Club Review: 303 Second Birthday, Liverpool

Image: 303 Liverpool

Despite being only two years young, 303 are already beginning to give some of the more experienced Liverpool promoters a run for their money, with 303's popular ethos of bridging the past with the present in electronic music. Tonight’s celebration only seems to further this statement. There’s no birthday cake, no fancy dress, no balloons necessary; just 10 hours of cavernous techno and acid house.

To celebrate the milestone on this May Bank Holiday, tonight's line up could be described as a throwback to when Bugged Out! resided in Liverpool (something we visited previously). All four headline guests share past connections with the city and, with the exception of débutante Billy Nasty, have all previous graced the 303 stage. Expectations were understandably high.

With their biggest billing to date, and stepping away from their usual home of Williamson Tunnels, this evening's proceedings take place in the Camp & Furnace Warehouse in the popular Baltic triangle area of Liverpool, which has been responsible for a clubbing boom in the last few years, hosting late night venues such as The Garage, Constellations, New Bird St and new kid on the block, the intimate 24 Kitchen Street.

Getting the party under way was down to the clubnight's three residents, with Stuart Hodson laying it down in the 303 room, Gemma Arnott in charge over in 909 and Samuel Lamont holding court in the LoLife space, each setting the tone graciously for the headline acts to follow.

Liverpool lately has seen somewhat of a techno revival in the city, with the likes of Jeff Mills, Ben Sims, all gracing the city later in May alone, it comes to no surprise that the 303 room is at near capacity as the clock strikes midnight. An almost deafening roar greets Dave Clarke as he takes to the stage, a real hero's welcome back after his last visit to 303, in early November. 

Clarke as usual launches into his trademark style, an aural assault of uncompromising pulsating techno and electro, thrashing the crossfader and cavorting through a barrage of spin backs and multiple EFXs. He holds nothing back as he goes full throttle, driving the crowd into a frenzy that never shows any sign of faltering throughout his three hour set.

Next door, Justin Robertson was playing an abundance of jacking acid house and techno, despite all this it was hard to tear yourself away from Clarke who provides one of the nights stand out moments with A Guy Called Gerald’s acid house classic, 'Voodoo Ray' (below).

Following Clarke in the main room, was another UK techno legend Billy Nasty. Nasty, playing on nothing but vinyl, treated the crowd to a flawless techno masterclass, with a fine selection of wax, such as Mark Broom's edit of Robert Hood's 'Untitled' (below), and Jeroen Search's 'The Future Is Ours'.

As part of the décor there’s a sign that reads, ‘boss people, banging techno’, looking at the smiles on the dance-floor, it would appear they all agree.

For those seeking respite from the relentless techno, downstairs in the light filled Blade Factory provided a welcome contrast to the dark and damp floors above, with Lauren Lo Sung’s dub techno keeping things moving, before Manchester’s Hold It Down closed the room.

Returning upstairs to the 909 room, Andrew Weatherall provided his unique blend of chugging acid house which gradually built up towards more euphoric tracks in the final hour, all the time never really exceeding 120bpm. Sweat was now dripping from the ceiling throughout, and at one point caused one of his CDJs to temporarily malfunction part way through the set.

Weatherall later remarked how it reminded him of the old acid house days when it used to happen on vinyl all the time - evidence of even the mishaps evoking the spirit of a more halcyon era of clubland.

With the other rooms now closed, the crowd wasn’t quite ready to disperse and it was down to Liverpool’s own Mr Paul to end the night. Mr Paul showcased the funkier melodic side of big breakdown techno, with the likes of Gary Beck’s 'Pure Cane Sugar' (above) and Alan Fitzpatrick's 'Skeksis', keeping the party going, until it was time to stumble out into the daylight.

Emulating 303’s booking policy of past and present, there’s a real sense of uniting the older generation with a younger crowd, one big extended family of all ages on the dance-floor, and with success like this, 303’s already rapidly expanding fan-base is only going to continue to grow.

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