REVIEW: DRUMCODE HALLOWEEN @ TOBACCO DOCKS, LONDON

"In my opinion, the crowd was one of the friendliest crowds I’ve been a part of for a long time. The open-minded set of troops made the atmosphere complete with their positive energy and appreciation of good quality, authentic techno."

Photo Credits: Resident Advisor

Tobacco docks, situated in the heart of East London, has been home to Adam Bayer’s annual Drumcode Halloween spectacular since 2014, and is arguably, the perfect venue to host techno’s most anticipated event of the year. Drumcode Halloween has become synonymous for providing the biggest line-ups, coupled with incredible production, sound and lighting to produce a huge day of sell-out techno.

Let’s talk about tobacco docks. It’s big and it can be confusing. An enormous labyrinth of glass walls and dark corridors, but an ideal space for a dark, heavy rave. With plenty of staff around to help guide you through the maze, it’s not long before you’ve got to grips with the floorplan and you’re ready to join the groove. The festival takes place across three rooms, the Gallery, the Great Gallery and the Carpark, each with their individual quirks that adds to the atmosphere of the day.

The Great Gallery hosts the main event with Adam Beyer providing one of his infamous spellbinding sets, dropping some of the year’s biggest tracks such as ‘Losing Your Mind’ and ‘Space Date’. Unfortunately, Ida Engberg, had to cancel her 16:40-18:30 set in the Great Gallery, but this didn’t stop the main room from stomping, with Beyer and Bart Skils hitting the decks for a sinewy b2b extended set. While the Great Gallery is a huge room, the Gallery, which has recently had a makeover, offers a smaller space to provide personal and intimate sets with music legends Alan Fitzpatrick and Nicole Moudaber.

For me, the highlight of the festival is the Carpark, one of the best venues for techno in the UK. Appropriately named, the space is a long, underground, concrete tunnel, which provides ravers with a dark, loud space to enjoy industrial beats and powerful tech from the likes of Paco Osuna and Dense & Pika. The quick flashes of the lasers cut through the pitch black room and compliment the fast, melodic baseline and rhythms of the sets.

Charlotte De Witte, the headline artist in the Carpark, is no stranger to Drumcode’s notoriously noisy, heavy sets. Playing way later than expected, Charlotte kept ravers two-stepping with her seductive set right into the night.

The Halloween event attracted partiers from all over the country, lavishly dressed as witches and zombies, ghosts and skeletons. But, fancy dress or no fancy dress, in my opinion, the crowd was one of the friendliest crowds I’ve been a part of for a long time. The open-minded set of troops made the atmosphere complete with their positive energy and appreciation of good quality, authentic techno.

I will definitely be attending next year’s event.