On Saturday 14th September house music lovers gathered at The Lambeth (formerly the Brixton Clubhouse) for the summer closing party of Slide On The Terrace.
Keen as always, I was there when it opened at 4pm and was rewarded with a very enjoyable set of disco, electro and funk from Pandadontdisco. It’s a shame there weren’t more people there but the small crowd that had shown up early gathered together under the covered dance floor, Pandadontdisco making it impossible not to dance. It was pure, feel-good dance music, perfect for the terrace party atmosphere. If only it had been warm enough to whip the lid off the hot tub…
When Pandadontdisco’s set finished, Lloyd Wakemen cut the music completely for an uncomfortable thirty seconds and then came in with a mood-killing, chill-out track… Oops. I understand that he had an idea in his head of how his set was going to pan out, but he left forty odd enthusiastic disco dancers stood awkwardly on the dance floor, not knowing what to do with themselves.
The Eskimo Twins brought back the fun, dropping some crowd pleasers like Disclosure’s White Noise. Towards the end of their set I went downstairs to check out who was playing in The Boudoir- a small room that felt like being in the kitchen at a house party. It was rammed full of people loving the down tempo house music.
As the DJs playing in The Boudoir hadn’t been listed online, I sidled up to somebody stood by the DJ booth to ask for a name… Turns out I was talking to one of the founders of Slide- he told me that The Boudoir was basically a party for Mike Funk’s 40th- one of the original Slide resident DJs. The DJ who was playing as we were talking was Will Pitchers, Mike Funk’s cousin apparently.
There was an old school house party feel going on all night, largely due to the easy-going crowd that showed up, just there for the music and to catch up with friends. I even spotted Felix and Al from Hot Chip hanging around on the sun loungers before their set.
By the time they took to the decks, the terrace was heaving, warmed up by the Eskimo Twins and ready to rave. Felix and Al stuck with the feel-good, joyful house music vibe and closed the terrace on a high.
Everybody moved down to the club for more house music from Em Williams and then Casino Times. Once the terrace was closed the tempo changed, some dark techno was brought in and I decided to take myself home, after dancing to upbeat disco, funk and house music for six hours.
If I’ve not been too hot on the specifics it’s because I was dancing too much to write things down- it’s a shame I discovered Slide On The Terrace just as it was finishing, but let’s hope they come back soon with some more brilliant, laid-back house music events.
by Tabitha Burns AKA Left Bank Manc
Photos by Shaun Whyman and James Haley
Discover Slide for yourself at their Halloween event !
