The first thing you notice while walking down the hill to Dolan’s Warehouse is the flat, impact and thud from the sound system, scores of feet from the entrance, giving you a hint of what you can expect to find within for the duration of the night. First entering the venue, the sheer scale of the event immediately grabs your attention. In keeping with its impeccable standards, the Macronite crew has opted to present Mulero’s sounds with a rig befitting such a high profile booking and has invested in an extra special PA; the stage buttressed by two ten-thousand watt Void stacks, delivering more volts to its patrons that most inmates of Death Row can expect to find at the shocking climax of their existence.
Revellers are slowly trickling into the venue and getting a flavour for the evening; this reviewer is surprised by the young age of this audience. Indeed, the fact that there are so many unfamiliar faces attests to Macronite’s growing popularity. With expectations for the gig being so high, along with the interest being generated online, I found myself being introduced to people whom I know from various Facebook-based groups who have travelled from far and wide to be here; the night allowing for the creation of new networks between individuals in a manner that is truly original to any gig I have been to previously.
By now Macronite residents Niki and Ruan seem perfectly at home on stage, snuggled between the formidable PA. In no way intimidated by the ferocious energy of the rig, Niki lays down some superb choons like a boss (as they say in these parts), fresh from a gig in Zurich the night before, while Ruan’s own expertly selected choons establish the perfect mood, getting the blood flowing before the night’s main event.
And before long, the engineers are quickly disassembling the other turntables, shifting Mulero’s Xone:4D into centre stage, spreading his devices across the booth. It is clear that Mulero likes being comfortable and the song he plays while arranging his hardware feels like someone is cracking their knuckles; drawn out over several minutes. Once the green light is given, Mulero gets started with a Kraftwerk-inspired number, immediately grabbing the audience’s attention. Reining things in early, he spreads the elements of his set out, taking enjoyment in spacing out his breakdowns in extended segues, only to reinforce the reintroduced kick drums with rolling delays for that extra umph. In his hands, the audience is assured some earth-rattling kicks, although Mulero delivers them patiently, getting the crowd warmed up before unsuspectingly unleashing some more bone-shakers.
The cubic capacity of the PA ensures that Mulero can power this sonic four-by-four up a steeply inclining slope while it seems that his hand is tantalisingly hovering over the throttle, raising the audience’s expectations further; Oscar is one step ahead of the audience, a trait of those DJs who fill out Expo centres on a nightly basis. Once in a while, the rig erupts, the revellers swinging into action, this game of hide and seek in the hands of a consummate professional.
Every now and then, I find myself running up to Dolan’s balcony, regarding the dance floor from a different perspective. While in this crew area, the amount of time, energy and effort that went into producing this evening becomes apparent. Here Saul the sound engineer keeps tabs on the system, Tristan operates the lights and Ali is taking care of the visuals. Everyone has their task and performs it diligently. Backstage is abuzz with lots of people covering the night in their own manner. Photographers snapping, journalists scribbling, the evening has been thrown open to those who want to make their mark on the night.
Now that the crowd is getting into the swing of things, you become aware of a slight smudge in the mix: somewhere a screw falls into some cogs and proceedings are taken into an abandoned factory. Things take on an industrial tone while Mulero really begins to experiment, the final half hour building and raising like a virgin’s expectations. The crowd anxiously awaits a drop, Mulero hangs teasingly above the stage so that by the end, and in the heated frenzy of the night, Mulero refuses to come off stage, some argument behind the scenes taking the house lights down several times; this night has no intention of ending!
When Mulero finally does finish (with LFO’s ‘Butterslut’ no less!) it quickly becomes apparent just how special a night tonight was for everyone involved: staff, talent and audience alike. Everyone put that little bit extra into the night, resulting in so much more coming out of the gig. Considering how much work went into organising the night, that’s saying something.
What makes Macronite such a successful night is the fact that in its organisers’ hands this is no half-assed affair. The attention to detail here comes from the fact that the Macronite crew is committed to providing the kind of nights that they crave, ensuring all the stops are pulled out, this care finding its way into every facet of the night. With such an ethos driving the organisers’ intentions, one gains the impression that this is but the first of many birthdays ahead for this fantastic event.
Photos: Allyn O’Neill
