First Quarter Highlights: Motion Bristol
Posted on: 17 Jan 2017With the folding of quintessential Manchester warehouse Sankeys the latest in a long line of recent big-room venue closure in the UK's biggest cities, the importance of Motion as the South West's premier dance destination has never been higher. Their published dates for 2017, however, suggest it is business as usual, with a glut of standout bookings to keep Bristol beating into the longer days of spring. These are the best nights over the next three months.
Boogie Nights and Odo, 20.01
At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I can actually remember the first ever Boogie Nights. On a cold night in early 2015, Blue Mountain was saturated with shapes thrown to pumping groove-laden disco put out by local selectors picked by curators Methods. Bolstered by the success of that and other early nights, the event has gone from strength to strength and has a carved out a firm spot in the Bristol calendar with a series of stand-out parties at their adopted home of the Old Crown Courts. Their first of 2017 is a marker of intent for much bigger things, with their takeover of the Motion skate park headed up by house legend and Man Make Music boss George Fitzgerald (pictured), with the likes of Tom Trago, Jasper James and Dan Shake all entering the mixer too.
Just Jack's 11th Birthday, 04.02
Local house moguls Just Jack have accrued a deserved reputation for throwing the best parties in Bristol, period, with recent guest selectors including Ricardo Villalobos, Hunee, Marcel Dettmann, Prins Thomas and Legowelt. And the line-up for their 11th birthday bash, without any exaggeration, might just be their best yet. Detroit royalty and Underground Resistance-founder Robert Hood headlines, his set sure to feature some of the highlights from his revered house project Floorplan alongside the techno on which he cut his teeth. Expect to hear Midland’s ‘Final Credits’, the undisputed tune of 2016, spun several times throughout the evening, even, most mouth-wateringly, by the man himself (pictured) who will take over the Marble Factory after a spell from Glaswegian duo Optimo. That the king of the good time, Japanese producer Soichi Terada, is in the lower half of the bill is testament to its absolute quality. An embarrassment of riches.
Todd Terje, 10.02
The brightest of the Northern Lights of the cosmic Nordic house scene, comprised of honchos like Lidstrøm, Prins Thomas and Diskjokke, is Todd Terje, the maverick Norwegian producer, whose debut LP It’s Album Time blew the pants off dance music when it landed back in 2014. A 12-track collection of stellar Scandi-disco, the record thrives on the unabashed fun which Terje had previously evidenced in his DJ sets and re-edit obscura. He comes to Motion as the guest of those-very-in-the-know, Simple Things, where he will play a live set backed up by his band The Olsens. Even at this early stage, the show is looking like it might well be Bristol’s best booking of 2017.
Loyle Carner, 12.02
Two days later, silver-tongued lothario Loyle Carner returns to Bristol after he shutdown the Marble Factory last October. The South London rapper, born Benjamin Coyle-Larner, who has been turning heads and drawing accolades for his laconic flow and interesting productions (some coming from his friend and fellow Dilla-enthusiast Tom Misch) which have won him an upgrade to Motion’s main room - it turns out these hoes are loyle. This date comes slap-bang in the middle of his largest UK tour to date, coming in support of his debut LP Yesterday’s Gone which drops this Friday.
Âme, 24.02
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The folks behind An Evening With, another local dance authority, have developed an uncanny knack for booking the world’s best names in house and techno for their doors-til-close residencies, with Joy Orbison, Bicep, Ben Klock and Floating Points among their recent guests. Their latest booking, Âme, sits comfortably among this distinguished company, with the German duo and one half of the Innervisions label (which they share with boon companion Dixon) globally renowned for their techno-driven sets and retro house remixes. 12 inches of their luscious rework of Paul Simon’s ‘Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes’ are amongst the most sought-after vinyls around, and sell for well over £100 on Discogs - a product of the rapturous fervour surrounding them and their all-night-long set at Motion next month.
For more information about any of these shows or to buy tickets, head to Motion's website.
Article by:
An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
