Slick Management Boat Cruise Extravaganza ft Charles Webster

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Charles Webster
Brown Sugar was summoned therefore consider me summoned. These words were written in conjunction with an equally vocal observer Sir Sekunjalo.

On the last evening of July 2009, I took a last-minute decision to relieve some stress and attend the Slick Management Boat Cruise for the second time. I was encouraged by the (slight) changes to the event this year as advertised on the, might I say, refreshing flyer – the appearance of a recognised and internationally acclaimed DJ AND a performing percussionist.

After confirming that one of the highly sought after tickets was still available I promptly made the exchange with a young man at Embankment Pier where the Mercia was docked. Surprisingly I couldn’t spot any of the organisers on board which should have been the first clue that this would be a different Slick boat party experience. Soon thereafter, we set sail on the not-so-blue Thames with the heavens above threatening to open up at any moment. The gloomy weather wasn’t Slick Management’s fault, but the absence of a sound system on the boat definitely was!! No sound equipment on boat + no organiser(s) including the guy who sold me my ticket equals to no boat cruise PARTY!

“The percussionist,…was definitely a nice touch to the gig and he complemented the djs beautifully”

When the boat turned around and headed back to shore, I thought the poor captain had had enough grief from the few of us on board and decided to chase us off. But he did so only to pick up the ‘until then missing’ Slick crew, speakers, mixer, CDJs etc. The cloudy skies echoed the general mood on deck but when Voo C took to THE decks, my mood instantly lifted. I certainly think he’s one of if not the most talented dj in the Slick stable these days; he has an ear for some deeply loaded tracks, is never overly-commercial and is always bursting with friendliness and general humility.

Other than that, the boat part of the extravaganza was a let-down. I’m surprised by why we (the punters) are happy to pay hard-earned pounds for the same boring and by now so predictable thing each year. This actually applies to other events not just this one but we’ll stick with the Boat Cruise for now. All that happens is we get on the same boat with the same people (no offense to you lot in attendance), take the same route, listen to the same djs blah blah blah. Me thinks a change is long overdue. For instance, this being an island and all, we have over 7k miles (12k km) of coastline to explore. Imagine the boat party being in Portsmouth, Brighton, Wales etc, we’d even get to enjoy the sea-breeze, see the ocean and not make do with London’s architectural offering for the umpteenth time! If you’ve seen it more than twice, a third time valued at 30 quid during these rough times isn’t such an attractive proposition….

Some time thereafter, we finally docked and most people started making way to the after-party. The chosen venue ‘Mass’ is an interesting concept – church by day, nightclub by night. Now that’s creativity at its best, with careful planning, your sins could be committed and forgiven in the same building..LOL!

Moving swiftly along, I arrived at Mass to the tunes of Ambassadas who were billed as the evening’s warm-up. Their offering was ok, a bit hard for my liking but then thats just me. The percussionist, I think his name was Sheyi was definitely a nice touch to the gig and he complemented the djs beautifully. This mean drumming machine was my second favourite thing in what was generally not my best day out. As Sheyi continued to spin his tribalistic net around us, some dodgy mixing yanked me out of my little euphoria bubble. I started marching angrily towards the DJ booth to see what was going on and was (insert suitable description here) to see Selekta himself behind the decks. I think I simply need to accept that I have heard him many times before and admire some of what he’s done but phew! at some gigs, his mixing has issues. Then again, he relayed with the doe-eyed Finesse so I couldn’t quite tell who was responsible for the ear-sore. Kinetic P was cloaked in a fascinating white priest-like ensemble and behaved as if he had gotten the wrong end of the bottle – make of that what you will. Speaking of which, why only play 2 or 3 songs Kinetic, I was looking forward to a fully-fledged set but you didn’t indulge .

The man of the night Charles Webster did not disappoint and played some nostalgic classic tracks which was thrilling. He definitely ‘owned’ his set but unfortunately left the crowd behind after the first few tracks. Sadly (and moreso for him) most of the people there seemed more interested in being photographed with him and less in listening and savouring the once in a lifetime Charles-Webster-on-the-decks experience. I suppose that’s what happens when the guardians of a ‘movement’ neglect to sensitize their followers on the core of house music and its originators/stalwarts and succumb to crowd-pleasing antics..”Each one, teach one”..

Roots O’Batala took a much-needed break from sorting out the sound and lighting to start wrapping up the night. Although very short in duration, his was a good set if only because it roused the crowd somewhat. And whilst all this was going on, Kinetic seemed to generally be arguing with random people, do tell, what was up? That pretty much wrapped up the party although I felt cheated when some of the support DJs came on after that – I paid for Mr Webster, not 12-odd supporting acts and a little bit of the main act squeezed in there; you know what they say about spoiling the broth.

Now for a little rant:Having been in the UK for 6 years and attending Slick gigs, could we not be given value for money and rewarded for our loyalty? 30 quid IS A LOT FOR WHAT I SAW ESPECIALLY MY EXPERIENCE AT THE BOAT and not something I am planning on going through again in the foreseeable future. The disorganisation was simply unacceptable especially considering that this years’ event was a joint effort between so many able dj/promoters. Overall, some slight but welcome changes to the norm, many of which fell apart in execution.

    Venue *** (Read above)
    Sound quality **(Proper planning could have prevented this)
    Value for money ** (Poor organisation overall not worth the ticket price)
    Crowd *** (Fewer than expected on the boat and general blasé reaction to Charles Webster)
    Supporting DJs *** (Way too many djs but Voo C and Sheyi evened things out)
    Main Guest *****(He had to work with what he had but rocked regardless)

    Venues: Mercia (the boat) and Mass (Brixton, London)
    Date: Sat 1 August 2009

Lebohang is a kwaito music lover and blogger with extensive experience writing for on-line publications. She has rejoined the kwaito.com team as a Co-Editor/Publisher and is responsible for ensuring the quality and relevance of editorial content. As co-publisher she is also responsible for the revenue and revenue generating activities of kwaito.com to ensure it's sustainability.
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