Before I even start its really hard to write a good review without it sounding corny so at any point throughout this piece you think that I’m gassing, then I don’t really care to be honest because a line up including everyone from Toddla T and Sticky to Doorly and Klose One & Rattus Rattus not to mention live PA’s from Lady Chann and Katy B to the surprise MC’s Flirta and Bruza, plus I’m pretty sure the people who made it down to the Shoreditch venue will agree with me.

In the quickest queue I’ve been in in a long time you could already hear that type of bass where hours later you leave the rave and there’s just that dead ringing tone going through both your ears, but tweets from Urban Nerds that day promised a stupid amount of noise from EIGHT Funktion speakers and anyone who has been to the Hewitt Street warehouse knows the venue isn’t that big (over 1500 people made it down by the way). Straight in and as soon as we get a drink from the bar on the lower level whilst vibezing to Chase and Status and Ms. Dynamite, girl of the moment Katy B’s soulful tones can be heard so we head to the upper level for her live set. Katy gives Good Life the refix treatment and looking around it turns out warehouse parties aren’t full of kids as way too many people are singing along. Moving onto the tracks for which she’s well known things get a little funky with As I and Tell Me before Louder and Katy On A Mission absolutely smash up the place. I give it to her she was as calm as ever not a note in the wrong direction despite a stream of random requests for her to start bussing some old school jungle skanks and a crowd that to call hype would really be the worst understatement ever.

It was seriously like being in a pinball machine all night racing from one room to the next to outside for air to back in to the toilets, to the bar you get the point… all in the attempt to not miss any of the DJ’s or artists on the line up but I’m not superhuman so hell if I missed some things out, allow me. So from Katy B it was down to legend Sticky who warmed up the decks with his own old school stonkers including those with classic collaborator Ms Dynamite before ripping into an epic bashment set. Next minute you know there’s girls on speakers, Movado’s talking about why he’s So Special I’m so busy taking it in, I realise I’ve gone from being in the middle of the dancefloor to up against the wall,  jacket no longer in my possession and I nearly lost a shoe! By the time Sticky brought Bruza and Flirta to join him on stage I had to escape to the funky house flavas seeping through from upstairs before the first portaloo stop of the night (Fact: The only downside to warehouse parties – no proper toilet!) despite all the stick that events like this get from people presuming everyone there is off their faces or underage or whatever my chat to a girl in the portaloo queue is about her moving to Brazil next week to film a documentary in the favelas of Rio whilst outside I meet a young actor studying at RADA before bumping into an engineer.

Anyway I digress back to the rave, even from outside I could hear Lady Chann’s set complete with every pull up; UK females are really stepping up right now with some serious work rates just before she stepped on stage Funky Princess Nyah was doing her thing and I don’t need to tell you about Katy B again do I? not to mention Mz Bratt, Lioness, Roses Gabor, Cooly G, Jodie Connor, No Lay, Ms Dynamite, I could go on for a while but you get the point.

Inside and back upstairs there’s some type of serious three way battle going on between dubstep, drum n bass and jungle from Tomb Crew but it was Toddla T who seriously smashed things up alongside the hyper than hype Serocee when Lauryn Hill’s voice rang out Ready or Not I suppose that was a warning for exactly how many bangers Toddla T can fit into one set, jungle and drum and bass classics mixed in with Donaeo’s I’m Fly alongside Newham Generals Hard and let me tell you my teeth were literally chattering with the bass that was inflicted on me during that track. The vibes continued with Rattus Rattus & Klose One reaching for everything and anything from old school jungle to Redlight’s remix of Kano’s Get Wild and I’d name drop the rest but the set was just too filthy to remember and I would have moved back dowstairs to check out Heatwave for longer who were no doubt provoking a whole lot of daggering with their bashment set but headliner Doorly was up next and I’d been told I had to witness one of his sets since it was pretty much unclassifiable by genre. Now I’ve seen alot of DJ’s and any DJ that manages to mix people like H20, Boy Better Know and Major Lazer without it sounding like any of those late ass compilations these companies insist on releasing like every week then I rate you.

So next time you find out Urban Nerds are putting on another of their epic nights don’t be long get your early bird tickets get down there and take it all in for yourself!

www.urban-nerds.com

Image by Anna Melnikova

Tags: Bigger Than Barry, Bruza, Doorly, Flirta D, Heatwave, Katy B, Klose One & Rattus Rattus, Lady Chann, Online Review, Serocee, Sticky, Toddla T, Tomb Crew, Urban Nerds