Well just recovering from yet another fantastic weekend in the Best city in the world Leeds, So I hear you giggle and mock, but I have to say if you missed it you missed out big time, here's why? I Rang Paul a while ago after the Renaissance gig at the VOX and told him this was on at the Warehouse, I remember all these nights from Back in the Day and as I have stated in Previous posts I am not into big retro nights as I feel that they are hard to recreate, it was a time and a space way back when in Mirfield, or as I remembered Camden Palace (London) and Glasgow I have travelled to Hardtimes, on the point of back in the good old days I do remember Leeds when Armand Van Helden's Witchdocktor [possessed mix] was on the platter - I was a little worse for ware - I looked to the dance floor MIXMAG had huge cameras with t'aud VHS cassettes in lol spinning and circling round the dance floor, I looked right folks were choking and bouncers were rushing over to the fire exit..
At a point in the record a fog horn goes off, I look at all the chaos, then look at everyone enjoying themselves on the dance floor, fire doors fling open I am grabbed and ushered outside, Apparently some buffoon put a CS gas tablet in an ash tray left a ciggie on it and left. folks were getting gassed lol. Well soon back inside and we carried on till the early morning.... needless to say first chance Steve luigi's record shop opened in the corn exchange I was in - looking somewhat spangled, I said I am after a toon ....something about a witch and a doctor.. £6 quid later it was in my bag and I was heading home... very special that track is for me, truly Awesome night, another time when HardTimes went to Glasgow I would witness a mad Glaswegian pull off Barbara Tuckers Wig... but that is a blog on its own...lol
a couple of months before the gig at Leeds I decided to do a little tribute session to get me in the mood, the memories of 1994/5 for me were awesome at Hardtimes.. below is the Mix for you to checkout :-)
So after a few radio shows and the hype of Hardtimes gathering momentum I eventually persuaded Paul to get some tickets, Young Hollie from Pickering who is an excellent clubbing partner also wanted some of this action, so I have two people going who are not that convinced right... Speaking also to Mark and his missus Linda and meeting up with many clubbers on FB and a fellow DJ Tyrone McLaughlin who has already played there arrives with with Nicole, Tamsin and her friends, through FB we decided to meet up at Distrikt - Euan Mitchell & Malcom we love Lewis's Den... We had Joked about a Flag as its the Queen's Jubilee and lo and behold Mark and Linda turn up with this bag containing the biggest flag ever... it was/is fantastic - I am now the proud owner of this legendary artifact.....
Malcom We Love Lewis @ Distrikt is in action right here alongside Euan Mitchell :-)
It was lovely to catch up with these guys finally, I have seen all their hard work that goes into their productions, we had a couple of drinks here, reason I was smiling so much was that I had 2 pints of Duvel...9% proper strong beer, I loved the atmosphere it was pumping, great music & upfront pressure :-)
So here is the Handy work of Linda & Mark Fantastic mates from Guisley in Leeds, absolutely fantastic people and as a couple, really looked after us, proper clubbing community people, this is how it should be... :-)
Me and Young Hollie having a magic moment, without her dazzling good looks and speed at technology I would not have got in cheers for sorting out my ticket sweetheart :-)
Here we are, Army Pal's and have stayed intouch ever since, Clubbing, Mixing, Technology & Fine music is the Glue that keeps us Dancing into the future, still got lots to do my lad! Love ya man! :-)
So we all piled down to the Warehouse it was a lovely evening quite warm summer evening! chatting to each other about the days of the Warehouse and who we had seen there etc..Gets to the queue we have a ticket issue, easily rectified in the end as the door staff were more brains than brawn tbh and we were pleasantly surprised at how swift they handled the situation and sorted it out, everywhere was clean including the toilets, a nice friendly atmosphere and a great crowd a mixture of young and old.
we soon got our dancing spot at the podium in the back corner over looking the decks and the dance floor, had a walk around and saw some old old faces, smiling bright and everyone was well up for this.. Have to say hats off to the Warehouse on this one, no trouble, even the big Muscle Monsta in the Pink T-shirt was in the zone and had a boogie with us!
So Jason Shaw is on the Decks and I started gathering footage with my Canon compact which captured some fantastic stuff, the majoriy of the footage can be found on You-tube here:
with this in mind and now being 40 year aud my ears are not what they used to be but I will say that the sound system in the Warehouse is second to none absolutely stunning sound, I would really love to play on it its on my list of things to do before I die (play at Warehouse) Check....lol anyway here is a little picture of it cos I am such a geek....
By this time I am being weaved into a dream by the Hardtimes DJ's what a fantastic night, just once again have to say a big thankyou to all the DJ's and the Boss Steve Raine for keeping this dream alive, We have Little Louie Vega next in the August Bank Holiday 26th 2012 and I can't wait.... Right I think that's about it but only to leave you with my favourite clip of the Gig at the Warehouse, which is simply staggering:-)
I hope you enjoy it, I sent it over to DJ's in the States such as John Julius Knight and Sheldon Prince, also got a lovely Reply from Morales saying how fantastic it was, and as I said it was such a fantastic Moment I sent the clip to A scottish Auntie of mine who lives in the US Ar Julie McKnight - Finally you getz it...hahahahaha onwards and upwards people, see you on the 26th at the front..... lets make this even better.... LEEDS I LOVE YOU.....XXX
So this is it for Hardtimes till August 26th for 19th Year Anniversary - I feel both a mix and a flag comming on strong, See you lot at the front, as an update I could not resist it and have mixed up a Hard Times Session for you all to Enjoy please feel free to Listen and share, see you on the August Bank-Holiday 26th :-)
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