Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BACK WITH A BOOM
Carl Cox
Just when you thought our upcoming summer of music couldn’t get any bigger, along comes newly-fangled CHSQ with another skipload of mouthwatering shows. Scheduled to take place throughout August in Custom House Square, CHSQ announced the first of their gigs this week in some fine style, teaming up with underground dance music institution Shine to present what will be pretty much the biggest ever Shine event in the 22 year history of the brand.
This monumental outdoor show will take place on Sunday August 27 and feature the long-awaited return of the undisputed king of underground Dance Music, the legendary Carl Cox.
A musical ambassador and a veteran of acid house, a champion of techno, a dance music pioneer, label owner, King of Ibiza – you name it, Carl’s been there and done it, never losing sight of his passions – playing music, breaking tunes and celebrating life.
It was at the age of 15 that Carl bought a set of turntables and began working as a mobile DJ. Disco was the first music that captivated him but by the early 80s Cox had moved on to playing the same music as other young London DJS – rare groove, New York hip-hop and electro. He was perfectly placed to hear Chicago house music in its earliest forms, and when the epic ‘Acid Trax’ by Phuture (a. k. a. DJ Pierre) came out in early ‘87, “It was then that I thought, ‘This is it,’ says Carl. “I would do my parties, and I’d play old rare groove and hip hop and soul and I would say ‘Right you’ve got to hear this Phuture track’ and people would just stop and listen.”
As a founder of the sound, Carl rode the exploding British rave scene. He played the opening night of Danny Rampling’s legendary Shoom, co-promoted The Project with Paul Oakenfold, held a residency at the Zap Club in Brighton and at the Sunrise rave in 1988, hooked up a third turntable for his dawn-breaking set, got 15,000 people back on their feet, and established a personal rep for three-deck wizardry.
The next step was to make music, and Carl’s 1991 debut single for Paul
Oakenfold’s Perfecto label, ‘I Want
You,’ gave him a top 30 hit and a
Top of the Pops appearance. Two more singles also made the charts. But Carl was a reluctant pop star and as the masses moved onto fluffy house and trance, and the hardcore created jungle, Cox retreated into the club world that had nurtured him, and instead embraced the underground sounds of techno.
“Techno drives home somewhere,” he says of his core music. “It takes you to an element of surprise, not knowing where you’re going. It’s scary but wonderful at the same time.”
Appearing alongside Carl will be special guest, Hot Since 82, the Yorkshire-based star DJ & producer who makes a welcome return to Belfast following his sell out Shine appearance in 2015. Completing the bill will be Shine residents and local electronic exponents Phil Kieran and Schmutz, making up what will be unmissable day for Electronic music fans
Tickets for this very special show go/went on sale at 9am this morning from ticketmaster. ie & usual Ticketmaster outlets.