Prepare to dance: This year's Peacock Society was pure musical alchemy

Moodymann, Warehouse

Like Snoop Dogg, Moodymann is today known by many for his cartoon-character like appearance and propensity for dropping awkward tracks like ‘Sex On Fire’ at British festivals. It’s a shame, because Moodymann is a good selector and a raucous party DJ, even if he tends to stick to a select few records he knows he can rely on. Playing the main stage before Apollonia, Kenny Dixon Jr., head honcho of Mahogani Music, kept the crowd on their toes, veering from obscure disco cuts to the original of Moderat’s ‘Bad Kingdom’ to this, Marc Kinchen’s ‘Burning’, a track that might just qualify as the definitive deep house track.

Midland, Squarehouse

As Avalon Emerson finished with a flurry of jungle, Midland stepped up to deliver a set of hard-hitting techno and disco house. Smooth transitions and solid, bass-heavy selections were the order of day. His set contrasted sharp, beat-driven techno with tracks that sounded like shafts of light breaking through the cavernous warehouse’s sloped ceiling. Axel Boman’s ‘ABBA 002’ was such a moment, when the record’s glorious melody had dancers reaching skyward. More than a year on from its release, you would think Harry Agius would be a little bored of dropping ‘Final Credits’ to rapturous applause on an almost bi-weekly basis. Clearly he hasn’t and I for one am glad of it.

The Black Madonna, Squarehouse

Kicking off with an impromptu back-to-back with Midland (the two have become close friends of late) the crowd in the Squarehouse grew substantially as Apollonia took to the adjacent Warehouse stage. The Black Madonna took control and each track was delivered with the perfect dosage of crowd interaction: a clap here, a twirl there. Every selection had us thinking “What is this?”. Green Velvet and Harvard Bass's 'Laser Beams' epitomised that feeling. Marea Stamper has a talent of placing well-known tracks in contexts where they sound fresh. Scottish duo Slam’s ‘Vapour’, whilst overplayed, felt well-suited to the space. Even Plastikman’s 'Spastik' felt apt, and gave a useful indicator of the quality of the Squarehouse’s soundsystem: Hawtin’s notorious kick felt like a minor seismic shift occurring beneath the concrete dancefloor. The Black Madonna may have delivered the finest set of the weekend, cutting between italo-disco, speed-garage, techno and spaced-out euphoria courtesy of Phil Kieran’s remix of ‘Dancing Bears’. As DVS1 took over and the clock struck 5, Stamper received the loudest, longest applause of the festival.

Alex Green is Mixmag's Weekend Editor and will probably be back next year. Follow him on Twitter here