Zapback at the Zap Club, Brighton

17.03.2006

What a night!  When I saw the flyer for Zapback I had a big smile on my face, finally a big Old Skool night in Brighton! These nights are scarce around here so I had a feeling it would be a top night.  The line-up was looking good; in the main arena Ratpack, Slipmatt, Top Buzz and Dr S Gachet were headlining with MCs Ninety, Kernel and Raff.  Support would be from the Cut Loose DJs and Zero Hippies.  The Junglism Crew were booked for the second room.  Junglism is Brighton’s original Jungle night from back in the day, which unfortunately came to an end last year, so it would be nice to see them making a comeback.

The Zap is situated underneath the arches on Brighton seafront.  The venue is a nice size with two levels. The main arena has a large dancefloor with a small stage in the centre.  There is a second room upstairs in a smaller arch and also more chillout areas.  I feel the Zap was a good choice of club for an Old Skool night as it has more of an Old Skool vibe about it than some of the other venues in Brighton.  The promoters had done a good job of bringing back that rave feel by having UV backdrops, giant inflatables hanging from the ceiling and an amazing multiscan lazer in the venue, however, the visuals being shown on the screens could have been better.

I decided to be a bit of an earlybird and arrived at the venue at 11pm.  I was one of the first people, which did have its advantages as I didn’t have to queue up for the cloakroom!  As soon as I entered the club the tunes were wicked.  Anthems such as ‘Bombscare’ and ‘Some Justice’ were being dropped.  Every tune I heard brought back memories, and I was really pleased when I heard Dub War, a personal favourite of mine! 

Early in the night there was a wicked female DJ playing, unfortunately I did not find out her name as I was too caught-up listening to the tunes.  She dropped some old skool hip-hop influenced drum and bass tracks - everyone was loving it, as it is rare to hear that style now.  She was good at scratching too, her style sounded similar to that of Dj Hype’s.

At 12 Dr S Gachet stepped up.  I was really looking forward to his set and was expecting some nice Jungle vibes; I was a bit disappointed as he played a considerable amount of breaks, not really what I was expecting.  At this point I went to check out the jungle room.  Some old skool happy hardcore got played, not really my thing these days.  However, I was a fan back in the day so stayed and listened for a bit for old time’s sake.  I then headed back into the main room.  By now Jungle/Drum and Bass was being dropped, I was surprised to see it was Top Buzz on the decks as he normally plays tunes from before the jungle era.  I remember hearing Spiritual Aura, Ready or Not and Warning to name but a few.

At 2am it was time for Slipmatt.  He dropped some anthems including ‘Sound of Eden’.  The set then started to turn to breaks which I was not so sure about so I went back to the second arch for more of the Junglism Crew.  Mc ID was spitting on the mic and more Jungle/Drum and Bass was being dropped, I remember hearing ‘Jazz Note’ and ‘Dread Bass’.
 
The best part of the night for me had to be the Ratpack.  It bought back so many memories from being younger, when I used to see them play regularly.  They didn’t fail to please; Lipmaster Mark dropped all the usual favourites such as ‘Don’t Go’ and ‘Closer to Your Dreams’.  All the tunes you would expect to hear from Ratpack.  Everson Allen did a good job of hyping up the crowd like always with his energy and old skool flow.  I had a good rave at the front before realising it was getting quite late.  I had to be up for work in the morning so reluctantly I forced myself to leave early.

All in all a wicked night.  Nice to see some older ravers out reminiscing, but also just as nice to see the younger ravers appreciating the old skool.  I hope there will be another Zapback soon.

You can see photos from the night in the UKCD Photo Gallery.

Review by ciellen