Solardo Sessions at Switch Southampton, 10.2.18

Our second trip of the year took us down back to to the coast, where Southampton's new super club has had everyone talking. Switch Southampton is fast becoming the go-to venue for ravers, promoters and DJs, with some huge names on the bill already for the 3 year old club. House & techno form the core of the club's foundations, with DJs including Sven Vath, Skream, Dusky and brands such as Kaluki, Abode and elrow all venturing down to the coast. 

A strong focus of the club's event schedule has been made with it's surrounding population in mind, Southampton being dominated by students, Switch also caters to week day events, and various other genres including drum & bass, and grime. Consisting of two rooms, the main space is a large open plan setting, whilst room 2 - 'The Bunker' offers a more intimate environment, mirroring the likes of the Sankeys Basement. Both rooms offer a combined capacity of 1500 (roughly 1250 main room, 250 Bunker) and with the huge headline acts they pull in week in week out, it’s no surprise the events often sell out in advance. Tonight's showcase hosted a duo who had a huge 2017, and were now amidst their very own tour; Solardo Sessions. 

Before the madness unfolded at Switch, we headed down to their sister club; Orange Rooms. An ideal space for a warm up, with the upstairs area dubbed 'Room Service' offering a close-walled setting, which filled up nicely with an energetic pre-party vibe. Will McNamara b2b Mongo providing us with some light techy beats in preparation for the night ahead.

Venue

Drink Prices

Beer : £4.20-£5 (bottles/cans)

Mixers : £4.90 single, £7.80 double

Water : £3

A thumbs up from us here, cheaper than most venues of a similar scale, and in the heart of a popular city, albeit a student one. Currently only one bar is available in the main room, so an additional bar would be great to see. 

Venue Staff

Door staff on the night had a smooth, quick system in place to avoid long queues, whilst bar staff greeted with a smile and were being patient with the packed out crowd, quick on their feet to serve and avoiding a long wait to guzzle some shots. 

Heat

Even when the venue had reached full capacity, the heat levels were relatively low and ventilation was good throughout. The high ceiling dating back to the club's original purpose as a theatre, allows far more heat in before becoming an uncomfortable climate to rave in.

Crowd

Young and lively, being predominantly made up of university students, leaving a real buzz about the venue. A very welcoming and happy crowd with smiles all round, all there for one thing; the music (and maybe to get a bit wavy).

Production/Sound

Production

Here is where switch truly demonstrates it's quality as a venue. An extensive selection over both rooms of the venue, with the main room holding a big budget lighting offering, closely rivalling some of the super clubs of the world. An army of vibrantly coloured lasers, mutli-purpose beam/spot lights and bespoke visual panels around the DJ box all feature in the jaw-dropping set up. Not to mention various Co2 cannons, smoke machines and confetti providing an immersive visual experience like no other in Southampton.

Sound
Finding a fitting sound system for a large, high ceilinged space is no easy task. Reaching all corners of such an open main room requires a carefully orchestrated set up. Switch chose to partner with sound experts Audio Feed, for designing a Funktion-One system to pack the punch they needed. The installation featured two Funktion-One Evo 6EH speakers, together with two F215 Mk2 bass speakers on both sides of the DJ booth. A further eight Funktion-One F121 bass enclosures are also stacked on the ground to the side of the room, finished with eight F101 compact loudspeakers spread throughout the space to ensure sound reaches all the available areas - basically, it's f***ing loud. 

DJ Sets

MANT

London based duo Andy and Sam make up the disc jockey alias that is MANT, who in the past two years have been causing quite a stir. Releasing a collaborative EP with Solardo back in 2016 on MTA records was their first big production milestone, with the pair then continuing to gain momentum, dishing out tracks to labels such as Solardo's Solä Records CR2 and Circus. Not looking to take their foot off the gas anytime soon, there's seemingly much more on the horizon for MANT, including a number of DJ bookings. Following on from Switch’s own resident DJ Tom Clark, the duo opened up with Erik Hagleton’s remix of Basement Jaxx’s ‘Jump n Shout;’ a vastly well-known crowd pleaser, perfect for raising the atmosphere with it's groovy build up and afro style vocals. MANT continued this style for the first half of their set, with tracks including their colab with Solardo; ‘Something like that,’ and Riva Starr’s edit of Groove Armada’s original ‘Superstylin.’ Further into the performance the duo blended a variety of tracks spanning over house, tech and various sub-genres inbetween. Something which can be a difficult task given the contrasts between the sounds, however MANT made light work of it, naturally mixing the distinct tracks almost like second nature. A prime example being the transition from Franky Rizardo’s ‘Call upon me’ with its very chilled and tranquil notes blending into Detlef’s bass heavy ‘Jaydee.’ A clever and precise assortment of tracks chosen, paving the way for the next set of the night. 

Mason Maynard

Stepping up to the decks, taking over from Del-30 was the scene's newest rising star; Mason Maynard. An artist who's been taking the tech house scene by storm with both his production and performances, having only just started his journey. Bursting onto the scene through producing last year and almost immediately landing releases on respectable labels Solä Records, Relief Records & Repopulate Mars. Soon after Mason was behind the decks showcasing his music and securing bookings throughout the country, including a resident spot for Solardo Sessions. Most recently the Manchester lad teamed up with Relief boss Green Velvet for a huge collab titled 'Auto Mate', which has since been doing the rounds all over the scene. His set at Switch oozed that talent which he's quickly become know for, dropping anthems throughout, building the tempo and setting the standard for what was to follow. The insane drop on Detlef’s “Kinky Tail” was met by Co2 cannons blasting into the crowd and an emphatic cheer from the room. Soon after “False Truths” by none other than Mason himself blasted onto the speakers, featuring those instantly recognisable vocals before dropping into a thumping tech house bomb. A clear example of why the 21 year old DJ/Producer has found himself sitting in the Beatport Top 10 best selling artists.

Paul Woolford

Hailing from Leeds the preceding act before the headline duo Solardo, was an industry legend who's been in the game since the nineties; Paul Woolford. Running a residency at Space Ibiza alongside Nic Fanciulli and creating countless ingenious productions under multiple guises such as Hip Therapist, Bobby Peru, Wooly and Special Request are just some of his career triumphs. Years on, the dance music luminary is still at the top of his game, featuring all over the planet as a cultured veteran of the scene. Opening his set was The Martinez Brothers' fabled edit of ‘Play to win’ by Heaven 17, leaving the crowd whistling along to the timeless classic. The opening tracks to follow drew on a different approach to the previous acts, selecting a slower tempo, with a garage esque beat, comprised of deep dub-like effects. A remix of Bodyjack’s ‘Hotspot,’ from his alias Special Request being a prime example. As the set drew towards a close, Paul flipped the mood and demonstrated his diversity as a DJ, with some electronic disco tracks such as ‘Jv Ride’ by John Heckle and ‘Sunset yellow’ by General Ludd leaving the room's spirits at an all time high, in preparation for the closing spectacle.

Solardo

The closing set of the set of the night was handed to event hosts; Solardo. Currently in the form of their lives on the production front, we couldn’t wait to hear some of their latest tracks blitz through Switch’s mighty Funktion-One sound system. The Mancunian duo always let their energetic personalities influence their sets; fast paced build ups followed by bass heavy drops being a common feature, while also not being afraid to bring in a classic like Wham’s 'Club Tropicana'. This night paid credit to exactly that, the duo's energy feeding into the crowd, selecting their brand new release which has certainly been making all the headlines; 'Today’s News'. Quickly becoming a firm fan favourite, the track rolled through Switch with a huge reception. Another highlight came from Solardo's groovier selections, 'Techno Disco Tool' by Mella Dee leaving a buzzing vibe in the main room as the Solardo Sessions began to draw to a close. 

Overall

Only a year into their story and already the contributions made by Switch to Southampton's house & techno scene are unrivalled. Amplifying the area's offering and pulling in some of the industry's biggest names to the coastal city. Flooded with lively, energetic ravers, Southampton needed a venue to cater for the weekly house & techno fix. Switch chose to roll the dice, not compromising on production/sound, instead giving Southampton a big budget audiovisual experience, and boy has it paid off. An ideal spot for the event hosts Solardo, who's busy tour has taken them all over the world showcasing their iconic sound. Their sold out takeover of Switch proving just why they're at the top of the game. 8/10



image credit : Switch