Erick Morillo at LUSH! was a night not to be missed. After some very last minute phone calls and arrangements, we were making the now legendary drive from my hometown of Ballymena to Portrush.
We arrived at the club at around 10pm to find no queue whats so ever. After getting searched and paying our way in, we were met by the site of an almost capacity club and rammed dancefloor. Hold on...........its only 10pm! After a quick walk round to meet up with all my friends, we took up our place at the side of the dancefloor. It all begins now...........
Warming up the crowd at this point was LUSH! resident, and local hero, Col Hamilton. Although his choice of tunes were doing the business, I have to say Col was a bit rocky. A few lost mixes, and he seemed to be struggling. This didnt seem to detour the crowd in the slightest, the already frenzied atmosphere kept things in full flow. We decided to take a seat upstairs in the VIP bar, grab a drink, and take in the madness going on downstairs. Just as we had got the drinks in, Gordy Kyle took to the decks. Gordy isnt a DJ I had seen much of, so was looking foward to hearing what he had to offer. I wasnt disappointed, he took the crowd even further with some awesome vocal led funky house. After what seemed a pretty short stint on the decks, Gordy was replaced by Col Hamilton again. Col redeemed himself from his earlier set, and played some tougher stripped down house that went down really well. By this stage the club was heaving and we were back downstairs and dancing away, awaiting the arrival of the New Jersey legend. Col was building and building on the atmosphere, but then the music was cut and the sound of LUSH! promoter Alan Simpson speaking over the mic was all we could hear. "LUSH! we have some bad news, and some good news" The whole club feared the worst, no Erick Morillo tonight. "The bad news is Erick Morillo has missed the last flight from England, but the good news is we've hired a private jet to fly him here and he touched down in Belfast 15mins ago!!!! " Now I dont know if there was any truth in that statement at all, but who cares. It took the crowd over the edge, and the atmosphere was now doubled. Gordy Kyle took to the decks yet again, and I have to say he rocked it!! He managed to play a set full of stormers, but without stealing the thunder from Erick when he arrived. Full marks to Gordy, I've made a note to come and see you again real soon. Personally his set peaked when he dropped "Linus loves the terrace".
The music was then filtered down. "Two words for you...............ERICK MORILLO!!!!!" The king of all things Subliminal was given one of the best welcome reactions I have ever witnessed in any club, ever. He had arrived, and it is was plain to see he was taken aback by the response from the crowd. A saxaphone intro washed through the club, the build up was spine tingling and when the beat finally kicked in, LUSH! errupted!! What followed was nothing short of phenomenal, alot tougher than I had expected but all the better for it. His set as a whole was like nothing I have ever heard, new and upfront stormers next to reworked, beefed up anthems. I kept saying to myself "This tune is lethal" but then the one that followed was even better. Quick mixes, acapellas, effects, this man was hard at work but loving every minute. Another thing that I noticed was the fact that he was one of the most animated DJs I have come across. He enjoyed every tune as much, if not more, than the packed dancefloor. The whole club had lost itself, myself included. I dont think I have ever danced so hard in my life! Ericks set flew by in a flash, a quick look at the watch, 10 minutes to go. The music was cut, and i guessed that the usual encore would follow. I was wrong, Erick came on the mic to thank the crowd, he said he would play two more tunes. "The first tune I'm going to play isnt a house record, but its one of my favourite records of all time" No-one in the club was prepared for what was to follow. Lenny Kravitts "Are you gonna go my way" bellowed from the speakers. Every person in the club looked at each other for a split second, then the whole club exploded. Its impossible for me to explain what the crowd reaction was like exactly, but I will say that its something that will stay with me forever. There wasnt a single person that night that didnt understand why this tune absolutely rocked it. The next record was "French Kiss" and was supposed to be the last. Three tunes later and the LUSH! crowd are still going for it, as is Erick Morillo. But like everything it had to end at some point, but when it did Erick Morillo was given another roaring ovation. You could see that he had taken something from his experience at LUSH!, he thanked the crowd once again, and made a promise that he would be back "So soon" Just what we wanted to hear!!
To finish I'd just like to say a few things:
To Erick Morillo, what do they put in the water over here? I dont know mate but I think you had been drinking some too!
To LUSH! and everyone who was there, thank you for one of the best nights of my life.
And finally, people always go on about how good things were years ago and how things have changed. Well I wasnt around to experience "the good old days" but have to say that surely it couldnt have been much better than this.
LiamStyles
