MY TIME @ : NYC DOWNLOW [GLASTONBURY] W/ MIDLAND

Dip your toes in the electronic music line-up that simmers behind what you see of Glastonbury on the BBC and it’s a well known fact that the water is very, very warm; if not ideal. Yet undoubtedly what makes the pilgrimage to the world’s most famous farm so special are the very arenas in which the finest in the business get to work. This year, playing a mere four sets in three days was none other than Midland. 

A pop-up hotel played host to arguably the producer of 2016’s most bass-laden appearance of the weekend in a b2b alongside Ben UFO and Joy Orbison. With Palms Trax at his side in a giant tiered coliseum, Sunday’s serving was some of the finest house and disco interspersed with spatterings of a darker nature. Earlier that evening was a live appearance as part of the duo AKASE rolling through their debut album ‘Graspers,’ released in January of this year. But the undoubted highlight came on Saturday night, his single solo voyage, deep in the bowels of Block9’s NYC Downlow, or as Midland himself describes the place, “categorically one of the best clubs in the world.” It appeared one not to be missed.

NYC Downlow is not a gay club: it is an institution. Whether incidentally, or coincidently by shunning my friends who couldn’t resist the lure of Adele, I certainly discovered this for myself. Without going into too much detail the venue is a replica of a 1982 New York Meatpacker’s warehouse equipped with giant carcasses, swathes of scrupulously researched fake advertising and the small detail of almost fifty competition-winning actors described as ‘a pansexual trans army and legion of go-go boy butchers’ (use your imagination with that).

Having paid the two pound entry to charity, moustache ensconced on my face as opposed to entry stamp as a sign of that, I was transported into a surreal world of sweat and sight unlike anything ever experienced before - a far cry from the school up the road in which Midland tuned his ear as part of the chamber choir. He has spoken of attending the Downlow as “like coming home,” and what transpired over the next hour and a half was not a man doing his job, but simply having fun with his best mates in the front row.

Regardless of sexual orientation the atmosphere was infectious and everyone there had bought-in. Tucked firmly stage right and clad in his vest, the growing crowd in attendance were initiated into the evening through the man’s assured selection of vocal led disco-cuts smouldering gently before Raider’s of the Lost Arp’s ‘Night Theme’ signalled a change in tempo. It was apparently Bowie night, and seamlessly a guest joined the jovial crew of variously ‘starman’ costumed dancers on stage and I proceeded to understand just what that pansexual trans army was after all.

In no uncertain terms, the Downlow’s compère introduced the evening as the festival’s celebration of Pride week and what followed involved backwards handstands, vampires in high heels and not many clothes for those involved. All the while the perfect soundtrack rang out, hurtling into the techno realm and out the other side. Earl and Kofi’s string heavy summer banger ‘Sure Thing’ brought things back into control only for the incessant build of Floorplan’s ‘Funky Souls’ ensuring order was lost entirely. It all slotted together flawlessly and it became hard to know whether the music or the dancers were the main event. Yet in the blurred haze between the two, this was entirely irrelevant and the sense of enjoyment in the air was tangible.

As a yardstick of just how good Midland’s production output on his disco inspired label, ReGraded, has been of late, his set was brought to the boil in the form of ‘Double Feature.’ The pulsating hi-hats and laser beams were smoothed delightfully into the wonky trumpet and vocal sample of many a man’s track of the festival – ‘Final Credits.’ It appeared the ideal moment at which to close but keen to avoid cliché things were pulled right back and his set was shut down in the form of a vocal infused soul number.

Catching a few words afterwards with Midland as he joined the hordes on the dancefloor, he insisted he wouldn’t be leaving the establishment anytime soon. With nd_Baumecker, The Black Madonna as well as Tama Sumo all on the bill for the rest of the night it was easy to see why. There was already two-hour queue to get in, and all the while it was impossible to miss the giant snapped-in-half advertising board that adorned the roof of the building. It read ‘Try it. You might like it.’ They got that pretty right.

Words by Marcus
17/07/16