If you’re into dance music at all, you surely will have noticed that Spy has been pulling in some amazing acts in the fields of house, electro and techno of late. With everyone from old school favourites Michael Mayer and Felix Da Housecat through to current dance rock darlings MSTRKRFT, Simian Mobile Disco and Boys Noize all set to play over the coming months, nobody can deny that the promoters are putting in some serious work. However, having gone there to see SebastiAn of the uber-cool Parisian Ed Banger label last night, I’m beginning to consider selling on my tickets for any future events. The reason? Spy is simply too small a venue to host such big name acts.

Remedy can market the gigs as “intimate” all they like but the reality is that when you pack that many people into so small a venue, things simply start to get messy. It was nearly impossible to get in and out of the room in which SebastiAn was playing, the tiny doorway creating a bottle neck effect of almost total gridlock. Not entirely practical (nor exactly safe) when hundreds of eager clubbers are trying to get into a minute room of insane temperatures to dance in whatever space they can find. Having gone out for a smoke and simply to catch a breath of fresh air, there was little or no chance of getting back into the main room. A shame really, given SebastiAn’s set was awesome.

Granted, the sound system is such that his set was played downstairs in the main bar and in the room opposite but when you pay for a ticket to see a DJ, you want to be able to dance in front of the decks, or at the very least in the same room as them. In the end, the bouncers resorted to kicking people out, we witnessed a few fights break out downstairs and it all got a little bit crazy, and I don’t mean in a good way. We left, pretty disappointed at having spent around 25 quid on a ticket and having been forced to spend most of the night avoiding being crushed in an entirely different room to the act we’d come to see. What pissed me off the most really was that I normally love sweaty electro nights, but when it comes to the point that you can’t actually dance and you’re drenched in other peoples’ sweat (seriously, it was dripping from the walls), it just doesn’t seem worth it. I really hate to say this, as I have been looking forward to seeing MSTRKRFT for ages, but unless there’s a venue change, or less tickets sold for future events, I seriously doubt I’ll be going. It seems strange to me that Remedy insist on using Spy as a venue for such big acts, given they’ve hosted previous events in the Tivoli and TBMC (now the Button Factory). Admittedly, hosting pounding electro nights in such luxe surroundings has the feel of being some kind of really cool house party but the sheer heat and packedness of the venue seriously takes away from the tunes.

Olwyn Fagan enjoys fashion hair and pounding, pounding techno music.
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