The Shapeshifters' Merry Month of March
Simon 'Shapeshifter' Marlin tells us all about their globe trotting trip, with all the photos to prove it!
The good people down at The End & AKA have asked me to put together a short photo diary of our tour of Australia and other shenanigans we got up to in March. “That was over a month ago”, I hear you say! Well get over it, it’s taken this long to be able to sit down and write about it!
On the 28th February we hit Heathrow Terminal 3 and boarded a flight to Sydney via Hong Kong. Two dinners, two breakfasts, one afternoon tea, six chocolate brownies, a bag of assorted nuts, a pack of Polos, three films and a Stillnox, and Faye Presto, 22 hours later we’re in Sydney. Feeling pretty disgusted at the size of our stomachs, Max and I head to hotel number one, looking pretty shite, I'm sure you’ll agree.
Gig one, Brisbane. The sun is shining and the first of our six shows is getting off to a great start, the vibe over the whole festival is cooking nicely, it's 6pm and Mark Knight and Laidback Luke have got the place jumping so we hit the ground running. The show is great, then some light refreshments and it’s off to the hotel to collapse.
Gig two, Rundell Park, Perth. 6am for an 8.30am flight to Perth, great idea! But with 3200 tickets sold we’re excited to get there and play; and we’re not disappointed. It’s hands in the air from the off; Perth really came out in force and showed a lot of love. Eddie Halliwell up next, complete with stage dive (which he subsequently blamed on me and my my love of Sambucca), we then carried on the party for Roger Sanchez to put the cherry on!
So then we have some time off... what to do?! I know, let’s hire a Porsche and drive through the Blue Mountains at speed, plus board a hired yacht for a jolly around Sydney harbour; it’s time for some of our gratuitous tourist photos, sorry!
Gig three, Randwick Racecourse, Sydney. The show we were most looking forward to, and I have to say, the most disappointing. Not due to the people, they were there in their thousands and were bang up for it, or the organisation, which was spot on. It was the meddling sound police with dB monitors that have no clue about the distribution of sound and its affects on one’s hearing. Over-zealous was an understatement; within 5 minutes of our set they had jogged 11dB out of the sound (that’s a lot) and forced us to have to turn our monitors toward the crowd. But fair play, everyone stuck with it, but it was very frustrating for us. Not bitter at all!
Gig four, the official afterparty at Home, Sydney. Big club, big sound, big crowd, very small monitors! Go figure. Anyway we were too drunk to give a shit and rocked it anyway.
Gig five, Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne. Last time we were in Melbourne we loved the crowd and were hoping for more of the same. It wasn’t long before we realised they were all present and correct. We went to check out Sven Vath (below) who was smashing it just ahead of The Chemical Brothers’ live performance. Back over to the Famous stage for our favourite set of the tour; Melbourne you rock!
This is Carl Kennedy’s best Mexican air guitar player impression. The camera never lies, priceless!
Check out the size of these crowds!
Gig six, Rubdell Park, Adelaide. Hot, hot, hot! Just under 45 degrees on stage and the crowd were kicking up a dust storm so that the decks were covered so much you could hardly see them. Nevertheless fair play to all that braved the sun in between trips to the parasols and water dispensers. Rocking vibe in crazy heat and a great way to end the tour.
We were back on the plane to London the next day, or so we thought. We had learned of a problem with the flights a day earlier when bumping into Tom and Ed from the Chems at Sydney airport. Their flight on Virgin was already cancelled and they were looking for alternatives, we thought we had lucked out by staying the extra day and getting the next flight; a great plan until we found out that all the passengers from the previous day were all trying to get on the flight also. Chaos starts to set in and we somehow manage to get our seats anyway. By this time Lady Luck is shining on us and we are rubbing our hands together at the bar, soon the rumours are circulating as to what really happened the day before; and the common theme was A FUEL LEAK! We were all giving it some “thank god we weren't on that plane” ha ha! We promptly cruise into Hong Kong for a two hour changeover. Two hours pass, no sign of moving, the troops were getting restless. The usual lounge mutterings and rumour mill went into full force, “the weather in London is bad”, “the crew are late”, “the pretzels are missing”, “the captain’s had a heart attack”! But no - actually the same plane that had a technical fault in Sydney yesterday was the same plane we were on, with the same technical fault. Lady Luck just keeled over!
We were sent off to a hotel whilst desperately calling travel agents to find alternatives, as it dawned on us that we had to fly to Tunisia in 24 hours for our next show -and staying in Hong Kong for the next flight meant only four hours turnaround in London. Fast-forward to 3pm the next day and the plane has finally decided to play ball and get us back to London.
So a short turnaround in London, all 4 hours of it, and we were back at Gatwick; this time for a relatively short hop to Tunisia. To say we were slightly jaded was an understatement, but britches were pulled up and we headed for Calypso club, which was well worth the effort.
Back to London and we had a much needed four days to catch up with some studio work before heading over to Croatia to play at Aurora ahead of our big Summer show there this year. It’s always brilliant, but left us feeling a bit groggy and not looking forward to embarking on three more flights just to get to Glasgow. But in the end it wasn’t too bad and Colours at The Arches was superb; the jocks were having it in very large fashion and we left there feeling pretty chuffed with the weekend manoeuvres. Then back to London to prepare for the onslaught of the Miami Winter Music Conference.
We were giving Miami another chance as for the last few years it was becoming a little bit like groundhog day, but with a fresh view on things, three shows to do and a spring in our step, we headed back with gay abandon! There’s always a feeling when you finally clear Miami customs that you’re in a special place and there is an air of expectancy as to what lies ahead, I think that’s why we have all been going back for years. For me it’s where I met my wife, and experienced Danny Tenaglia at Groovejet, so as much as it can overpower me sometimes, it has a special meaning and that's what I held onto this year rather than pretend it was good for business like most people.
Gig one, Defected at Set. Being the new boys at Defected we were eager to put on a good show for Simon and the crew. The line-up was awesome and the vibe felt good the minute we walked in. The fraternity were out in force and the crowd were there for a good time, lots of Brits on the dancefloor made for a special atmosphere, and Shovel was giving plenty on percussion! Job done. Photographic evidence below.
Gig two, Juicy Beach. We were asked to play at Robbie Rivera’s Nikki Beach extravaganza! We came, we saw, we left.
Gig three, I Love Crobar, at Dream. Bad Boy Bill and Kaskade on duty made for a varied but very cool night.
We found time while we were in Miami to catch up with some old friends (spot the DJs in the photo below!) and get up to some of our usual capers...
We had a great time, and were also lucky enough to have a chance encounter with the very talented Dr Geek. Walking back up Washington Ave with the crew we hear a Dr Dre Loop straining from a five inch speaker and there before us is a portly black man in what can best be described as a purple and silver mutant wizards hat and bright yellow t-shirt, and lo and behold we’ve just entered the surreal world of Dr Geek. Now you may think “oh another south beach crazy” - I did, but the minute he asked Lola’s name I was mesmerised. What followed was a genius flow of lyrics to match any word or name you threw at him, at a tempo and groove reminiscent of De La Soul and PM Dawn all backed up by Dre and Snoop. Long may he reign as the most positive rapper in the US. Youtube him, you’ll see what I mean. That’s why you’ve got to love Miami, not the conference; it’s the place, the vibe and the madness at 5am with your friends…Geek for president!
Gigs over, just a photo shoot some interviews and general checking out of parties to do before heading back to London.
So there you have our March, and the photos to prove it. The funny thing is, no matter how many countries we are privileged enough to see and play in, I still always find myself loving London more than anywhere else. It’s still the centre of dance music, still has great clubs and playing at Nocturnal in AKA after seven years still feels like scoring a goal at Highbury!
Published: Tue, 6/05/2008
