The beat goes on for top dance music guru
S c o t l a n d ’s g o d f a t h e r o f electronic dance music is back with a bang after a “soul destroying” 18 months.
Motherwell man Ricky Magowan runs Colours, the country’s biggest dance music promoters, responsible for huge events that attract thousands of party goers and the world’s biggest DJ names from across the EDM genres.
Before the weekend over a year-anda-half had passed since Colours’ last big event. On Saturday the usually annual Coloursfest event returned to Braehead.
International artists including happy hardcore outfit Scooter from Germany, Australian hardstyle DJs Code Black and Ben Nicky, and Brennan Heart from the Netherlands, joined homegrown heroes such as Will Atkinson and George Bowie banging out the tunes at the 5000 capacity Braehead Waterfront.
Originally pencilled in to take place in July the event was postponed due to Covid restrictions.
Ricky admits it’s been “bloody tough” over the last 18 months.
He said: “It’s not just a business, it’s been my whole life since I was 20.
“The worst thing was every time the ‘road map’ was published or there was a discussion about coming out of lockdown there was no mention of reopening venues or live music events being allowed to go ahead, for a long while there was no light at the end of the tunnel, nothing to work towards.”
Ricky has been behind the majority of the major dance events to take place in the country over the last three decades and longer, and it’s now 26 years since Colours first launched.
He was at the forefront of the dance music revolution in Scotland in the late 80s as a founder of Streetrave, which diverged into Colours. Streetrave still holds special events and celebrated it’s 30th anniversary in 2019.
“From Motherwell to Miami! We’ve had some wild, unforgettable times over the last 30 years,” Ricky admits.
“Ibiza, Barcelona, Madrid, New York and many other places, it’s a huge source of pride to have built up a brand that is so well respected it can hold its own in some of the world’s leading hotspots.”
During lockdown Colours and Streetrave continued to invite big name DJs and Scottish artists to perform for online charity events, which included a fundraiser for Chris’s House in Wishaw.
Ricky added: “At times it felt like the charity streams were the only things keeping us sane.
“We raised over £100,000 for local charities which is a huge achievement. Being able to work on something that had such a positive impact was good for the soul during a really difficult time.”
Ricky is delighted to get back to what he and his team do best, full production live events at the best venues in the land.
“There was no way we were going to let over 30 years of hard work go down the drain,” he insists.
Last Friday the legendary Pete Tong travelled north for a Colours House Party at SWG3, his first time playing there. Carl Cox will also perform there on September 26, an event which sold out in record time.
Before that Colours has enticed some of the biggest names in trance to perform at Trancefest this Saturday, September 18, also at SWG3.
Paul van Dyk, Aly & Fila, Marco V, David Forbes, John Askew and Will Atkinson are all on the bill.
A very limited number of tickets are available via Tickets Scotland.