Renegade Raider Reviews (RRR) offers reviews on music, artists, club nights and music venues, as well as providing updates on some of the hottest upcoming music events in the UK and Europe.
RRR is all about sharing and caring for music- there are no musical genre limits: Jazz, Swing, Pop, Electronic, R'n'B, D'n'B, Garage, Grime, Alternative Rock, Trance, Techno, Dance, House, Bass and many more.
All suggestions and recommendations for music, club nights, events and venues to visit, party and review are welcome. So please email and send in your suggestions - these will be rated and shared on the blog.
Search Raider Posts
Blog Stats
60,819 hits
Pending Reviews…
* Eminem @ Wembley
* Video Release: Aeolis Mons - Killawatt
* MOS Album Review
* Track of the Summer 2014
Contact Blog
For any queries, comments, music/event/artist suggestions for review email - renegaderaiders@hotmail.co.uk
It’s that amazing time of the year again when everyone has a party to go too and a ridiculous outfit to wear…
For the past few years Mulletover has hosted their Halloween spectacle at the Great Suffolk St Warehouse, however this year Mulletover is being hosted at Proud2, formally Matter in the 02 arena. Initially we were disappointed with the venue choice, as in our past visits the club space has not be used to its full potential; however for this event, it looks set to be a good night, and we must not forget this club has a bodysonic dancefloor and one of the best sound systems in London.
Mulletover organisers have hired C02 Cannons, pyrotechnics, lasers and an array of ghoulish decor. On top of that the Bitch N’ Stitch crew will be at the club all night who are famed at Mulletover events for their incredible face decoration skills! There will also be Halloween games throughout the night and the club has a 24 hour license, so the party should keep going throughout the early hours of the morning.
Tickets are sold out for this event.
Review of club night as always will be posted upon recovery. To note, we will be donning: Scary Fairy, Sexy Vampire, and my personal favourite – The Big Bad Wolf (with Queen mask).
The legendary Berghain club in Berlin; a decadent hedonistic playground for hard purist techno revellers; a site of excess, experimentation, unraveling, and freedom. This club remains the most terrifying yet amazing club we have and ever will visit again. Emerging out of a men only fetish club night, the crowd remains predominantly male and attracts a leather lederhosen cladden clan of Bronsonesque skin head marchers. Located in a former power plant in Friedrichshain, behind the Berlin Ostbahnhof railway station, the building is truly formidable, set within a steel and concrete interior with an 18 meter high main dance floor accommodating around 1500 people. Aside from the main room, there is the Lab.Oratory basement room- a sex club considered one of the most “hardcore” gay fetish clubs in Berlin. Hosting an eclectic array of themed fetish nights, the Lab is open Thursday to Saturday, but you are only allowed to enter between 22:00 and 24:00 – dress code anything goes (literally). It is in the same building as the Berghain set within a huge maze/dark room, however the entrance is well hidden round the side. Most magazines and websites do not tell you this, as it is technically a secret! Guests at the lab.oratory can usually jump the queue into Berghain and the bouncers will probably consider letting you in free of charge. Please be warned this is not a tourist destination, a place for the introverts or the prudish; it is considered the most hardcore fetish club in Berlin for a very good reason.
There is also the Panorama Bar located at the top of the building, playing host to some of the best House and Electro DJs. Decorated by enormous Wolfgang Tillmans photographs and tall windows with a view of East Berlin, the Panorama Bar is the space to unwind from the harder techno of the main room. Given the calibre of acts that play at the Panorama Bar every weekend, this space is usually heaving. The Panorama Bar certainly surpasses any House and Electro club I have visited, but even so we soon gave in to our cravings and headed back down the winding stairs into the vast epicness of the Berghain.
To preserve the reputation of the club, and to protect the practices inevitable in such an environment, photography is strictly forbidden; don’t even attempt it. We took a picture sitting by the bar, and we were hounded by another guest who told us in no uncertain terms to ‘delete!’ See Raider review on Berghain Privacy. There are no clocks, mirrors or reflective surfaces, and the events at the Berghain are extremely long lasting from Thursday through to Monday. The ban on mirrors and clocks is likely a clever ploy to keep revellers raving for as long as their bodies can take, blissfully unaware of time or appearance. It was certainly the most surreal clubbing experience, somewhat like being in a techno time warp in which you lose all sense of self and anything other than the music. When our bodies could physically dance no more, we crawled out of the Berghain around 9:30 on the Sunday morning, shocked at the time, the overbearing daylight, and the queue of guests ready to begin their experience.
A Note on Door Policy
The Berghain is renowned for is selective and randomized door policy. We read a range of blogs/reviews before going to this club and they were flooded with people explaining how they were turned away ‘for no apparent reason’. Needless to say, we very apprehensive when approaching the foreboding building. Unfortunately, we can confirm that there is no guarantee you will get in; half the queue in front of us were turned away in seconds. The bouncers are truly terrifying, so expect unashamed fear upon Berghain bouncer scrutiny. When it was out turn to face judgement hands in pockets, chins out and looking hard, we were eyeballed for about 10 seconds amidst some debate and laughter from the other bouncers, (almost certain we were going to be turned away)… to our surprise they let us in.
Our advice for getting in…
The most obvious selection policy for the bouncers is an attempt to inject ‘realness’ into every night.
Don’t go dressed up (too try hard). No flashy logos, fancy outfits, lots of makeup, funky hair do’s. As far as we could gather, it’s about the music and nothing else. Leather jacket and jeans is a good option!
The queue to get in can be very long, 4am onwards is a good starting time (Sunday morning 5am-8am is particularly good if you do not want to queue).
Given the door policy is so unclear, we advise keeping talking to a bare minimum, the bouncers patrol the line and will remember you. As soon as you enter the front of the queue keep quiet – from what we could tell the people who were turned away were the ones that were talking loudly.
Don’t arrive drunk!
Don’t go in a big group. Mixed groups are better and break it up into pairs or go in alone.
If you look young you’re not getting in-they don’t usually check I.D. but the Berghain like their crowd at least looking 25 and over.
Don’t talk the bouncers at the front, especially not in your native tongue – they will think your just a snaphappy tourist. Unless you’re turned away immediately, they will probably ask you in German how many? Go up in twos and simply reply zwei.
Look them in the eye, and remain cool and collected like you are a regular to the club.
If you do get in, stay calm and silent until your entrance fee is paid (the ticket sellers are equally as judgemental).
Once in and ready to let loose, be ready to experience a night/day/afternoon/weekend like no other.
Final Warning: Once you have experienced the Berghain, be prepared for utter disappointment when visiting any other club thereafter.
Sound likes a lot to remember and slightly ridiculous? It is – but well worth the attempt. Just go in a small group, act cool and shut up in the queue. If you don’t get in, have no fear either get changed and try again, turn up after 6am, or go to Tresor Club (see link for Raider Tresor review), which is equally amazing.
Truly an epic and unforgettable clubbing experience for the lovers of purist techno, playing host to the very best Techno DJ’s including: André Galluzzi, Alri Brikha, Ben Klock, Cassy, Marcel Dettmann and Nick Hoppner.
Bass rating: INCREDIBLE!!! [Bass rating wouldn’t do it justice]
It’s been three days since Rinse FM’s 17th birthday bash, and far from recovery this was certainly not an event to attend before a busy week at work. Arriving just after midnight, we were greeted by several police officers manning the Academy entrance. The queue was short, but like lambs to the slaughter entrees were lined up 5 at a time in display of a crowd of Brixton revellers, whilst a training sniffer dog was slalomed several times through the line. Once past the police and the sniffer dog, on to security who more than vigorously searched the bags, before entering the Academy foyer and to be finally acquainted by the heavy boom of the bash. Whilst somewhat pleased at strict security measures, needless to say the pre-entry atmosphere was far from tranquil and left an impending air of doom and anticipation as to what to expect from the event and crowd. Initially pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere, we were soon rather taken aback with the £2.50 coat room charge and the £9.80 total for a Red Bull mixer and a cup of water!
Entering the main room, the bass was enough to make your ears bleed and your organs shake. The academy aesthetics made for an interesting back drop to the acts and the light technicians offered an exciting display. However, what about the acts? For the majority of the time we stayed in the main room given the other acts appeared to be playing the foyer, which was a battleground of smokers trying to get outside, and entrees trying to get in. After some great sets from the likes of Youngster and Silkie and Quest; Katy B came on stage around 2, but disappointedly only played 3 songs? On the upside Ms Dynamite joined Katy B on stage for her last song and stayed on to perform an amazing crowd pleasing set- and boy did she smash it! Ms Dynamite played mostly new material; however given the crowd’s reaction to her, it would have been great if she stayed longer to play some of her old material. Followed on by P Money, Blacks, Plastician who appeared to be on stage for over an hour. Though the sets were amazing, through sheer exhaustion and anticipation for Skream feat. Sam Frank, it grew somewhat tiresome. During this time we witnessed several fights, and several more women being herded out the club doors, security was patrolling with torches at every corner and tension was certainly in the air. By five o’clock, the d’n’b tempo had reached superfast forward mode, and whilst loving the carefree frantic shape cutting, we had danced so hard we could no longer feel our legs, and with still no sign of Skream, we hung up our discoboots and left.
I am aware if you have carried on reading to this point, you may have the opinion that we did not enjoy ourselves. On the contrary, we had an amazing night; the music was banging, and the excitement remained throughout the night. However, amidst out d’n’b trance we completely missed the main acts, (Skream, DJ EZ, Artwork and many more), maybe because we did not find a ‘third room’, or that they (as did Skream at 5:30) came on past 5. Given their status as headlining acts, there absence in our evening was disappointing.
We would definitely attend a Rinse FM bash again and would recommend it to all Rinse music fans, especially as London is distinctly lacking in good garage and grime events. Apart from the odd aggy face gurner expected at such events, the majority ’88 born crowd shared an unforgettable evening.
10/5 bass ratings. (This is a perfectly reasonable rating in highlighting the sheer epic attack of bass).
Tucked away in deepest darkest south London sits a club called Corsica Studios hidden amongst the back streets of Elephant and Castle. The club plays host to some of the biggest sounds and names in the world of electronic music. One night in particular is Boiler Room, run by a small outfit it has become one of the most exciting nights across the capital to check out underground dance music. The main idea being to broadcast the sets live throughout the world, giving everyone the opportunity to tune in and experience the freshest sounds this side of the world.
I headed down on Tuesday 30th where it was an RBMA takeover with David Rodigan, Saxon Sound International, AMP and Fatman, featuring dub plate after dub plate that was hyped as an oldskool sound clash of the finest dubs the dj’s could get there hands on, and they didn’t disappoint. The packed Corsica Studios was brimming with excitement and anticipation for the tunes that were heard throughout the sets, featuring the likes of “ini kamoze – out in the streets they call it murtha” that had the crowd singing and bouncing with one hand in the air.
So its Rinse Fm’s 17th Birthday at the 02 Brixton Academy and wow what a bash they are having to celebrate! Massive line up over 3 rooms including: Skream feat. Sam Frank, Newham Generals, P Money, EZ, Ms. Dynamite, Roll Deep, Silkie & Quest, Redlight, Youngsta, Artwork, Scratcha, Bok Bok, and many many more!
The Nest is an edgy and intimate, 350 capacity basement in Dalston, donning industrial exposed pipes, concrete floors and walls, and retro neon porn signs. Reminiscent of the vault in Berlin’s colossus Tresor night club, the atmosphere did not disappoint and nor did the music. The bouncers were friendly; the drink prices were reasonable ranging from £3.50 for a bottle of beer to £7.00 for a cocktail, and the pretentious vibe you might expect from bars in surrounding areas was left at the door.
On our visit, the DJ was banging out a mix-up of classic 2step, Dubstep and old school Garage; however the music can vary considerably given the venue aims to showcase new talent. It is worth keeping an eye on the line ups because The Nest hosts some prolific club nights from MTA Records parties for all bass enthusiasts, to Lemonade on Saturday nights presenting a range of live music and upcoming DJ’s.
[For all the tech savvy’s The Nest has a pretty sweet Martin Audio sound system.]
Free before 10:30 pm, and £5.00 thereafter this is more than a reasonable entry price for an East London club.
