With four Innervisions showcases last year at We Love…, fans of the German label crew could easily get their monthly dose of melodic techno. But with only one special this year, everyone made sure they came out for what turned into one of the best Sundays of the season.
Early on, Doorly was keeping the tempo jackin’ and the bodies moving over in the Sunset Terrace, bumping tunes like ‘The Clapping Track’ by Claude VonStroke followed by Kolombo’s hip-house slammer, ‘Throw Your Hands’ and Bazar’s ‘Hard To Find,’ working the effects to stretch and chop the vocals like a boss, much to the joy of the well packed room. Over in the Pulse Radio Terrace, Ryan O’Gorman kept things floating along nicely with melodic movers like ‘Everything’ by Greenville Massive Feat. Kat Boelskov, and tripped out tech bombs like Freakside by Shlomi Aber, the room moving right along with subdued anticipation. We downed a quick drink, and head over to El Salon, pulled in by the funky jams emanating from that corner of the club, and thank goodness we did.
The mood in the side room was positively festive upon walking in, and even the cleaning staff were singing along to disco hits like Candi Staton’s 'Young Hearts Run Free' and funky grooves like 'Get Down On It' by Kool And The Gang, as the newly wed Bonar Bradberry and fellow PBR Streetgang member Tom Thorpe, popped streamers, poured bubbly, and knocked lamps around over their heads in pure celebration. Many of the island’s residents were out in full, packing the room to the gills, everyone singing along, giving El Salon an incredible relaxed September vibe – just what we needed before heading back into the mix with Innervisions and Derrick May over in the Discoteca.
By just after 1am, Innervisions was kicking off with Marcus Worgull leading the charge. The booth had been moved next to the stairs leading from El Salon for the evening, giving the night that extra hint of something special and unique. Worgull was warming up nicely with melodic numbers like ‘The Night Mail’ by New Jackson, heading over to punchier beats with ‘Satisfy’ by Cajmere Feat. Dajae, the packed room tossing their heads back and hands up to each new tune and breakdown Marcus had in store for them.
By around 3am, it was Âme’s turn at the controls, and work them he did, using a live APC and Ableton setup to give the expectant club exactly what it wanted. With all the twisting emotion of his music, Frank Wiedemann of Âme was twisting and reeling at the controls to tracks like ‘Olga's Theme’ by Yuriy From Russia, heading to sweatier territory with Tiga’s ‘Plush,’ the drop absolutely rocking the room to it’s core. Though he wasn’t done yet, blasting off with Underworld’s uplifting 2007 chart topper ‘Crocodile.’ Though as good as the action was in the Pulse Radio Terrace, with Derrick May kicking it off in the room next door, one could hardly stay static for too long, so we headed over to check out the Detroit legend in all his glory.
By 4am, Derrick wasn’t holding back one bit, slamming out his Detroit style with furious fervor, blasting forward with techno stalkers like ‘Greed’ by Ad.lib & Silvision, it’s clunky, hard hitting rhythms rocking the room from front to back. From there, May lifted the mood with Gene Farris’ the horn heavy, soul infused house hit ‘The Gospel,’ over to ‘Never Grow Old,’ by fellow Detroit native, Floorplan, the alias for Robert Hood, who’s also graced the halls of We Love… this year.
Meanwhile, Dixon had taken stage, working the crowd over effortlessly with tracks like Jimpster’s ‘Brought To Bare’ Feat. Jonatan Bäckelie, encapsulating the beloved style of Detroit influenced, soulful, melodic and strangly beautiful house and techno he and Innervisions are known for, leaving Henrik Schwartz to finish things off beautifully.
Henrik absolutely rocked the crowd, getting them pumping and jumping time and again with tunes like his own ‘Walk Music,’ Mano Le Tough’s Primitive People and what seems to be the track of the season, or one anyway, with Claude VonStroke’s ‘The Clapping Track,’ though everyone was right up for it, the crowd dancing on until the last note carried out of Space’s Funktion 1’s. Another smasher for We Love…, gearing things up just right for the massive closing party next week, featuring Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada and James Zabiela to name a few. Get your tickets below!
