Summer Lovin', had me a blast

Last night was the Summer Ball of the University I work at and I was lucky enough to be on the VIP list plus guest, in this case Jonny. I had spent the actual friday daytime helping with preparations such as putting up fencing and generally sweating away on a very hot day (34C), and wasn't actually in the mood for partying from 8pm till 4am but I made it and had a cracking time. The acts headlining were Electric Six, Kosheen, Thirteen Senses, N-Trance, and DJ Steve Sutherland, along Lee & Bombhead from Hollyoaks presenting inbetween acts.

We actually went to the Chicago Rock Cafe for a few cheap drinks as they were doing a pre-ball party. It was very quiet there but we did get a few champagne cocktails down us, although there wasn't really a way to drink cocktails named 'Cherry Blossom' without raising the camp factor, and if you're gonna do that then you've got to do it with style. (see picture below. Jonny and myself had already been labelled 'gay' as he came as my guest, laydees I can assure you that is not the case....well not for me...I do sometimes wonder about Jonny.)

As part of my VIP status (a perk of working there) I was allowed into the VIP area which was a kind of chill-out room......with free booze between 8pm and 10pm. We got there at 9:40pm so in that time we had 3 bottles of Bud and 3 glasses of Rose Champagne each...not bad....shock...Electric Six were starting at 10pm and it was 10:10pm! Off we ran to see what was to be a brilliant act.
The hall they were playing in was like a sauna and from the following pics you can see that Dick Valentine is a wee bit sweaty.

(notice the demon eyes)

Dick Valentine who provides the vocals for Electric Six was amazing and had a real stage presence, constantly encouraging the crowd and showing amazing energy in what he described as "the hottest gig I've ever been to". as the sweat was dripping off him. I knew how he felt, as the sweat seeped through my suit. Obviously the highlights were the singles, Gay Bar and Danger! High Voltage, and you can click here to see a video clip I took of Gay Bar.

Up next it was N-Trance, who provided tunes such as 'Set You Free' and 'Stayin Alive'. I must admit I had a 'rave moment' and was throwing shapes when the played 'Set You Free', which is an absolute classic, and I was happy that the two vocalists provided some interaction as the problem with getting some DJs and MCs is that they sometimes just whack a CD on and go through the motions.
I've actually just visited their website (http://www.n-trance.co.uk/k) and they've got a trivia section with a few facts, the best being that: When on 'Desert Island Discs', Tony Blair picked N-trance's version of 'Stayin' Alive' as one of his choices.

The Fun didn't stop there, and up next were Kosheen, a late replacement for Akon, who had pulled out of the gig with one weeks notice (resulting in posters around Uni stating 'What A-Kon'). I'd rather see Kosheen who's album 'Resist' I actually own. They were brilliant with Decoder and Substance doing their magic on the decks and synths, and vocalist Sian Evans bellowing out the lyrics.

Now I hate to admit it but I really like Hollyoaks, and find some of the charactors hilarious, the best two being Lee and Bombhead, so when I found out they were gonna be presenting I was quite excited. Sadly they seemed to be missing and we hadn't seen or heard about them all night then at 1am, by now I was a sweaty, adrenaline-pumped, drunkard, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Lee Hunter (Alex Carter). I thrust the camera into Jonny's hands and went and asked if I could get my photo with him ( how could he refuse when confronted with a large shaven-headed man? Notice the unbuttoned shirt...very cool Adem.)

This was at the same time that Thirteen Senses were on, and they r-o-c-k-e-d! I had run out of space on the camera and so only one picture of them. I've actually only heard one of their songs before('Thru The Glass') but I'm sure I'll be hearing more of them.

It was now around 2am, a time when the bars were closing, so we took it upon us to buy more alcohol, and stockpiled it in a bush to last us for the last two hours before our transport home arrived at 4am. In this time I bopped to the tunes of DJ Steve Sutherland who, along with 2 MCs, played a great set, really working the crowd.

I finally got home at gone 5am, collapsed, and sadly woke up at 9:30am.....I'm quite tired now but usually when I wake up I stay up. I think I'll have a lie in tommorrow...

All in all it was a classic night and the depth of the acts was amazing, with no rip-off, miming, ego-inflated stars to be found. Pure Quality.

*this picture is for jonny.