REVIEW: MUSIC ON LONDON @ STUDIO 338

I’ll start with the bad, and end with the good. Nobody likes to end things on a bad note.

Photo Credits: @musicon

On 9th February, Italian DJ and owner of Music On, Marco Carola, hosted his annual birthday celebration in London’s Studio 338, and it’s safe to say the event was grossly oversold. While Studio 338 is a respected venue in the techno community, regularly hosting huge labels such as Solid Grooves and Abode, in my opinion, Music On is too big of an event to host in such a small space. Usually based in Ibiza’s Amnesia and rarely visiting England, Music On sold out within minutes, with partiers paying up to £60 for a ticket.

On arrival, the entry was an exhaustive process, with bouncers checking ID’s three times and thorough bag and body searches being carried out. Once through, I put my coat in the cloakroom (spoiler alert: this was a massive mistake) and went to the bar to get a drink.

As more and more people arrived the room became unbearable. If I managed to get a comfortable spot, with enough room to dance and space to breathe, it wasn’t long before groups elbowed their way through, pushing to take up any space available.

The dancefloor in the main room is accessed by a row of stairs, which turned into carnage once the room was full. Although not too steep, manoeuvring in and out of the dance was almost impossible with crowds of people pushing and shoving to get in and out. This made going to the toilet, getting a drink and going outside an absolute nightmare. A prisoner in the crowd, I made do without a drink and held my wee for far too long.

Once I plucked up the courage to leave the sweatbox, get a drink and finally piss, I had to desperately battle through the swarm of people on the stairs, who we’re intent on forcing their way through to the front. Admittedly, it wasn’t the crowds fault. With many having paid extortionate prices to attend the event, of course everyone wanted a good view, and to get as far away from the dreaded stairs as possible.

The event finished at 7am and this is when the true chaos began. Trying to leave the venue and get our coats from the cloakroom was impossible. In a horde of sweaty, exhausted and fed-up ravers, we stood, not moving for about twenty minutes. With mobs of Italians pushing their way through the crowd, people became increasingly impatient, with a bunch of useless bouncers barking inconsistent orders at us. The organisation was diabolical.

The solution to the mess- redirect the queue outside, in the cold morning RAIN, to wait to collect our coats from the cloakroom. I’ll repeat, I waited outside, in the rain, to get the coat that I’d paid to put in the cloakroom, to keep me warm and protect me from the rain. Ironic, isn’t it. With my fake tan streaky, my mascara running and my clothes soaked through, I waited for another FOURTY minutes, until I FINALLY got my coat and left the venue.

HOWEVER, it wasn’t all bad. I promise.

Marco Carola, the Italian hero, absolutely smashed his four hour closing set. With the crowd nicely warmed up by Paco Osuna, Carola hit the decks at 3am, playing until 7 in the morning.

The night flew by with the genius himself taking the crowd on a magical journey, dropping some incredible beats that had everybody in the room moving. With the bass thumping, the toe-tapping tunes kept on coming, with the king of techno mixing the classics such as Groove Armada’s ‘Superstylin’, as well as one of summer’s hottest tracks, ‘At Night’.

Carola is at the top of his game and in my opinion, there is no one else in his league. With the ability to deliver implausible events week in and out in Ibiza, it was a privilege to see this tech-house genius play in my home country on his birthday. Consistently providing the crowd with an insane collection of techno’s newest beats mixed with old school classics and timeless anthems, his sets remain original, crafting intricate masterpieces and electrifying music. With the ability to communicate with the crowd through soul and sensuality, it’s safe to say that nobody else compares.

Overall, the music was unreal, the event was oversold and the end was an absolute disaster. Despite everything, I’ll probably still try get a ticket for next year’s event. Hopefully this time, I’ll be prepared, armed with the knowledge that it is massively oversold and ridiculously crowded, but worth it to see techno’s biggest DJ, King Carola.