Let me start by saying, Krank 2 was a really good night. A short disclaimer is that I know the organisers of this event personally, and we’re good friends. That said, I think it’s unfortunate that, when it became clear that the numbers weren’t quite enough to fill the two rooms they didn’t respond by quickly moving the remaining crowd into one room to keep what I like to call “critical mass.” That is, the minimum number of people in a club/room to encourage people to stay and newcomers to remain.
Don’t mistake me though- I think the Weekend Warriors basically did everything right. The marketing was there, the lineup was there, the price was good, the venue has both good and bad points. Still, events (as a business) is always going to be hit and miss, especially with the strong competition of nightlife in Brighton.
So what was my experience, beyond enjoying myself? I arrived a little late, so missed Muggle‘s dubstep. I came when Scrambled Ed was playing, and while I love his music, I thought it was a shame there was so much repetition from his first Krank set. I thought Devildog’s back to back set with Phat32 was upbeat, pacy and refreshing- too much drum and bass these days is samey, this felt very novel. It was, however, a shame that the upstairs speakers weren’t of good quality- the bass kept distorting even though the volume wasn’t anything to get excited about. Then it was downstairs: Hellboy‘s techno had a great acid feel underneath that sounded excellent up close to the bass speakers, but I thought had a touch of cheese over the top which gabber would have improved. I was unfortunate to only see the beginning of Ghost‘s set, but that was so good I was almost speechless; I’d go to see him again any day.
All in all, some great music, a good crowd, an OK venue and a shame about the numbers. Looking forward to the next one.
