet for the first couple of hours and it was great to see these unsuspecting punters walk in without really knowing what they were walking into or what was ahead of them. A handful of people stood  scattered around the checkered dancefloor, bathed in blue light, waiting for something to happen. It felt more like an art installation than a disco. Slowly but surely more arrived and the lights dimmed down further and people started to sway and shuffle to the chilled out tunes, still waiting for it to start, not quite realising that it is really them who are the event. They dictate what goes down. Despacio is very reactive and transforms according to how each crowd shapes and responds to it, and once it dawns on them that they are the party, that is when Despacio starts. And just as it has done on all previous Despacio outings I look around and everyone is grooving away, grinning from ear to ear, swaying together as one, basking in the warmth of the sound, which enveloped them in a warm glow and you could actually feel the happiness all around you – it was happening again!

As I was in New York I was half expecting the sort of wild disco dancers I had seen in Saturday Night Fever, Boogie Nights and Bill Bernstein’s “Disco” photography book but looking around at the casual fairly conservatively dressed crowd I realised that I was thinking of the inhabitants of Old New York and 70s movies and those people were in fact long gone. This was New New York and an altogether different beast from the city it once was. The crowd, although maybe not as flamboyant as their predecessors, had a very cool laid back vibe which along with the downtempo tunes created a super chilled atmosphere and a perfect reflection of why Despacio is the ultimate antidote to the hectic hit you on the head approach to modern clubbing.

Despacio means ‘slow’ and James Murphy and 2manydjs builds up the pace very very gradually which allows the crowd to ease into the night at their own pace and then everyone is also in sync with each other. When it does eventually kicks off they are totally ready rather than in a normal club where you have to play catch up on arrival to banging beats.  It means it all happens naturally rather than being forced and the payoff is so much greater as a result. You all grow together along with the music and when it finally erupts you are joined as one big ball of bliss. Every sense is stimulated to levels beyond normal reach in everyday life and the sensation of this extended state  of heightened sensory overload leaves you with a permanently warm glow of  euphoria that does not dissipate throughout the night.

There was almost no lights for the first few hours and although I normally like to see the happy faces of the Despacio crowd the darkness somehow suited the laid back New New Yorkers. And then out of nowhere, angelic vocal harmonies of a track (who’s name I don’t know but goes Ahhhh, aaaah, aaaah, Aaaaaaaah – do you know the one I mean?) burst forth out of the speaker stacks and suddenly the entire floor was bathed in brightness as the giant disco ball spun beams of white light around the crowd for the first time. Everyone went suitably bananas and from that moment on Despacio was a runaway train of blissful barnstormin brilliance as every track built on the last, catapulting  us further and further into disco dancing heaven.

James Murphy and 2manydjs have a perfect understanding on how to take a crowd on a journey, they know how when to build it up and drop it down better than anyone, teasing out tunes, creating anticipation, detonating the floor, making people go apeshit, letting the tempo subside, luring them in, building it back, knocking ’em dead, and they can do this over and over again. Gears are shifted, genres exchanged, bpms raised and lowered and all shunted into an 8 hour marathon where they never let the crowd go. And it is never the same twice. Each night is totally different, the selections shifting and morphing according to the feel of the crowd and the night. There is maybe 25% of the set which makes it into each event with what have become Despacio stand out spine tingling moments like “fly like an eagle”, “plastic dreams”, “safety dance” and “another one bites the dust” to name a few but the rest is whatever they feel like playing at any given moment. No pre-programmed set like so many big name djs sadly do these days,  just the immediacy of vinyl records being selected in the now, driven by the vibe and what the previous dj played. As the Sith Lord would say, impressive, most impressive.

Everyone was now clearly over the moon they had made it and were now all deliriously happy and totally g0bsmacked by what they were experiencing. The sound quality was off the chart, so crisp and sharp yet so warm and lush it enveloped you in pure joy. This is down to the staggering output of  the Mcintosh amps which deliver powerhouse performance and are the driving force of the system  that sets it apart from the rest. I couldn’t remember a time when it ever sounded better, even from the very first night when they often need to do a bit fine tuning and tinkering to get to optimum. The crowd looked utterly bowled over by what they were experiencing. As the night goes on you smile and connect with more and more people and as you catch each other eye’s with the same blissed out expression on your face you can’t help but want to share it. I  spoke to lots of dancers on the floor as I cruised around taking photographs and they were all pretty Despacio delirious  and exclaimed they had never encountered anything like it. A lot of them said that it felt like the spirit of Old New York returning which I think is the ultimate compliment.

You could almost see the light of those parties that gave the city its reputation being rekindled and a new wave of old school vibes beginning, which in some ways is already underway in NY with events such as the Mr Sunday/Nowadays parties  put on by Eamon Harkin who was actually there on the Friday to check it out.  It really does feel there is a growing clubbing movement who are spearheading this return to hi-end analogue systems combined with chilled friendly folk. A winning combo in my book. In London it is also happening with  venues such as Spiritland & Brilliant Corners  who have made sound excellence a priority and focal point and, for me, Despacio and all these other like-minded enterprises signal the continued counter revolution against digital compression which sacrificed  quality for convenience.

I reckon I clocked up about 18 hours a night on the dancefloor each night and there was no drop off, no dip, just back to back dancing heaven. Thursday might have been my favourite just because there was more room to get around. Friday and saturday were completely sold out and as a result it was jam packed on the dancefloor which I have to say was the only downside as it was difficult to bust out your best moves with limited space and much harder to cruise around and interact. On the first night I was taking people on tours of the sweet spots as I showed them how there are certain points which are marked out by John Klett, the designer of Despacio, to show where the speakers converge revealing the different shades of sound that are created by the system. For example the sweet spot directly under the giant glitter ball is bass heavy, filling your body with deep vibrations whilst the one at the front and back have a cleaner sharper sound and highlight different layers of the track. I still can’t get over the fact that there are alternate sound experiences on the same dancefloor depending on where you are and I still can’t get over the fact that you can chat easily without shouting when you are directly in front of one of the speaker stacks, which miraculously almost seems a little quieter as you walk towards them, the air around them somehow creating a vacuum making the soundwaves glide over you in perfect harmony.

Despacio is still relatively under the radar and a lot of people have not heard about it and that also makes it something very special as you feel privileged to be there but the word is definitely spreading and for those in the know, for those who have felt its glory, they will do anything they can to be there. I spoke to a couple who had flown over from Mexico City, others I chatted with had come as far afield as Chicago and Atlanta. There were also West coasters there who had seen it at Coachella and I even ran into a few I had met there and it was like having a reunion with old friends. Even spotted Jennifer Lawrence in the crowd rockin out right next to us having an absolute ball. And then there was Gabriel who flew all the way from Peru to be there. I had met him in London through a friend and who I had raved to him relentlessly about how incredible Despacio was and I must have done a number on him because he had believed me and come all the way from Peru to check it out. Fortunately he was deliriously happy he had made it. He was there for two nights and exclaimed with a permanent grin on his face that it was the best decision he had ever made and the best musical experience he had ever had in his life. My Uncle who lives in NY came on the Saturday with his wife and they were beyond blown away by it all and he said it was the greatest thing he had been to in all of his 72 years on this planet and yes he is still out clubbing at 72, what a legend!

And then Despacio said, let there be light. And there was light. One of the show stopping moments is when, out of nowhere, the venue is suddenly awash with sunshine, pouring out of the disco ball above, as their own exclusive edit of the Beatles “Here comes the Sun” emanates from the speakers. They did this each night and its one of the most extraordinary and uplifting moments as you feel you are literally being bathed in sun rays. You actually feel the warmth although this must be a sensory illusion. They finished the last night with this mesmerising moment and as the crowd looked up to the heavens, basking in this solar sensation it truly summed up the positivity and joy of the entire weekend.

I have come to the conclusion that my favourite thing in the world is to dance to great music with a friendly crowd and amazing sound and Despacio is the best version of that experience. That is really all there is to say. I went non-stop for 3 consecutive nights and it never dropped off. It just keeps on delivering and as each night went on I spent more and more time on the dancefloor as I just didn’t want to waste a second of it elsewhere. As the last night headed ever closer to the 4am finish I was already getting DWS (despacio withdrawal symptoms) and thinking about when I would next be enraptured in this disco bubble universe. Its next outing is at Sonar’s 25th anniversary in Barcelona in June and I cannot friggin wait. When I am in Despacio everything makes sense. Music, people, existence. It is all exactly as it should be when I am rocking out on the floor, connecting with the tunes, the djs, the people around me and the overwhelming feeling of the event. I lose myself completely. I escape the confines of reality and I never want to come back…

To see the full gallery please click here: https://babycakesromero.com/photography/despacio-in-new-york-gallery/

Despacio in the Desert

Me and my camera at Coachella, my U.S festival,  my Despacio in the desert

Pictures:

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Despaciolimbo anyone?

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one devoted fan was so enraptured she made her own despacio badges and handed them out on the final day.

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Words:

I just got back from Despacio at Coachella Pt 1 . I am still reeling. Before this one there have only been 7 other Despacios – Manchester Int Festival, Hammersmith Town Hall, The Roundhouse x 2, Glastonbury, Sonar, Electric Picnic and now Coachella. It is going to be rolling out again this weekend for Part 2 of the festival and I am already gutted I am not going to be there. Out of the ones listed above I have been to them all bar one (Electric Picnic) and despite personally clocking up over a hundred hours on the Despacio dance floor (maybe more than anyone else on the planet) there is no drop off. Its impact has not diminished on me. I still cannot get enough. My love has not faded, it js still continuing to grow. I am basically now addicted to this ultimate dance experience and everything it delivers. When I am on the floor there is nowhere else I want to be. When I am somewhere else all I want to do is be back on the floor. Not only is it as good as it has ever been but it is actually getting better.

This was the first time it had come to America and for the young Californian crowd at Coachella, the largely mp3 generation who have been raised in a world of compressed music were literally jaw-dropped walking into the Despacio tent. It is impossible not to be. Despacio is there to show you how it can be, how it should be. It makes you feel that you are being hugged & caressed by the music rather than being repeatedly hit over the head. I watched their faces light up. It was clear from their reaction they had not even come close to hearing music sound this good before. And how could they? There is nothing on earth quite like it.  Most stumbled upon it by accident which made its discovery all the more incredible for those that found it.

It was tucked away in a corner of the festival with no great signage so it was often only the adventurous & the inquisitive that were rewarded. I was standing next to this guy beaming from ear to ear at the end of day 2 and he turned to me and simply said “tell no-one!” It was so good he didn’t even want to share it with the hoards on site. But as everyone started to talk about it, it quickly became known as the best kept secret of the festival. By the Sunday, I am in the queue going through security to get into the festival (which is a little on the extreme side to understate it severely) and the people behind and in front of me were talking about Despacio so I knew the word was out.

The gloriousness & uniqueness of Despacio is that you don’t really care who else is there. It is joyful to look up as you are dancing your socks off and see the same level of exhilaration in the eyes of those you are surrounded by & you intrinsically know you feel identical without even exchanging a single word but even if you were there on your own it would still be off the chart incredible. You are at one with the music being played, you get lost in the groove, in your own moves & come to the zen like realisation, everything about it is better than you have ever witnessed. The sound, the lights, the music, the crowd, the vibe, you…everything is superior by comparison to what you have already been to. This is as good as it gets.

What Despacio makes you want to do more than anything is bust some serious moves.  You are not just dancing. You are rocking out with everything you’ve got. Maybe because the sound is so much fuller, cleaner, stronger, more complete you feel it better, better than you ever have felt it before and as a result you are a better dancer than you ever have been before. You pull off moves with confidence. You bullseye the beat. You surf the rhythm. You tiptoe along the tempo. You’re John Travolta, Jacko & Gene Kelly all rolled into one. But you look up and everyone else is doing the same. And you are dancing together in circles. Strangers together busting full on moves and loving each other for it. When does that ever happen?

A lot of the people coming into it at Coachella might have only previously  known the dancing experience that is the EDM face the front in rows dj worship bullshit but Despacio shows there is another way. A better way. It shows you can dance with each other and connect completely. How can you do that when you are always staring at someone’s back? It shows you that crescendo is nothing without the build up. You are taken on a journey, an undulating wave that guides you, lifts you and then lays you gently down before scooping you up again and firing you off into the stratosphere. Despacio is the dance antidote to the techno foot shuffle. You cannot just foot tap & head nod your way through it, it has control of your limbs, it will do what it wishes with you.

I keep using ‘it’ as if it is the machine doing all this and maybe that is because you are surrounded by these 7 speaker stacks and that is all you can see. But it is the ‘they’ behind the ‘it’ that are making you feel this way. Tucked away from sight are the 3 people driving this overwhelmingly positive feeling: James Murphy (LCD) and Stephen and David Dewaele (2manydjs). They are the creators and curators of this perfect analogue experience. They dj together for over 7 hours each day and every choice they make feels like the right one. It is a seamless stream of killer tune after killer tune. Some tracks you know, songs that you love inside out but which sound better than you have ever and will ever hear them and then there is so much you haven’t heard before but which you love instantly. Epic tracks that land for the first time. It is mind-blowing how good the sets are. Although there are now tunes which are full on Despacio moments that you long for and which detonate like joy grenades (Jungle Boogie, fly like an eagle, plastic dreams to name but a few)  at least 50% is always new. Obscure moments of magnificence delivered one piece of vinyl at at time by the expert hands of the djs who you cannot see but who you feel at all times.

One of the greatest thing about Despacio and possibly the reason why it is not getting boring is that it is always different. It always somehow manages to morph into something else depending on where it is and who is inside it. The largely L.A crowd at Coachella turned it into a full on house party, the best house party in the world..ok, its not in a house, its in a tent but that was the vibe so sue me. They were also the first crowd to ever do a conga in despacio and also the first to have a limbo competition. It makes me people be silly. This is a good thing. If you wanna look cool go elsewhere. This is for anyone who don’t give a shit.

Not everyone that comes through the doors gets it. For some it is too far from familiar, too different to what they know, they don’t have a point of reference and for some that is too much. But I feel, rather than them choosing, it is Despacio who decides who goes and who stays. The machine filters out those who won’t be able to lose themselves in it and keeps the ones who will. It has its own natural selection process and keeps the ones who connect with it will give their all to it. And they stay for the duration.  And then they come back the next day. By day 3 I know a good chunk of the people on the floor and we are start to interact and become friends and dance together. We know we feel the same. We see it in each other’s eyes.

I have made friends on the floor at every Despacio. And at each new one I always run into people from previous events. A guy came up to me at one point who I met at Sonar and we hug like 0ld mates. By day 3 I am hugging people I met on day 1. We are all now together as one.

In some ways it is a little bit pointless talking about Despacio unless you have experienced it first hand. If you were there at the weekend you will know what I am talking about. You have probably been banging on about it to everyone ever since just like me. It is very easy to become a Despacio bore because you want people to know how spectacular it is but until you actually go you will never really know what we are talking about. If you are at Coachella this weekend do whatever you can to get there and drag everyone you know to it, they will definitely not be disappointed. The only downside is that it will make everything seem shit by comparison. You have been warned.

To read my review of the very first Despacio please click here 

To see film from lovebox please click here

Despacio will next be appearing at the Panorama festival in New York July 22-24 – do whatever it takes to get there…I will be.

Despacio Jungle Roundhouse

Me and my camera in the greatest party on earth, my Despacio, my happiness

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Despacio returned to The Roundhouse at the weekend for three more nights of magnificence. I have probably banged on about how amazing it is enough already on this blog but if you were there, you will not need to hear my words. For those of you who weren’t I really can’t begin to describe or do justice to the incredible atmosphere of positivity, happiness and love it generates in everyone who experiences it so I will just shut up and you can just look at the pretty pictures.

To see the full gallery please click here

#MYLDN (589)

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

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To see the full Despacio gallery please click here.

Despacio returns!!

(For those who don’t know: Despacio is a sound system created & curated by James Murphy (LCD sound system) & 2manydjs (Soulwax). It is the best in the world

On the first day it began at Lovebox I was hesitant about going in and wondered if maybe it was finally losing its magnetic hold on me but as soon as I hit the dancefloor I remembered why I had been avoiding it..once I am there I do not want to leave. Everything else can wait. Some of my happiest moments on earth have been at Despacio and that is not an exaggeration of any sorts. It is a complete and fulfilling experience which generates happiness and well-being amongst those fortunate enough to witness it. It is a Love Machine. It was built with love and it produces love. We live in dark times. The world needs Despacio. It is a beacon of hope for how humanity can be: together as one, in harmony with each other, connected by the music, bonded by emotion. Sound over the top? I’m sure, but what can I say? That’s how it makes you feel.

When you are in Despacio you dance with strangers. You form a circle. You muck about, have a dance off, embrace. When you make eye contact you do not look away, you smile, from ear to ear, you know how each other is feeling. It makes you include one another. It makes you be a good human being. It makes you appreciate the beauty of existence. You don’t want it to end. Life makes sense inside Despacio. And the music is phenomenal. The 6hour set driven by the inspired vinyl selections of 2manydjs and james murphy takes you on the most incredible journey, building and building to the ultimate crescendo. And the sound will blow you away. It is unlike anything else that exists anywhere else on the planet. And the only way you can experience this is to see it and hear it in person.

Its coming to the Roundhouse in September. Tickets went on sale this morning, if you can get one, get one. http://gigst.rs/despacio

Here is a video I shot over the weekend:

#MYGLSTO (05)

Me and my camera in someone else’s field, my festival season, my glastonbury  

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To see the full Glasto Gallery please click here

I did spend most of my Glasto at Despacio mainly for the simple reason it was “The best party at the best party in the world” ©. The council shut it down early on Saturday  due to sound levels as apparently there was “too much wattage” – the atmosphere was electric so I guess that’s what did it?!  It was absolutely gut wrenching for everyone there who were literally having the time of their lives and for the sleeping neighbours they were undoubtedly none the wiser that 800 people had their hearts broken in the flick of a switch. 

Every minute on the Despacio floor is to be cherished and with 80 precious minutes still to go and the ultimate building crescendo finale taken away from us, we all stood there in total shock as the lights went up. Faces of joy turned to faces of horror. It was as if our still beating hearts had been ripped out by the freaky voodoo guy in Indiana Jones 2. Overly dramatic? If you were there you know I am not exaggerating. What killed even more was rather than hug all my new random dance floor best friends and celebrate that we had all been at “The best party at the best party in the world” © (yes I am trying to make T.B.P.A.T.B.P.I.T.W happen)  we all just sloped off into the night knowing that everything would be a massive drop down by comparison. And it was.

Overall though Glasto 14 was a killer from start to finish. Immense fun throughout. Yes, its total carnage. Battling with mud and tents and 200,000 people (mostly off their faces) in a massive temporary town with slightly unsavoury facilities but it is oh so worth it. Glasto knocks the pathetic prissy city dweller out of you and drops your standards to zero and below and soon enough you’re covered in crap and you just don’t care. Roll on 2015!

#MYGLSTO (02)

Me and my camera in someone else’s field, my festival season, my glastonbury  despaciobcrbury-7

Despacio opened its doors (i know tents don’t really have doors but go with it) in the Silver Hayes area on Thursday at 8pm. There was already a massive queue to get in  and it was at capacity within minutes. The rest then queued from that moment on to the moment it closed. Those who made it in will  know it was  worth the wait…and some.

Despacio Is Sonar Is Happiness

The Despacio sound system came to the Sonar music festival in Barcelona. This is what happened…

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…I cannot recall a time in my life when I have been in a room with that many happy people. It is an experience none of us will ever forget.

To see the full gallery please click here

To read my review of the very first Despacio at Manchester International festival please click here

DESPACIO

Despacio is a custom built sound system devised by James Murphy (lcd soundsystem) which he, David and Stephen Dewaele (2manydjs) dj’ed from over the course of three nights in July in the New Century Hall as part of the Manchester International Festival.

What was it like?

It was fucking incredible is what it was. Off the friggin chart. Not like anything I have ever experienced before. In a world of repetition this was categorically something different. I have been to a million clubs and gigs and soundsystems before and nothing even comes close. It is a true evolution of sound. Sound guys are always banging on about perfect sound and what it would take to do it but rather than just being pub chat, someone actually went and did it. Optimum sound. In the flesh. And it was a truly beautiful thing. And it was a thing. For the first time ever I realised that sound was indeed a physical entity. It was like meeting an alien from another planet. I’m an atheist but its the closest thing I have ever had to a religious experience.

First time I walked out onto the floor, before I’d even been able to register the magnitude of what I was hearing, I saw the smiles on people’s faces. They were in awe, raptured, they just looked deliriously happy. I always had this notion that I had only ever heard bad sound but couldn’t prove it. Until now. When I heard the Despacio sound system I knew I’d been right all along.

Weirdly the first thing I noticed was the air around me, it just felt different. It felt clean. Empty. It was because the sound waves were all in sync. Everything flowed in perfect harmony. Normally in clubs you feel like you’re literally being hit by the sound, bombarded from all sides. And no matter how big or powerful the system is there is always distortion. There was none. At all. Total clarity. It was jaw­dropping. Immense power. Total clarity. It was out of this world. The nuts thing was that you could talk normally without raising your voice. It was seriously loud but at a perfect level. I still don’t know how that works. Even when you walked right up to a speaker it was still the same. I was spinning out.

I am a lower rung dj and live in a world of bad sound and to hear this optimum experience made me overwhelmed with emotion and even a little teary. It was like meeting sound for the first time. And thanks to the selections and exquisite mixing from James Murphy and 2manydjs I had the most luscious music wrapping around me like a duvet, enveloping me, making me feel warm and gooey all over. I have always been a massive fan of the glory days of disco from the likes of Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage and had read how he used to spend hours perfecting the sound before he would let anyone in and then finally he would treat the crowd to hours of seamless dance grooves. I always lamented the fact that I would never live to see something like that. But I was wrong. Here I was in that experience but it was so much better. Levan never had tech like this. He’d have killed his gran for this shit.

Despacio means slow…gradual…and as I looked around the crowd were lovin these laid back tunes. Shuffling around in a chilled back bliss. It felt right for these times. Everyone’s a little bit over the doof doof of hard hittin bpm blitzes. This was something way cooler. 2manydjs and James Murphy played spectacular music over the course of the two nights I was there. The friday was a bit more laid back with just a glorious groove throughout the night. On the Saturday, the last night of the festival, they cranked it up some more and started to push this state-­of-­the-­art system, although not to its full capabilities. This baby was capable of a whole lot more but they were restricted to a db of 100. This is possibly because heads would have imploded if it had gone full welly. Most systems are maxed out on the night, pushed to the limit. This monster was in 2nd gear and had a bigger punch than anything I had ever heard. But never even a smidgen of distortion. Total clarity all the way.

There were many people involved in the construction of the Despacio sound system and they were the sound equivalent of a Formula 1 team, working together to create the ultimate fusion of technology and performance with the best drivers in the business. And on the Saturday, having got used to their “drive”, James, David and Stephen put their foot on the floor and delivered a powerhouse set of the highest magnitude.

If you stood dead centre of the floor you felt the bass as if it had got inside you and taken over your central nervous system, filling your veins and arteries where organic tissue once was. You might have felt bass at other clubs but that would be the equivalent of an arse pinch compared to this all-consuming possession. It was insanely intense and completely overpowering. And I didn’t want to leave.

I actually found it very difficult to leave the floor. Why would I? This would be over soon and I would have to return to dull normality. I literally had to be dragged away. The only way I was enticed was by the prospect of meeting the men behind the machine.

I got taken backstage and first met John Klett, the designer that had taken James Murphy’s concepts and transformed them into the reality I had just experienced. It was very clear within moments that this wasn’t just some sound guy. He was clearly a mad brilliant scientist who had taken the idea of optimum sound to its ultimate conclusion.

He explained to me that there were different sound experiences depending on where you were standing on the floor. Go to the centre, walk four tiles and a third forward and you will hit the “front egg”. At that point certain speaker pathways converge creating something unique. I didn’t need encouraging to go back on the floor. I was there in a second. It truly felt different to what I had experienced elsewhere. My body and brain responded with sensory ecstasy.

There was also a “back egg” which I also checked out. It had less of a punch but even more clarity. John Klett then told me there were even “easter egg” sound spots that were hidden around the floor that produced something else entirely but wouldn’t tell me where they were. I mean, who does this shit? It was insane. I mentioned to him about the air feeling different around me and he said I was basically “a bag of water” and went on to explain how the molecular structure of the human anatomy had been taken into account in the design. In a normal club, they just crank it up and make your ears bleed. And now I know why. They had failed to take into account I was a bag of water. Thank God someone had…the results were awesome!

I then was introduced to the guys at Mcintosh who had supplied the stunningly beautiful, phenomenally powerful and mind­bendingly expensive amps that were the engine of the beasts. They had had the clarity and foresight to understand the potential of Despacio when most other companies had passed on it and they were all the happier for it. They had got on board the project with a giant leap of faith fuelled by a total belief in their gear, the concept and the execution. As I chatted to them they were feeling pretty smug about it as they had been proved correct. And some. To say that it exceeded everyone’s expectations was a massive understatement. They were overjoyed that their amps were getting an opportunity to unleash their true potential and deliver the power and perfection they were capable of.

The Mcintosh amps are a thing of beauty to look at as well as to hear, as are the speaker stacks themselves. The entire room was in fact a masterclass in purity and aesthetics. If Kubrick had built a niteclub it might have looked something like this. Just one massive black and white tiled floor surrounded by the Stone Henge of sound systems. And that was it. There was nothing else in the room. No bar, no bullshit. Just a dancefloor and some glorious speaker stacks.

Throughout the night you would often find people just staring at the stacks, marvelling at their structure and components. PBS Audio were the company responsible for building the actual casings for the system and had worked tirelessly over many weeks doing insane hours to get them complete in time. They were a team of young lads who had never done anything like this before but they had seriously stepped up to the challenge. I met them on the dancefloor and they were all stood their with massive grins that only come from people with a true sense of accomplishment and a marvel at what they had been a part of. Chris Walker who had been a driving force in the orchestration of the entire event glided around the floor all night, beaming from ear to ear, knowing that his work had all been worthwhile.

I don’t think there was anyone there, whether they were a part in the construction or a part of the crowd that did not feel touched by the experience. I certainly had and everyone I spoke to had. On many occasions throughout the two nights I was there I had caught the eye of those around me and just gone..what is this thing like? its out of control. Everyone just shook their head in agreement, slightly slack jawed by the enormity of what they were feeling.

The overall vibe of the place was just amazing. Such an incredible positive mood throughout each night. Mancunians are a lovely friendly bunch anyway but the joyous experience had made everyone warm and mushy. This was mostly thanks largely to the incredible array of uplifting soul soaring tunes that James murphy & 2manydjs played over the course of their 3 night run, all on vinyl. As it should be. It was old skool attitude delivered with hi­-end tech – a killer combination.

Even though they were the stars of the show they had made a point of stating that it was not about them, it was all about the music and James Murphy on each night actually made an announcement over the mic asking people to stay away from the booth and not take photos. And just to get out into the middle of the floor, enjoy the music and live in the moment. This was the declaration of the anti-­ego djs. Stop staring, start dancing.

And people did exactly that. For one night they forgot about their facebook pages and their youtube uploads and revelled in this glorious moment. They played Talking Head’s Naive Melody as the last track on the last night and as I gazed at the joy around me I couldn’t remember a moment on earth when I had felt happier.

Thank you to the Manchester International Festival for commissioning this extraordinary event and to everyone involved for giving me and all present an experience they will never forget. And I will implore anyone who is reading this…do whatever you can to get to a Despacio event. Maime and murder if you have to. It will be worth it. You have my word.

I would like to say a special thank you to karey fisher who not only organised the whole thing but is the reason I was there. I am her plus one and it gets me to the coolest things on the planet.