Club Review: Hoya Hoya Secret Series II w/ Bok Bok, Alexander Nut, Illum Sphere

Event Date: 28th January 2012

Words: Natalie Davies

Hoya Hoya kick started the 2012 run of events on Saturday with the first instalment of their second ‘Secret Series’ season, following its success early last year.

The concept is simple – the normal Hoya Hoya you know and love, only with one or two unannounced guests and a selection of the residents. No preconceptions required; you come down as usual and entrust whatever you paid on the door in the Hoya team’s wealth and knowledge of music to provide you with a high quality guest and a damn good party. No hype and no clues.

The first guest was Eglo and Rinse FM’s Alexander Nut, who played an opening set exactly as it should be done; rolling out sensual bossa jazz licks as the crowd filtered in and gradually building a crescendo to heavier club sounds such as Youngstar’s ‘Pulse X’. The cherry on top of this cake was served up by fellow Eglo-ite, Fatima, who took to the stage for a PA to finish the set. The early birds inside The Roadhouse definitely caught the worm.

Jonny Dub then stepped up to play his trademark set of bubblin’ club tracks and crowd favourites. I can quite confidently say there’s never a still body on the dancefloor when this guy takes the helm. And he put his Sunday best Nike Air Max trainers on for us… true gent.

Illum Sphere proceeded to take the crowd deeper into the night with one of his heady eclectic sets that I’m convinced no other human being on this earth could pull off – not even a spookily prodigal child from North Korea. There’s something incredibly amazing about a guy genre hopping with ease from Radiohead’s ‘2+2=5’ to Soulja Boy’s ‘Yahhh!’ and finishing off with a flurry of Dilla and Dabrye numbers... I think that’s why they say 'Illum Go Killum'.

Illum Sphere then wheeled up and introduced the headlining secret guest; the one and only Bok Bok of London label Night Slugs. Bok Bok’s set literally took grime, house, techno and bumpin’ 808’s to the chopping board and mixed them all together perfectly into a tasty Night Slugs pie; creating a meshed techno-grime hybrid with an amalgamation of hyperactive MikeQ tunes and heavy sub-low hitters, as well as his own material and forthcoming cuts from the label. The highlight had to be his wildcard tune, in the form of ‘Dance (A$$)’ by Big Sean featuring Nicki Minaj.

The crowd went CRAZY for it. Yep, with capital letters, that crazy. They were completely entranced throughout the whole set; there were a few guys on the front row who looked like they were going to faint on a majority of the drops, as well as a psychotic dancer and a sub-invader who simply couldn’t resist elevating himself above the dance floor to do a funny little jig. Chunky hosted the set and got the crowd transfixed with his trademark microphone-in-hand dance moves, so much so one member of the crowd got so transfixed they tried to break through the barriers.

All in a night's work, eh?

Jon K then played the closing set with an infectious blend of soul, funk and 80’s electronic to wind a rather partied out crowd down to be released into the outside world.

You know you’ve got your money’s worth when you’re leaving the club feeling like you’ve done a week’s worth of gym time in one night just from dancing, but even still, despite the extreme tiredness you can’t wait for the next instalment. That’s Hoya Hoya though – never one to disappoint.

Hoya Hoya Secret Series II, The Roadhouse, Manchester, every last Saturday of the month, £6 adv/ £7 OTD

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