Over the weekend just gone we had the pleasure of visiting the O2 Academy in Brixton for Knife Party’s Halloween Celebration. The academy was host to a whole range of talent, as is apparent from the line-up. Knife Party were to be supported by none other than: Dillon Francis, Flosstradamus, Monsta, Lets Be Friends and Baratone.
When we arrived, it was immediately obvious that we had come to the right place, having not visited this O2 Academy before it really stands out! It started out as a cinema / theatre and then became the music venue it is today with a standing capacity of nearly 4,000 people downstairs.
After we were hustled through the seemingly tight security, we had a quick browse round the venue. Two large staircases (decorated accordingly) on either side of the lobby took you up to the balcony whilst several doors on the ground floor lead to the main room and Vip area. Knife Party merchandise was available, T-shirts and tank tops galore. We decided to head straight for the nearest bar. I don’t want to harp on about drink prices but £5.20 for a pint and £8.95 for a double vodka orange juice did seem kind of steep. Never the less the prices didn’t deter us and we proceeded to get a few drinks in. After finishing up at the bar we went to take a look at the stage, which was pretty amazing. The design of the stage was impressive and the lighting was already doing its best to entice people to dance. At this point we headed towards the front of the crowd as the venue was slowly starting to fill up.
Quick video from the balcony to give you an idea of the scale of the stage
When Lets Be Friends started their set, the pace picked up and the crowd started to dance more. I had heard of Lets Be Friends before coming down to London, however I hadn’t heard a set by them so I was unsure of what to expect. I can tell you now, the hype surrounding this pair is well deserved. The mix below is in places fairly similar to the one they played on Saturday night. It packs loads of tunes! Whilst they were only a support act, I’m sure they will soon be putting on their own shows. I for one would go and see them again. In regards to their set, what an intro! We couldn’t help but sing along, very clever guys! I’m sure you will hear more of Lets Be Friends from us. I’ve also included one of their tracks below.
Dillon Francis has always been a bit of an idol to me, its no secret that I think he’s awesome, I only hope he heard me… “Dad?” A lot of people have said to me that he was their favourite act of the night. Despite a couple of technicalities his set was good (“fuck technology”) and included a couple of classics. Bootleg Fireworks sounds great live.
The most interesting discovery for me during this event, was during Flosstradamus’s set. Up until now, I have listened and supported trap music, but never really understood why it came about or attracted the massive following it has (Flossy have over 600k followers on soundcloud) This gig would be the one to reveal everything. When you have trap blasted into your ears from speakers the size of these, not only is the ground vibrating but you can feel the music pulsing through you and you can’t help but bust a move. If you have never been to a show with trap style music before, I would strongly recommend it, it will convert you into an all star trap loving raver.
As you can hopefully see from the main video on this post, Knife Party’s set went off! This is pretty close to the set Knife Party played, just in case you couldn’t be there.
After Knife party had finished, Monsta did a live version of Messiah. It was a nice touch to have some live vocals as this was the only time throughout the night that this happened.
To sum up, the show was great, the music and atmosphere in general were awesome, everyone wanted to be there and had the music as a common interest. I would recommend this event to anyone looking for something to do on Halloween. Assuming they are going to put it on again, we will see you all next year!
