Review: Numbers @ Fabric

I had been looking forward to this night ever since the lineup was posted on the Fabric website. Usually I have gone to Fabric for Rooms 2 or 3 and generally stayed as far away from the heaving mass of rudeboys that normally accompanies whatever tear out DJ is playing in Room 1. Take my last visit to Fabric for example; the experimental sounds of dBridge b2b Instra:mental and the emotive DnB of Commix just down the hall from Hazard and Hype. Madness! This night was set to be different. The sounds were quite varied, with Room 1 bringing the summer vibes of Martyn, Brackles and Rustie, Room 2 diving deep with Scuba and Youngsta, and Room 3 was left mostly in the capable hands of dBridge and Instra:mental to do with however they pleased. As I arrived and scanned the set times I realised that I would have to jump around quite a lot if I wanted to catch some of everyone that I wanted to see, but undaunted I bought a classically Fabric priced drink from the bar and headed over to Room 3 to catch the end of Instra:mental's first set.

As I entered the lecherous monster of a track Voyeur was being blasted from the system, much to the delight of the crowd. This was only the 2nd time I had seen Instra:mental play and he did not fail to impress in the slightest, moving from the beautiful sounds of Watching You into some absolutely huge minimal tribal beats. Next up was Scuba in Room 2. Now I have seen Scuba 4 times and he has never been anything but superb, in fact his set at the Sub:Stance take over in Leeds 2 months ago was one of the best I have seen. With this in mind I had high expectations, and I have to say unfortunately I was slightly let down. The tune selection was all right, but the biggest tunes I had heard a thousand times, such as 'Sex At The Prom' – Headhunter and the Prototype remix on the flip. Don't get me wrong, they went off, but I from a leader in the scene I expect to hear something fresh that really excites me. I also didn't really think his mixing was perfectly up to scratch with some tunes clearly not melding together yet being left for ages to play over each other. This being said, it was an enjoyable set and everyone in Room 2 was having a great time, I just think as someone who has seen him at his best I was a little bit let down. I consequently decided to leave half an hour early to grab some fresh air and catch some of Martyn's set in the main room.



With limited time before Youngsta was due to start I jumped head-first into Room 1 which I expected to be rammed full of gorgeous young women getting down to the sounds of Martyn's House inspired music. He was even playing a track which had taken the melody of Row Row Row Your Boat and exchanged the words to “Shake Shake Shake Your Ass”, yet what I saw couldn't have been further from the truth. The room was surprisingly empty and there was barely a girl in sight. Instead I was treated to a very bizarre sight that seemed to be a couple hundred middle aged men shaking their ass to the beat. All the same the music was great and me and my mates thoroughly enjoyed the feel good vibes.

I hurried back to Room 2 just in time to catch the beginning of Youngsta's set and fuck me he does not mess around. In my opinion there is NO ONE as good as Youngsta when it comes to playing dubstep, and apart from a couple of over the top choices at the end of his set he was near perfect. Tracks such as Kryptic Minds' collaborations with Alys Blaze and 'Cold Blooded' ft. Youngsta absolutely took the piss on that sound system and his last track was tooo much. I had heard it once before at DMZ 5th Birthday. It was my favourite track of the night then, and the same this time. I know it's by Pinch, but that's as much info as I have unfortunately. A notable by product of Numbers choosing the same night as the Outlook Launch Party and RAM at Matter was a serious lack of people turning up to Fabric (at one stage I went out to the smoking area and there were only 5 people there!). In my eyes this was actually very refreshing as I had space to dance, and there were no rudeboys trying to mug me for catching their eye. I have always preferred the vibe in Leeds for these reasons exactly, and I think this reduction of people actually made a positive impact on sets like Youngsta's.



We ended the night with some more upbeat vibes in Room 1 with Jackmaster & Brackles dropping some oldskool gems such as 1995 classic, The Bomb by The Bucketheads, before heading out into the morning rain, grabbing a possibly overpriced hot dog and then heading home to collapse. Overall it was a very different experience to what I expected from my past Fabric experience and although I could have exchanged a few middle aged men for some more females, it was a massively successful night with all the right ingredients.

Words: Liam 'Wachs Lyrical' Wachs