As gunpowder ignited fireworks across London, the population’s festive hangover quickly switched to joyous midnight kisses and an inevitable January comedown. The closing weeks of a calendar year seemed to strike panic chronicling among music fans, and a nervous stress surrounding the majority of New Year’s Eve plans. The pursuit for the perfect end-of-year event is one sought after by each and every branch of the music community, leading to an odd but undeniable sense of unity among musicians and their audience. One by one, each event hiked prices and standards to showcase the rarest and best line-ups to those not content with a suburban house rammed with warm larger and iPod DJs.
Among the relative clutch of UK clubs offering the most diverse and creative events, Fabric soared into the top ranks using its trusted musical selection and iconic three rooms alone. Having sown together a selection of dance music’s forward thinkers, the creative and stylistic confidence could be heard between the three dance floors throughout the night. Walking between the various rooms, intelligent, deep and tech influenced house quickly made way for Floorplan’s much talked about live show, which saw the godfather of minimal Robert Hood, direct from Panorama Bar in Berlin, construct a unique take on techno, using strains of disco and house.
The nights petri dish of talent made for a high calibre line-up of electronic’s most wanted, who stamped the opening hours of 2013 with originality. It seems as though part of Fabric’s continued success among clubbers and critics is its ability to keep an ear close to the realm of cutting edge music, drawing in legitimate figure heads from around the world. Creative legitimacy was evidently high on the priorities of Fabric for this end of year event, as the likes of Steffi, Four Tet and Dave Clarke skilfully constructed the highlights of the night using their un-ending eclecticism and brilliant track selection – between the bustling three rooms it was impossible not to be drenched in techno brilliance.
Much too often, New Year events overfeed the dance floors atmosphere into something top heavy, as the artist attempts to match the chaotic euphoria which falling balloons and screaming countdowns inevitably bring to a room. But Fabric’s enlisted talent, for the most part, managed to remain detached, and didn’t overkill what the crowd had already created. As resident Craig Richards took to room one to see through the final stages of the night, he was witness to a condensed display of what makes Farringdon’s noisiest thirteen-year-old so brilliant.
Words by Charlie Wood
