Printworks opening: Welcome to London's industrial playground

As soon as you step out of Canada Water tube station it’s clear an event at London’s newest venue is no average night out. For one thing, it’s 3pm on a crisp Saturday afternoon. Another is the amount of ravers outside the Surrey Quays shopping centre.

This is the opening of Printworks, London’s new mega-venue. With a capacity of 2500 people it’s another step forward for a city that has felt a lot more open as of late. Located in the former Metro and Evening Standard printing facility, the surrounding area is populated by a Pizza Hut, an Odeon Theatre and endless carparks. Seemingly not the best place for a rave but once you catch a glimpse of the venue, all of that melts away.

It’s an impressive building from the outside, a relic of the past that towers over the strip mall below. Approaching the venue, the sense of something more than a regular club night is evident. We’re excited and it’s obvious the people around us want to get on it with Seth Troxler, The Martinez Brothers and Loco Dice b2b for a 10-hour tech-house marathon that will open the Printworks account.

After a very thorough pat down from the bouncer, we’re inside 16 acres of no-frills, industrial warehouse. A plane hangar-sized entrance area includes a bar, and a stall to buy tokens for the drinks (the only place where a queue really formed throughout the venue). It also links through to a very well serviced smoking area that was decked out with two food trucks, including Smokey Tails, and its own bar.

But it was up the stairs from the entrance hall where the pearl in Printworks’ oyster was pumping on all cylinders. The dramatic Press Halls (room one) is a cavernous strip of unadulterated industrialism and it’s packed with people from the get-go. Although it's the early afternoon, time really feels irrelevant here. The DJs, perfectly framed by their narrow setting, are given a religious aura by the ultra-high roof above them and the raised booth. Like priests on a pulpit delivering to their loyal disciples. The ‘God Is A DJ’ trope is regularly regurgitated in dance music, but this time it really felt like a place of worship and it showed on awe-struck faces in the crowd. A balcony that ran along both sides of the room above the dancefloor is expected to stay closed to punters but if they ever decide to open it up, it would also add another dimension to the room.

Of course with a space of that shape and size made of unyielding materials like metal, sound was expected to be an issue. But there were few opening night jitters. For the most part it delivered consistently throughout the space except in the middle of the room where the sound slightly lacked. But we were just as able to have a dance at the back of the room as we were sardined up the front and with a few tweaks after a few more events, it could become one of the best systems in London (especially if it's as well tailored to the disco of Floating Points, who has a show here on March 4, as it is the numerous house and techno acts booked).

Despite a musical offering as strong as you would expect from the trio in the Press Hall, the lighting rig almost stole the show. An epic laser is made up of six smaller ones attached to beams that hang from the roof and move on chain pulleys while lights flash up and down the strip as if bringing in a plane to land. It makes for a great atmosphere perfect for blocking out whatever is outside and losing yourself in the dance. The much smaller Charge Bay (room two) should also be applauded. If the main floor does get too rammed, the wooden floors and four-point Void soundsystem of the second room showed it had huge potential as an alternative if the line-up is decent.

With Troxler finishing on The Streets’ warm piano groover ‘Weak Become Heroes’, an ode to euphoric clubbing experiences, it paid the night due tribute. This is a venue London deserves. It’s an inspired setting that isn’t dragged down by mundane issues like lines at the bar or a grim smoking area. Particularly pleasant is that a day schedule such as this could have easily devolved into a full on corporate wreck-head festival but it retained a warehouse spirit built on respect for the venue (the B-word was even thrown around in comparison). So help us all if it gets a late-night license in the future.

To round off, check out the 10 tracks that made the day/night special.

We will be back at Printworks livestreaming Adam Beyer All Day Long on February 25 which can be viewed on Mixmag's Facebook and YouTube channels.