well...

what an absolute waste of time and money

We abandoned Fabric at about 1am just as the Chems were due to start, having spent the best part of 20 quid just to get in, that's without taking into account the amount of cash we spent on drinks.

the place was completely overcrowded. people were going nuts from being pushed about and rightly so.

It was a joke. Reminded me of the old days when they used to overcrowd the place all the time, but worse.

I have admit I was one of the bastards with a fabric first card, so getting in was a doddle, but once we were in there it was like a scrum everywhere. My gf got quite badly knocked about, bruised and stuff, it was like Hillsborough in a nightclub. I appreciate that the Chems are going to draw a big crowd, but Fabric really need to stop being greedy c*nts and think of the people who pay the best part of 20 quid only to be shunted around by aggressive tourists all night long. Even my 6ft 7" mate felt intimidated by it!

That's it for me with Fabric. I've had some great times when it's not so packed (ie on breaks nights), but I'm probably not going to bother going there much anymore, unless they make major changes about their overcrowding.

Aw, hubie... :( I'm sorry to read this. And to think this was the first dj set in a long time and you were so looking forward to it, only to end up leaving before the Chems came on.

It's a shame the overcrowding (which lead to the aggressive behavior no doubt) got the best of what should have been a good night out with your friends.

I had a similar experience with going to a show a few weeks ago.

I went to back-to-back days, to this smaller, but more popular venue in Chicago called, The Metro. First night (sunday) I got to see Primal Scream. Fantastic show, Bobby and the crew sounded awesome. But back to the story.... First night I drove to the venue by myself. Everything was going fine, opening band was actually really good, crowd wasn't overcrowded and I was minutes away from seeing one of my favorite bands! Or so I thought... Took the Metro crew nearly an hour to set up a pretty standard band setup. I wasn't happy with the wait at all. "Kill All Hippies" was started, and all was forgiven.... for that night at least...

Forwarding to the next day (Monday). I get to the city with a ride from my sister. She had some stuff to take care of in the city and would give me a ride home after the concert (which I begged her to do). I was confident the concert would not go over 11:30pm and confirmed this with her. Normally, I would have taken the train home, but the timing of the train schedules can be so inconvenient. So any who, I had a ride waiting for me after the concert. The concert was a show by Ratatat. This would be my second time seeing them, I saw them late last summer, and it was a premium performance. So me and a friend that I met up with before the show stroll into the venue, we over hear a conversation of the show being sold out and think FUCK. The Metro can comfortably hold about 500 people, but somehow they get the idea that an additional 200 should be perfect for 700 max capacity. We walk to the stage area, and realize we're already fucked to get a decent spot. So we pack ourselves in like sardines in the mass of people. I look at my ticket and notice it says the show starts at 9PM. It was 8:15 but no sign of any opening band. At this point I'm a little worried about timing. I figured they would have someone going already to fill the void but no, the metro had it planned to start at 9PM sharp.

9PM strikes and the opening band plays. They suck horribly, but the hipster crowd gives the praise for their catchy synths. I roll my eyes.

9:30PM- opening band is finished. Thank god.

10:00PM- SUPRISE! a 2nd opener! A white rapper. Enough said.

Im starting to get really worried at this point, and now planning an early exit, as I promised my sister to be out there by 11:30PM.

10:30 PM- White rapper set is over. And crew starts setting up RATATAT

Oh yeah, and all in between this time the crowd gets more cramped and idiotic by the minute. I cant believe how annoying some underage drunk bitches can be. Temperature: Hot as Balls.

11:00PM- Still not ready with the setup. Metro stage crew is slow once again. Another standard band setup and everything is getting done at a snail's pace.

11:05PM - Swearing at the Metro stage crew

11:10PM - Swearing at the bitches behind me

11:15PM - Had to take a piss. FUCK!

11:20PM - Realization that I wasted over $50 to put together this crappy night. And was really getting nothing out of it.

11:25PM - Ratatat starts

11:30PM - I leave mad as hell.

My friend stayed until 12:30 AM and said they hadn't even started their encore yet. Even If I had chosen to take the train home instead of catching of ride with my sister, I would still have had to leave the show early.

One thing I have hard understanding is that I'm fairly certain Chicago has a sound curfew ordinance at 11pm on the weekdays. But negating the curfew, they need to post clearer times for when the actual band plays. When it says 9PM show time Im assuming the headlining band is gonna play some time around an hour after the posted time of the start of the show. Not 2 and a half fucking hours after starting time (especially when it's late on WEEKDAY). People like my sister, my friend, and I, all had to work the following morning. If we knew that this concert was gonna run so late, we wouldn't have gone in the first place. I realize part of the reason why they do long band setups is to sell more drinks and shit, but come on...

This unfortunately, was only one of few episodes I've had at this venue. And while they book some of the best artists available, I cant justify myself going there anymore. I just end up getting pissed off in the long run.

So while my experience was only half frustrating with the crowd, I still feel your pain with poor setup/planning on the venue's sake, Hubie.

Sorry for my long story, and sorry you had a shite time Hubie.... I hope the troopers that stayed got a mint Chemical DJ set.

Aw! :-(

Bad show experiences all around. Not a good thing.

My two worst show experiences were the Chems, unfortunately enough--Oakland, 2005 and Amsterdam, 2007.

People can read the review of the Oakland show for themselves in another thread--I agreed with most of it. And I got a -whole- lot of beer spilled on me at the Amsterdam show, along with a few aggressive folk who kept pushing their way between me and my girlfriend who I had my arms around with her standing in front of me. Plus I was the only one going mental. :-( Couldn't believe that.

Bummer that this turned into a thread about bitching.

Anyone who went to the Fabric Chems DJ set actually have a good time? Positive reviews of the set?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1xM7IQTPCEg

very poor sound quality but at least we know one song now ;)

EBW8/saturate

A couple of years back the chemical bros had the pick of any room in Fabric and they opted for the smallest because they did not like people just standing around (chin strokers). That night was far too rammed and people walked around with a chip on their shoulder. I was gutted I couldn’t get a ticket for Friday night, but it can be a strain on ones patience when its rammed and your sweating head to toe. I’m not a fan of Fabric primarily because you get aggressive people looking for fights when it’s simply not your fault for barging into someone. I always preferred Turnmills because there was a nice pilled up atmosphere and everyone was just looking for a goodtime regardless of whether they are drunk, sobre or on something else... To be frank I think you’d have to be pilled up to have a good night in a rammed fabric because you wouldn’t notice the bad vibes (annoying people, pint spillage, heat, etc), whereas with drinking the booze costs too much, half of it gets spilt on yourself etc. Don’t get me wrong you don’t need to be under the influence to have a goodtime; sober/ drunken nights can be the best, but at a rammed fabric it would be difficult. Did anyone talk to the bros, the last two times I’ve been to their sets at fabric I’ve been able to have drunken chats with them.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=xeUZzzhHkok

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=VjHTtgzfpn0

Oh well, I've learnt my lesson now. Fabric has a proven track record of packing people in beyond a reasonable capacity (I'd love to know how they get around the fire regs), so next time the Chems play there I'm just going to ignore it :(

Thanks for your kind words peeps. I do hope there are some fans out there who had a good time, but I very much doubt anyone would have enjoyed that (apart from those who don't know any better).

And re the chemical stimulant issue that ayaz mentioned, all I will say is it didn't help in the slightest. The atmosphere ruined everything ;)

Anyway I do hold a vague hope that Tom or Ed might read about this kind of thing and maybe have a word with venues in the future, cos it's in their best interests imo. I've been a fan of the Chems for almost longer than the people in fabric the other night have been alive!

here's another one I found:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=EW9Mn1dRmEQ

In those situations, the pills won't help you now, indeed.

Pills aren't a magical fix, by any means. I've had experiences where the energy around me was bad and I haven't had a good time, despite the chemicals flowing through my brain. It's like your in the car and you can feel the engine running, but the car isn't going anywhere. It's not a fun ride.

@kosek: thanks for the YT links!

I was really disappointed that night to the point where I couldn't enjoy the music that much. Even though I liked the chemical brothers' set, the crowd and the place were horrid. Are there any other clubs in central London where I can listen to proper music without having to go to a cheap club so that the scum of the earth doesn't make up 99% of the crowd?

luther there are plenty of great clubs in london where you can hear all sorts of wicked stuff, depending on what you like. Unfortunately since a lot of the bigger clubs have been closing down recently, they're harder to find.

Imo, the best nights are generally to be found at the smaller venues. Unfortunately the Chems don't play at these venues anymore

that last video was nang, was that a dub plate special of "staring at the sun" ? Looks like Tom had a sampler there triggering stuff, very fun.

Coachella will hopefully have ample room since they're one of the headliners. But in the fabric situation, I can't blame you guys, crowded places with punk-asses are no good, especially when they keep pushing by and getting your feed crushed (I've just begun to push them on their way)

^ Dope Coil, that's where the sample is from!

Although I agree that the dance floor was far to busy at the start of the set, and I had to have a word with a few dicks for jumping into other people who were trying to dance. As a hole I had a really good time at Fabric. It's always going to be packed at the start of there sets, as everyone in the club goes on the dance floor, but later i thought it got a lot better.

The new track after Sunglasses at Night (Popof remix) blew my head off :)

Hubie, a good club is Egg, its inbetween Kings Cross and Camden. The music is brilliant, but once again some people can be dicks, but its worth going to.

I've been living here in London for over six years and I've been to most venues here at some stage or other. However, I haven't been to the Egg but I've heard mostly bad stuff about it tbh.

@london dust explosion: I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. I for one refuse to tolerate crowds that big though and I don't think anyone else should either. I doubt anything will change though.

Glad to hear that the new track was bangin'!

Sweet videos! I know what you guys mean about the overcrowding. When the Prodigy came to Toronto, it was so crowded that I had a hard time enjoying myself. First the tickets sold out, then they released another 100 and they sold out, then they released ANOTHER 100. They were literally shoving people in through the front doors.

Sorry, im hijacking the thread. Great to see this dj set. I love how they used the old "mind bending chemicals" intro. :)

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

--mindbendingchemicals--