Friday 29/11/02 Bugged Out Birthday: Jeff Mills, Erol Alkan @ Nation, Liverpool

For those of you who have been locked away for therapy after the climatic ending to celebrity big brother (i.e. those of you who actually watched it and lost the will to live) and didn't know, last Friday underground club supremo Bugged Out celebrated its birthday at its true home in Liverpool. Did you see the line-up? If so, I suspect you were probably there... Although Derrick Carter cancelled (two of my friends actually had tears in their eyes when the news was broken), everybody else turned up and put on a bloody good show!

I do have to apologise at this point, because the rest of the review is going to be heavily biased towards the few DJs that I managed to see and was unable to leave, but I'm reliably assured that everyone who played produced a wicked set, and much fun was had by all. Firstly, Mr Mills...anyone? In one of his first, much anticipated, appearances in a while, he certainly produced the goods. I don't know what to say, except that he stomped out some of the most banging, adrenalin pumping techno that I've heard in a while, and reduced the Lomax to the cavernous, sweat-dripping techno brothel that it should be, packed to the rafters with delirious ardent Jeff fans and unsuspecting newcomers alike. Suffice to say, he was fantastic! And hopefully we'll be seeing more of him in this country in the future.

The Annexe (my second home) made it's usual offering of dirty, funky sounds that you can't help but go mental to; breakbeat don Tayo's set was storming - as usual, and this month the current darling of the London club scene, Erol Alkan (Trash) volunteered another spectacular performance. How can anyone that plays every set in a batman t-shirt be so enigmatic, charismatic and downright sexy?! Although it was dark in there... In his set, anything goes! (as long as it's got a ludicrously seductive bass line.) And this proffering was no exception; punk, breaks, electro, pop - I don't think there is anyone who could spend 5 minutes in his presence and not dance. Playing tunes and remixes of Green Velvet (heard his new one, Gene Defect? V. dirty), Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, and records from all over the shop, he whipped the Bugged Out crowd into a veritable Erol-mad frenzy. The guy is awesome, and definitely worth stalking.

And if the music wasn't alluring enough, the crowd and atmosphere are worth going for. Everybody is friendly, fun, and usually grinning manically (music or drugs?! - not quite sure), and Bugged Out always guarantees a good time. However the venue can leave something to be desired... My big whinge this month was the cloakroom situation - what was that all about?! As if it wasn't bad enough just having one open until it fills before opening the other one - a strategy that seems a bit anal to me, this time they didn't open the other at all! Once it was full, tough titties guys; you get to carry your coats all night, or risk stashing it and getting it puked on or nicked. But, if you could cope with that in your all encompassing clubbing tolerancy and astuteness, you were free to boogie on down with the likes of Lottie, FC Kahuna, James Holroyd, Rob Bright, Richard Hector-Jones et al, and pass a very pleasant evening. I had a rocking night, and from the look of the gurning, perspiring masses around me, everybody else did too.

Long live Bugged Out!