Classic

Good Times @ NHC 2010 (Part.1)

It's a beautifully sunny September day here in London and it's only now I feel sufficiently recovered enough to be able to recall some of the incredible party scenes I bore witness to over the August bank holiday weekend, begining last Friday at Coalition (Brighton), The Rest is Noise (Brixton, Sat), The William IV (Kensal Green, Sun) culminating at West Row (Sun & Mon) with my Good Times sound system. I kid you not when I say I had less than 20 hours sleep the entire weekend. But I was on a mad adrenalin rush as I played gig after gig after gig, each eclipsing the other in terms of intensity and atmosphere. So by the time I'd played my first track from the top deck deck of our converted old red routemaster early on Sunday morning, even though I felt completely shatttered, I still felt MORE than ready for the weekend.

Sunday Morning People...
Some eager beavers started to arrive as early as 10.30am - a full hour and a half before we were due to start at 12 noon, such was the incredible anticipation of the day ahead. I particularly enjoy those tranquil early doors sessions watching old friends warmly greet, shake hands and embrace each other in exactly the SAME place as they probably danced together last year and the year before that (and the year before that even). I stand alone up there on the bus surveying the vast empty Southern Row in front of me preparing my CD bags then make some final adjustments to my decks and amps during our short but vital sound check with our trusted GT sound engineer of many years standing, Howard Smart. Don't want any sound issues THIS weekend, no way. In no time at all the crowd is starting to arrive in ever increasing numbers. The sun is shining brightly as I drop Coltrane's sublime 'A Love Supreme' and 'Wind Cries Mary' by Hendrix to a small but appreciative audience including a line of 'old bill' strolling past, all nodding their heads in approval. A special moment. And yes, I still play stuff like that at canival early doors as it helps get me into my music 'zone' for the long day/night/day still ahead.

It's mid afternoon and my long standing dj partner on the GT bus has just arrived. The quietly spoken and seriously underrated Rudy Ranx is one of the most gifted and talented djs I have ever known and had the pleasure of working with. He's just back from setting up the sound system for our sold out afterparty at the William IV bar on Harrow Road, a 10 minute walk from where we are at West Row. He assures me that everything's ok over there and I begin to relax a little. During this time I'm far too wired and excited to eat or drink anything. Between us, Rudy and I roll out the GT street corner dance anthems, one after the other, right across the dance music spectrum. Playing 'music without fear, playing music without predjudice' as we like to say. Chic's 'Good Times' and 'Everybody Dance' NEVER sounded soo good. We rinsed out plenty of house, hip hop, reggae, dnb, dubstep, disco, funk, jazz and soul, both new and old. After all we ARE celebrating 30 odd years of Good Times on the streets of Notting Hill (1980 - 2010), so I reckon we've earned the right to play exactly what we like over that particular weekend.

Was especially pleased with our bona-fide vintage Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea: 'Cambridge Gardens' street sign, aquired legally, (I hasten to add), from the recent Vintage Festival) which was hanging proudly on the front of the bus. My sincerest thanks to Jane Howarth and Brian Webb for that incredibly inspired gift. For those of you who aren't aware of our proud history, outside No 37 Cambridge Gardens (about a mile from our present location) is where the Good Times @ NHC story began, making our official debut outside that very address back in August 1980. We moved to our present location on the corner of Southern Row & West Row in 1991 and have been here every year since.

It's now late afternoon and somewhat overcast. Southern Row is packed and heaving. The police have stopped any more people trying to reach Good Times by implimenting the much hated (but necessary) road closures all around us at West Row. By now it's a proper roadblock situation. The vibe is now reaching fever pitch when suddenly we are lashed with an unexpected torrential rain storm. The umbrellas go up and the crowd, undaunted, continue to dance, bobbing up and down with their brollys held aloft during the entire downpour. At this point I drop a couple of dnb bombs and SOUTHERN ROW goes offf!!! WOW! The dnb bootleg mix of 'Truth and Rights' is absolutely 'killing it', likewise a dnb mash-up of The Maytals 54-46. For the next twenty minutes or so, it seemed the more intenseIy and loudly I played, the louder the crowd would repond, with thousands of people, all with hands in the air, litterally screaming, whistle blowing and cheering EVERY tune until the noise reached such a deafening crescendo, I simply couldn't hear myself on the mike. Unprecedented scenes of celebration, the like of which I have NEVER seen in all my years of playing at carnival. And I've witnessed some pretty wild scenes around the bus over the years, Believe! A truly incredible and awe inspiring sight I will never forget.

Just as suddenly as it all started, the storm quickly blew over and the weather changed for the better. With the sun now out again, our rain sodden revellers were back on it, drying themselves out by shaking a leg or two to more solid soul, funk and disco gems, far too many to mention here (please check Snoopy's amazing track by track
recollection of the weekend's playlist over on my cratediggers page). It never ceases to amaze me that we are able to consistantly get away with playing such a diverse selection of music year after year to such a HUGE crowd who, from our privileged vantage point on the bus, appear to be much younger these days and possibly less clued up musically than they used to be, with all due respect to the thousands of you who ARE of course.

But it should also be remembered that carnival attracts tens of thousands of people from all over the UK, including many thousands of tourists from all over the world, most of whom it's fair to say, won't necessarily understand, nor share our passion for 'our' particular style of black dance music. But if and when they do, they usually join in wholeheartedly and definitely add something to the already unique Good Times experience found at West Row. That is why we play music right across the board, aiming to please most of the people most of the time. Our proud boast is that 'GOOD TIMES is the ONLY sound system in the world where you are likely to hear ANYTHING from John Coltrane in the morning, to Dizzee Rascal at closedown'. Job done!

I played on mesmerised by the intoxicating carnival vibe all around me. Spotted loads of familiar faces in the vast dancing crowd also which is always a refreshing and reassuring delight. In no time at all it was 6.45pm - some 15 minutes from the official close down at 7pm. Rudy and I had played for almost 7 hours continuously, trying our level best to maintain that magical vibe to the bitter end. I ended my set (and the day) playing a wicked d'n'b remix of 'Sweet Harmony' - a great old skool rave classic which I've always loved and it somehow felt more than RIGHT to play it as the last tune of a truly amazing day. Well you can only imagine the response when that awesome Ce Ce Roger's 'Some Day' sample kicked in. You HAD to be there to see it. It was pure hands in the air business all the way as the sunset beat down on the thousands of revellers all jumping up and down simultaneously in a frenzied fashion on Southern Row One again the unified cheers of instant recognition rang out through the Notting Hill night air when the chorus dropped for the final time... As far as Good Times was concerned, the entire day all around us full of 'Sweet Haromony' indeed.

Next: Bring on the William IV and 'mad' Monday...

to be continued real soon (more when I can remember..)