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Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works.
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A Catch Up with John Phantasm ahead of his upcoming set at the Tribal Village 4 Day Outdoor Event in Kent 6-9 May 2022!

Serious – Clubbing the way it ought to be!

Reported by Shaun / Submitted 08-05-04 10:15

I am sure everyone has always had a club in mind that they believed would satisfy their lust for a top quality night out but for some reason or another they have never actually managed to go to it. Something else always comes up – prior commitments or it always falls on a designated weekend ‘off’ or there always seems to be something better on. Well Serious was definitely one of these clubs for me.



Serious has been hosted at The Cross for a number of years now and is the flagship night for the massive Serious DJ agency whose luminaries include Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell, Norman Jay (MBE), Ann Savage, Matt Hardwick, Scott Bond and JFK to name but a few. These superstar DJs play at Serious on a rotational basis, (Jules plays every other month for example) and are supported by some of Serious’ best up and coming talents such as Simon Patterson, Rob Marmot and The Trophy Twins. Add this glittering array of talent to one of London’s best venues in The Cross and you have a very successful club on your hands!

The Cross is one of the true gems of London clubland. Situated in the foreboding wastelands north of Kings Cross, this club has achieved legendary status due to the efforts of its owner, Billy Reilly, and the fantastic promotions that are held there every month including Renaissance and Type. Along with Turnmills, Fabric, Ministry of Sound and Pacha it truly belongs to the aristocracy of London clubbing venues.

We arrived at about 11pm to find a queue had formed outside the venue – not too big though and moved along at a reasonable pace. Serious’ dress code is legendary and to be honest we were a little worried about getting in but these fears were allayed when we saw the people queuing up – although smarter than your average London hard dance/trance crowd they certainly weren’t dressed as if they were going to dinner! Trainers are allowed as are jeans and t-shirts, just don’t go in any sportsgear I would recommend.

Having not been to The Cross in some time I had forgotten just how good a venue it is. For those who have not been, The Cross is basically a serious of co-joined railway arches – 7 in total I think. Dancefloors occupy 3 of these arches and the others are chill out areas with the music pumped through at a lower volume. The club is also extremely opulent – think drapes, expensive looking furniture, nice toilets and extremely clean – exactly how a club should be in my opinion. The Cross also has the fabulous outside area that must really come into its own in the summer – a little slice of Ibiza in Kings X! Although saying that it didn’t look that glamorous when we were there seeing as the weather that night had definitely taken a turn for the worst!

The three dancefloors all have different genres of music in them: One is the big trance room, one a house room (called Dusted) and the other an eclectic one. The line up for tonight’s event included Judge Jules, Simon Patterson, Andy Bagguley, Trophy Twins, Rob Marmot and more. Having really been liking my house music recently I thought I would be spending the night in the gorgeous Dusted room rather than in the dark Trance room and to start the night off with this certainly was the case. One thing that struck me in the Dusted room was just how friendly the crowd were and just how good looking they were! Had a real Ibizan vibe to the place what with everyone looking good and smiling to the sounds of the sexy house music being played.



The smallest arch (called VIP) was given over to a truly eclectic selection of music, throughout the night I heard tunes in there as diverse as Technotronic’s ‘Pump up the Jam’ Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’ and Bob Marley’s ‘Could you be loved.’ Was excellent to see the smallest room used for something more original than is normally the case.

I decided to check out the trance room and much to my surprise this is where I stayed for the rest of the night! Warming things up was Passion DJ Andy Bagguley – definitely one to watch in the future. This young DJ had already worked the crowd into a frenzy by midnight with tunes like ‘Feel You’ by Marco V and his own tune ‘The One’ – to be honest I would have thought it was all a bit too much for a warm up set usually but seeing as we had just come from the rousing finale of becomeone, it worked perfectly! At midnight Simon Patterson took over from Bagguley and continued on the trancey tip. Simon is the force behind the production outfit Dogzilla and has been raising eyebrows for a while now with sets at clubs like Wildchild, Chemistry and of course his residency at Serious. Well for once the substance lived up to the hype – his set was the best trance set I have heard this year. It was banging without being hard, uplifting without being cheesy and perfectly mixed. It reminded me of a Paul Van Dyk set in a way – driving and fast paced with very few vocals or extra soppy breakdowns. Trance to dance to! And dance I did for the whole three hours of his set. The atmosphere in the room was electric and you could tell everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves. To hear a three hour set was excellent as well, in the scene we inhabit it is all too common for one hour sets to be the norm and for two hour sets to be seen as ‘exclusive’ – it is was great to hear someone really give a crowd a well thought out three hour musical journey. Highlights of the set included tunes from the likes of Terry Bones V Fred Baker, Darren Tate and Airscape. To be honest I couldn’t recognise that many tunes in the set which is always an indicator to me of quality! Never resorting to the obvious tunes, Simon Patterson truly blew me away! And the people I was there with agreed as well. Excellent stuff!



Next up was one of my personal favourites – Judge Jules. Love him or hate him, he is one of the most popular DJs in the country and never fails to rock a crowd wherever he goes. Sometimes he can be a little complacent but tonight he was in top form and played a superb 1.5 hours of Judge Jules Trance tm. I feel his sound is really maturing at the moment and he has really found an excellent niche for himself – the tunes he was playing were fast, dirty and dark – just the kind of stuff that I am loving at the moment. Then every now and then he would unleash an uplifting monster to take the crowd to seventh heaven. Tunes included the massive Sosei by Airscape, Ladies and Gentlemen by Green Martian and the down right dirty Loves put us into a groove by Digital Delay. He was mixing purely of CDs and was using the FX of the CDJs to maximum effect – in fact he did get a little carried away with the looping feature at times! Good to see a DJ doing something a bit more than beat-matching though. As usual there were the familiar Julesisms behind the booth that we all know and love and the crowd were lapping up the entertainment! Definitely the best set I have heard from him in some time. No cheese in sight, in fact Exiled Angel was worried that I would be finding his music ‘too hard’! Quality stuff.

And then without warning we realised that the time was an ungodly 4:30 am (I’m getting old) so I decided to miss Gleave Dobbin who was up next as my legs were starting to fail me (having had clubbed since 2pm the previous afternoon.) Also I think that leaving clubs when you are on a high is always a great idea since your memories of it stay sweet 

Serious was without doubt one the best nights I have had in the past year and definitely the best night clubbing I have had in 2004. The music, crowd and venue were just right and try as I might I just cannot think of any negatives from the night. I have been quite disillusioned with the London clubbing scene this year – I have seen too many empty dancefloors and heard too many lazy sets, this was just the right night to really restore my faith in clubbing. I’ll definitely be back and would urge anyone who is interested in trance and house clubbing to do the same – seriously!


10/10



Serious return to the Cross on Saturday 15th May with JFK, Anne Savage, Simon Patterson and Reece Elliott spinning

More info: http://www.seriousworld.com/
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Other Features By Shaun:
Nastydirtysexmusic, Interview with Tim Sheridan and Smokin' Jo
The Big Three in Ibiza reviewed: We Love Sundays at Space, Subliminal Sessions at Pacha and Cream at Amnesia...
Interview with Tim Davison.
Review of SW4 - Clapham Common, 21/08/04.
Review of Cream, Amnesia opening party.
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
Comments:

From: Tom Foy on 8th May 2004 13:07.39
Excellent review Shaun - it certainly was a superb night: the first time I had been to the Cross but definately not the last!

From: Ehren Stowers on 8th May 2004 20:59.40
nice review Shaun- hopefully we will see you there again soon??!

From: Darz on 8th May 2004 22:44.16
Cracking review Shaun, every word a true word. Serious @ The Cross is without doubt for me the best night in the country and has been for the past twelve months or so since I started going. The Cross is gorgeous, the people are friendly, Simon Patterson the best resident in the UK. Add Jules, Eddie, Norman et al and you have the perfect formula. If I'm not djing on the Saturday that Serious is held, I'm there... and I come from up Norf evrytime. I'm glad this night is getting the recognition it deserves on this site!!

From: BottleofWater on 10th May 2004 09:35.23
It was indeed a very good night with an excellent mix of smily, happy people, a wide range of excellent music and a gorgeously swanky venue. Simon and Jules were both excellent.

From: Exiled Angel on 11th May 2004 11:55.37
Yay! I couldn't agree with you more on everything! The trance was unexpectedly awesome, I didn't think it would ever be possible again to be so totally blown away by the music that standing with my arms in the air wouldn't feel like the cheesiest thing in the world. I haven't felt that way in years. Wink Big grin

As Shaun said, if you are serious about house and trance and you haven't been, make it the next thing you go to! Quality venue, music, atmosphere - you couldn't ask for more!! Big grin Thumbs up Yay!

From: andybagguley on 13th May 2004 11:28.21
Cheers for the nice review matey!!! I certainly had a great night at The Cross and hope to be abck there again soon!!!

Thanks again!!!

From: grooves on 17th May 2004 10:21.58
good review Shaun - I think the venue aids the night aswell though. but was a great party - excellent crowd.

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