Prepare to dance: This year's Peacock Society was pure musical alchemy
International techno stars met a thriving Parisian scene at Parc de Floral
Green Velvet & Harvard Bass 'Laser Beams'
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
