Glitterbox at Ministry of Sound, London 14th October 2017

Disco Prevails. Hot off it's success in the Balearic island of Ibiza, Simon Dunmore's Glitterbox has taken the scene by storm with its commitment to core disco roots, feel good vibes and colourful themes.

Leading the incline of a cultural gap in the industry and breaking away from the norm, opting to cater for a community of ravers who have little coverage in terms old school disco and straight up house. It's proved to be an absolute hit since beginning in only 2014 and holding sold out residencies in Space and Hï Ibiza. In this time the Defected concept has also dabbled away from the white isle, with one off parties held in one of the UK's finest and well respected venues; Ministry Of Sound London. 

Ticket Prices :
£12
£18
£23
£26

Venue

Opened in 1991 as the country's first 'dance club', since then what's been built is an award winning, industry leading superclub. Adored by ravers, promoters and DJs around the world. Recognised as a utopia of electronic music, with a strong focus on house. Justin Berkmann, the founder, responsible for the birth of the superclub has seen his creation grow, whilst keeping his fundamental club values at heart throughout. Simplicity, soundsystem and the crowd are the club's core, consistently kept at the forefront of Berkmann's mind as developments have been made over the years. It's those initial foundations which have made the club so identifiable today.

Investments in a few key features which accounted for the majority of the club's start up funds, proved to end in success. The famous main room "The Box" featuring large speaker stacks in each corner of the room, providing fully immersive sound, along with a squash court material flooring, which would send sound waves vibrating through the bodies of ravers. This along with a few stunts along the way, promoting and celebrating the success of the club, put their name up in lights (literally below) and set their footprint on the industry.



Drink Prices
Single Mixer £7.50
Beer £5.50
Water £3

Closer to the top end of drink prices we've experienced in a rave venue, the club's popularity and fame likely having an imprint on this. Other venues in the capital do have slightly lower prices so it may not be your local every Saturday, although a very nearby Weatherspoons will serve as a cheap pre-drinks to warm up the night.

Venue Staff 
Arriving virtually as soon as the doors opened and straight away there was a pretty big queue for the popular event. Thankfully door staff have an effective system to churn the queues through quickly. Inside the venue bar staff are rushed off their feet but fully manned, keeping wait times to around 5 minutes max. Floor sweepers are also present to keep the dance floor clear and two-step ready.

Heat
The two busiest rooms of the venue - 103 & The Box can become noticeably hot, but not unbearable. Areas like a balcony in 103 are available to get away from the crowd heat if needed. Some additional ventilation towards the back of The Box would be a welcomed addition though.

Crowd
In line with both the club's policy and the event, anyone and everyone is welcome. If you're looking for a place to escape from the dull day to day and let your hair down, then Glitterbox at Ministry of Sound needs to be on your to do list. The atmosphere is electric and full of charm, humour and quite simply, feel good vibes. Breaking the divides between people which is so present in our daily lives, the entirety of the crowd there to enjoy themselves and forget the negativity in the world.

Production/Sound

Production

The two rooms we'll be featuring, both The Box and 103 had a solid offering when it comes to production. The first room seen as you enter the venue; 103 was littered with disco balls, filling the room with colour as a selection of rotating spotlights, par lights and lasers reflected around the space.

Step into main room; The Box and the top level production continues with more disco balls, room clearing strobes and countless rows of lighting, leading up to a large LED backdrop displaying the bright Glitterbox visuals. The extensive level of lighting here allows the venue to create a variety of different coloured scenes, suiting the pace and mood of the DJ's track selection and captivating the crowd into the set.



Both rooms also featured eccentric and brilliant dancers armed with our personal favourite piece of production, something so simple, yet when done right can be so effective. Confetti fired off into the crowd with Co2 cannons blasting behind, covering the room in a blanket of colour. The only downside was forgetting our drinks were now filled with confetti and taking a swig without realising...

Sound
Arugably the most iconic part of Ministry, is it's award winning sound system. Having already received countless acclaim for it's first class stereo sound system, in 2016 the club partnered with Dolby Atmos, pioneering the introduction of a cinematic style audio experience. The surround sound style is like no other and you really do need to hear it to believe it. 64 speakers make up the hair raising offering, which allows the DJ to control areas of the venue with particular levels of sound. On this night we had the pleasure of hearing their award winning Martin Audio sound system and quite simply, it's incredible. Classic FM could be blasting out of those speakers and you'd still have your best bass face on.

DJ Sets

Full Intention
We entered the club as the duo Full Intention opened to an already packed out Room 103. With a history of experience spanning 15 years, Michael Gray and Jon Pearn certainly had all the tools to get the crowd going and fuel the Glitterbox spirits from the outset. One of the first notable tracks being their very own hit released in 1998 "Everybody Loves The Sunshine", a brilliant uplifting vocal track followed later by the crowd pleasing classic "Gypsy Woman" by Crystal Waters. They provided us with a eclectic set deriving a mix of remastered house & disco, whilst adding a contemporary baseline onto the heavy soundsystem.


Little Louie Vega
Dubbed The Godfather of global dance music, Louie Vega has seen and played it all, the Bronx born star has had an illustrious career the past 35 years, dipping into all kinds of genres from jazz to salsa and on this night, the Grammy award winner headlined Glitterbox London for a three hour set.

The Master at Work treated us to a comprehensive funk and disco session, full of iconic tracks including Kings of Tomorrow's "Finally" and a track which virtually sums up all that Glitterbox stands for; "Free" by Ultra Nate was met with roars of the crowd singing along, hands in the air as confetti cannons fired off into The Box, goosebumps!


Melon Bomb
We ended our night with the uplifting and soulful house loving Melon Bomb. Consisting of 4 unique DJs all with strong and decorated backgrounds in the scene. Paul Reynolds, Ben Santiago, Juan Corbi and Scott Gray make up the team which has captured the attention of Ibiza visitors the past few years,. With their unique blend of old school music and positive vibes they create a nostalgic reminiscent sound which has seen their parties boom. Their set at Ministry of Sound would follow this style, indulging us on a variety of sounds including dance classics like Daft Punk's "Around The World" as well as displaying some of the more recent funky house sounds to be produced, from the likes of Purple Disco Machine with "Body Funk".  Another great set rounding off the night.

Overall 

Glitterbox was a sold out show, well in advance and after experiencing the event, we can see exactly why. The 1600 capacity venue was full to the brim with genuine enthusiasts for the music, club and brand.

An ideal venue with unrivalled sound and effective production offering, combined with a comprehensive selection of DJs, who had us travelling through time into all types of funky and groovy dance genres. Not only drawing on the well known classics, but also featuring some of the lesser known, yet still brilliant disco tracks out there, ones still being produced in this day, and we're sure they (and Glitterbox) won't be stopping anytime soon.

8.5/10