Sunday 22nd of June 2014 – The Trip: Jeff Mills + A Guy Called Gerald
We weren’t sure what to expect from this. Dance music at the Royal Festival Hall? Not allowed to stand up, for starters. What would the atmosphere be like?
When we got to the Southbank Centre we got ourselves drinks and then heard dance music coming from outside, the riverbank side. There were hundreds of people dancing to a remix of ‘I feel love’ and the atmosphere was electric. We then realised that’s the only song they were playing continuously – and also it was time to go watch A Guy Called Gerald. It was 7:30.
We got inside The Royal Festival Hall and it was quite empty. There wouldn’t be much of an atmosphere if there was hardly anyone there. We knew the tickets were almost sold out, but if people were only turning up to Jeff Mills, then I felt sorry for Gerald, and us.
I needn’t have worried. Gerald unassumingly walked in, wearing a suit, looking dapper and got on with it. The room filled up as more and more people poured in – maybe they were all the people dancing to ‘I feel love’ outside.
At first everyone was seated and as the music got more and more contagious, two women approached the stage and started to dance. They were told off by an usher, who promptly got booed. I don’t think Gerald could see what was going on, hopefully he didn’t think we were booing him.
Another 5 minutes went by and it became impossible to resist the music – everyone was chair dancing. Then BOOOM! the crowd just woke up, the alcohol kicked in, and most people got up to dance.
There followed a 30 minute break and then Jeff Mills took to the stage. It was a much more visual experience, and so we all sat and watched. Every now and then he would rouse the crowd for a couple of minutes and then bring everyone down again.
Apparently there was going to be a rave on the roof of the building, but we were gone by then, work and responsibilities called.
Taking photos and videos with my phone means I no longer have to transfer them to my computer, then upload to YouTube/Flickr. Instead it all gets automatically uploaded to Google Photos. This has advantages and disadvantages, which I will go into some other time… The main disadvantage is the sharing, it’s not as straightforward as Youtube or flickr.