Fatboy Slim’s Smile High Club at London’s Tobacco Dock on Saturday (02.01.15) celebrated acid house with a modern twist.
The English DJ – also known as Norman Cook – called for "random acts of smileyness" at the day-time event and the 5000 loyal house music lovers responded with a visual extravaganza, as they dressed in brightly coloured lycra and painted their faces yellow, in honour of the famous house raves of the ’80s and ’90s.
Fatboy dived into a career-spanning set and played familiar tracks like ‘Eat Sleep Rave Repeat’ and ‘Renegrade Master’ mixed with current electronic music samples and mash-ups, which created an immeasurable buzz in the main room.
And the 52-year-old DJ reminded fans how lucky they were to hear the Brit Award winner in action, when he played hits ‘Praise You’ and ‘Right Here, Right Now’.
A set from Mancunian DJ Ben Pearce in the late afternoon was another treat on what was a brilliant line-up.
The tattooed deck spinner played his pop-leaning 2013 hit ‘What I Might Do’ and mixed it with more darkly-shaded dance tunes and a "few curve balls", including new tracks from his forthcoming EP – out in January on Moda Black.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz before the event, he revealed: "The art of the warm up DJ is kind of dying out a bit. That’s what I used to be when I first started out so I got a bit of a passion, to show your artistry… you want to make sure people know what you’re about not just playing what they want to hear and the songs they already know… Educate them a little bit. Make them hear new music."
However, walking into the car park to find Cyril Hahn spinning his remix of Destiny’s Child’s ‘Say My Name’ in the early evening – to a thunderous reception – was one of the highlights of the day.
The Swiss DJ performed to an impeccable light show that complimented his euphoric sound and treated his followers to another fan-favourite, ‘Perfect Form’.
Elsewhere, people rushed through the iron vaults of Tobacco Dock to catch other brilliant acts, including Secondcity, 2ManyDJs, and Erol Alkan, while Jägermeister provided music goers with an alpine escape on the rooftop of the riverside venue.
Two large, heated teepees filled with comfy sofas, benches, Christmas lights and free popcorn gave revellers shelter from the wind and rain while they were also comforted by live music.
Fatboy Slim heads to Australia in the coming weeks to play four dates, before visiting Brazil in February and Snowbombing festival in Austria in April.
Fatboy Slim’s Smile High Club at Tobacco Dock
