The consensus is that Bash was a triumph. It was wild! I’m sure it’s partly to do with the fact that Dubstep is the hottest sound on the planet right now. For this was an evening where the leading lights of dubstep, convened by your hero and mine (and key link between Dubstep and its industrial forebears) Kevin Martin in partnership with Loefah (the best producer in the world right now? I think so), got together, kicked back, and played reggae, in the knowledge that by the end of 2006, they will probably all be so famous a relaxed night like this just won’t be able to happen.
So it goes with the historification process.
So get Bash while it’s hot. I think John put it best when he said it was like being in someone’s front room — someone with both fantastic taste in dancehall (and jungle, for that matter) and a HUGE fuck off sound system. (Not quite the best sound in London, not while Shaka’s alive anyway, but not bad.) And obviously, it’s not quite as good as being in John’s front room and playing his tunes, but then not many people have a collection as good as his.
I loved it from the first minute — yo know you’re onto a winner when Loefah’s on the door selling tickets (or in John’s case, crossing you off the guest list, jammy bastard) — I tell you, I nearly creamed myself. I met a bunch of other people that night and all I can say is, these dubstep folk are really nice. The picture above is me giving it up for Kode 9, who played a blinder and reckoned it was the most relaxed DJ set he’d ever done — “Play a record, hit stop, play another record” — though he still managed to play that DEVESTATING ragga jungle classic, Krome & Time’s “Studio 1 Lik”, which is a big fave of mine and went down an absolute storm. Pokes reached across the decks and rewound it straight off. Class.
Anyway. Bash. Dancehall power!!!