Lights out

While this is an international site, this post is on somewhat of a local tip as this week it was announced that Electric City, one of the mainstays of the Dublin scene, is to close the doors in September of its weekly night after a hugely successful 5 and a half years. Nights such as it do not come along very often and for many it will be the end of an era. Nights come and go ten-a-penny in a city like Dublin, yet EC continued to go from strength to strength while others fell by the wayside, due to the simple fact that they were doing it for the right reason. There was no hidden agenda, no egos, no bullshit. They just wanted to see the best in techno, electro and house come down to their small little club of a Thursday night and rock the shit out of it. One week it could be Speedy J pummeling it out, the next Alexander Robotnick reigniting his career as a pioneer of Italo-disco. EC were one of the first clubs to book him when he returned to get the dues owed to him over the years.

They made a point of bringing over acts that had never played in the country before – just tonight, showing that as they hit the closing stretch they haven’t slackened off, Rude 66 performed his debut Irish show (which was pretty damn impressive) – and were able to convince some of the biggest names in dance to play for them when they could be playing a club 5 times its size. Francois K, Derrick May, Richie Hawtin and Dave Clarke were just some of the bigger names that had no problems with squeezing themselves in behind the tiny booths of either The Metropolitan, Traffic (whose booth wasn’t too tiny actually) or Wax.

While over the years the crowd would change – I personally didn’t become a regular until the last year, due to me living outside of Dublin – the attitude never did. It always had a friendly and educated crowd (which did not transfer to a bunch of chinstrokers standing beside the dancefloor), one which was open to many different styles. Steve Rachmad was one who varied what he played pretty much every time he visited. Be it playing an old school electro set, fresh up to date techno or even Justin timberlake. And I don’t know of any other club that has gotten Dj Rush to pick out his fave disco records 2 yrs on the trot, instead of his usual pounders.

Many clubs can become clique-y and irritating but EC opened their doors to more up and coming Irish Djs than any other I can think of. Hand in a few mixes to them, drop down to the club when you could and chances are if they thought you were up for it, they’d give you a slot. With it’s reputation one could see it as being intimidating – I was a bit more nervous than most times I’ve played in the last few years, when I played there in January – but I’d say for many it was a great experience. There are many more people who spent more time down there than me and have more stories; it helped shape many peoples musical taste, and many long-lasting friendships were more than likely built from attending, but I thought it shouldn’t go without a mention on here. Big thanks to Simon Conway and Giles Armstrong for all the effort they put in, in putting on some of the best nights I and many others have attended. Obviously these things don’t last forever (and they will continue to promote the Electric Shock night which runs once every couple of months) and sometime in the future someone else will take up the baton, but it will be a long time before EC is forgotten. Until that happens, there is still just over a month of gigs left which will finish with the return of Alexander Robotnick to wrap things up at the end of September. If you’re around Dublin, get down one last time.