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Review: The Gallery @ Turnmills

Reported by josie / Submitted 03-03-05 10:05

Dutch boys Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten left behind the windmills, canals and clogs for a night and jetted over to rainy old London last Friday, to join forces for The Gallery at Turnmills. And for once, having had a wander round the forums, I'm fairly sure you'll all be in agreement with me. Great atmosphere, good tunes, nice crowd… but about twice as many people squeezed in as really should have been.

Both Armin and Ferry are among the most talented DJs in the world, and doubtless it was this that drew the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen at Turnmills. Each lived up to their reputation though, proving they can both DJ as well as write sh*t hot tunes. Powerful, dancey, sexy sets from both, and surprisingly trancey from Ferry Corsten, who seemed not to be grinding out quite as much electro as I’ve heard in the past. Some great classic trance were played as well… Moonman (aka Ferry Corsten) – ‘Galactica’, Ferry Corsten – ‘Sweet Sorrow’, P.O.S. – ‘Gravity’, Above & Beyond pres. Tranquillity Base – ‘Surrender’, Firewall – ‘Sincere’… the list goes on. Best of all, the simple, haunting track ‘Need To Be Loved’ from Reflekt. If you don’t love this, your heart is truly made of stone. I bet you didn’t know that one of the duo making up Reflekt is in fact French house DJ Seb Fontaine. Weird huh?

Unfortunately, it’s hard to get that excited about a set when you can’t even get close enough to the dancefloor to see those people who can see the DJ, let alone see him yourself. Most people tend to admit defeat and head for the bar rather than fight a running battle to get on the dancefloor. An hour of ‘sorry… sorry… excuse me… OUCH, no it’s ok I’ve got another one… God I’m so sorry, yes I am heavier than I look…’ and so on and so on, is enough to have even the most reasonable person ripping their ticket in half, scrubbing off their Turnmills stamp under the hot tap, and stamping off into the night.

Despite the colossal squeeze, the punters were a smiley, good-natured lot. There was all sorts there as well (nothing wrong with that, obviously) possibly providing some support for this theory gaining ground at the moment that superclubs are for tourists, and the underground club is the place to be. Doubtless each has their place – a venue with a capacity of 400 simply can’t afford to book the big names (in general), and even the most determined supporter of new talent needs a hit from a PVD or Carl Cox every so often.

A lot of big names were there as well – Noys label boss Mike Koglin, producer extraordinaire Darren Tate, trance scene mainstay Matt Darey, TranceGeneration resident and promoter Ehren Stowers, and Trance Awards host Graham Gold’s son Ben, having a cheeky go on the piano in the Member’s Room. Seeing Darren Tate and Matt Darey having a particularly intense conversation at what point, made me wonder what exactly big name DJs talk about when they get together. The Winter Music Conference in Miami? Illegal downloads? Or how busy Ikea is on a Sunday afternoon. Intriguing.

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that promoters will be persuaded by this review – or any other for that matter – not to sell quite so many tickets another time. The dance music and clubbing industry is a fragile one at best, where few are making any real money. When a Swiss backpacker who wouldn’t know a trance DJ from a box of frogs will part with their hard-earned cash, the temptation is not to put true clubbers first. Anyway, despite a crush worse than Oxford Street on Christmas Eve, a good time was still had by all. The Dutch do it again.

Photos courtesy of Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten. Logos courtesy of Turnmills.
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Other Features By josie:
It's the Generation game featuring Agnelli & Nelson, The Thrillseekers and Lange
Peach at Heaven: Reviewed
The Gallery at Turnmills: Reviewed
The International Indoor Festival at SeOne: reviewed
The double ender: interview with trance legends Darren Tate and Mike Koglin
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
Comments:

From: djmetro08 on 6th Mar 2005 17:35.22
""possibly providing some support for this theory gaining ground at the moment that superclubs are for tourists, and the underground club is the place to be""

Put in this way - Whilst me and my mate were queing up (for 1 hour 50 mins) we were the only english people in that part of the que. Diversity is a great thing.... even if it does mean wasting 1 night.

From: smiffyuk on 7th Mar 2005 09:34.27
I have to say I have always been put off of Turnmills because of its reputation of overcrowded dance floors and dodgy tourists on the pull(every good clubber knows you dont go out to pull, its all about dancing and meeting new people who you sit and talk about nothing in particular to for hours!) It was a friends birthday so off we all went last friday night and yes...there ARE ALOT of dubious men skulking in the background waiting to pounce on unsuspecting happy clappy clubbers but besides that...the music was some of the best sets Ive heard in years!

From: anders on 7th Mar 2005 18:35.00
The Gallery gets some very good DJs, but when the only place where you actually can dance is where you can't hear the music, I haven't been there for the last two years...

From: Joellercoaster on 8th Mar 2005 17:11.03
That was my first night at Turnmills, and it could well be my last.

(Yeah I'm a tourist, or at least a foreigner, but I was there to dance, not to pick up nasty English slappers ;P )

"Crowded" does not do it justice. Jammed is more like it. Forget dancing, moving around in the main room was out of the question. When they finally did open the back room and get around to turning the speakers on, my night got better. But apparently the main room wasn't crowded enough after a few hours, because they CLOSED the backroom again and there we were, struggling to breathe again. In the meantime I'd spotted another Shuffler though, so at least Em and I had someone to talk to even if dancing was out of the question.

I ended up dancing in the bar at one point. I'm not proud of that, but it was necessary.

As for the sets, I was actually pretty disappointed with AvB. He's blown me away before, single-handedly rescuing a night that was fucked beyond repair, but this time it was fairly uninspiring prog for the most part. Ferry Corsten (at least I think it was him, I couldn't see into the room) was a bit more fun for a while. So my expectations were at least exceeded in one place Smile

Also: Much respect to the two sets of appalling dirty dancers towards the end of the night in the funky room. Trying to outdo each other with ever-more-horrifying bump-n-grind, bra-destroying action. I feared to watch, and yet I could not look away.

From: littlemissgenki on 9th Mar 2005 01:42.31
hybrid & eddie halliwell were pretty awesome a coupla fridays ago, but that was from the balcony and the front right hand right corner. as much as i hate clubs with miniqs, there needs to be less people on the main dance floor in the main room, as can also be said for Fabric on a Saturday, but i guess it's inevitable that the places that in town with some of the best lineups also have some of the dodgiest 'guests'... the great thing bout clubbing is it makes us all so open minded eh?! x

From: josie on 9th Mar 2005 09:27.11
Can I just clarify... I am all for tourists, and all for tourists going to clubs, and I don't think non-Brits are any more or less likely to sleaze on women (you lot mentioned sleaze, not me). All I wanted to say was that when a club is in the enviable position of attracting so many punters - clubbing diehards and newcomers to the scene - it would be more pleasant for everyone if they could exercise a little restraint in the number through the door.

From: byrney on 10th Mar 2005 14:58.34
"I bet you didn’t know that one of the duo making up Reflekt is in fact French house DJ Seb Fontaine. Weird huh? "

Yeah really weird considering he's a West London boy through and through.

Oh and the Moonman tune is "Galaxia" not Galatica... great tune!



From: Hassanr24 on 10th Mar 2005 15:07.04
The Gallery is always Turnmills busiest night, and with such a great lineup it was inevitable that the place would be jammed! We had to queue for over 1hr to get in and 30 mins for the damn cloakroom!

To be honest I don’t like Turnmills as a club - the main room is definitely too small, narrow and dark, but we managed to get through the crowd and to the front near the DJ box and stayed there till Ferry had finished! Crowded it was, but a brilliant night and worth the struggle to see the best Trance lineup in London.

From: Mariella on 15th Mar 2005 13:25.21
Firstly Josie, always love your reviews, keep up the good work!... secondly Turnmills - think it's time for a refurb?? there's plenty of room, just not using it well enough!! I've had some of my best nights out at Turnmills - purely based on the DJ's and the music though... Why have some of the best dj's in the world playing excellent music when dancing is near impossible?? (It was an amazing night though!!) :P

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