'MINISTRY OF SOUNDS 26th BIRTHDAY (WITH DJ HARVEY ALL NIGHT LONG' (30/9/17)

Ministry of Sound has been constantly hosting amazing parties for over two decades now, and on the 30^th of September, it was time to celebrate 26 years of grooving all night at one of the best clubs in the UK. When a club of this magnitude hosts a birthday party, you know you’re in for a special night; especially when the disco don that is DJ Harvey is at the helm; all night long. Following his so called legendary nights at Pikes and various other clubs in Ibiza throughout August and September; he was straight back to business, behind the decks for his 3^rd residency this year at Ministry. Having visited ‘Phonica Records’ for his album launch party the night before, Harvey told me he was excited to return to Ministry, and that it was going to be a great night. He was once again situated in ‘The Box’, a magical room filled with various different coloured lights shining in all directions, reflecting off disco balls and identifying groovy silhouettes through the smoke. Playing in room 103, Harvey was joined by the German house duo that are Session Victim - whom sample soul, funk and disco in their house productions and Australian disco minimalist Harvey Sutherland who has released a handful of coveted house records. Electro-disco duo 'In Flagranti' also featured. Tim Sheridan – the so called ‘man who made Ministry cool again’ took his 24 years of DJ experience to ‘The Loft’ to complete a scintillating line up.

This stunning line up and momentous occasion attracted a huge crowd – people of all ages and races travelled from a far to be involved in this special night in the clubs history, and dance the night away to some Harvey magic. From the moment of entering ‘The Box’ until Harvey spun his last record, you just had a surge of excitement running through your body, making you want to dance. Harvey looked cool and collected as always – selecting incredible records one after another. He was totally in control of a dancefloor under a magical spell. You’d be having such a good time, that you’d look down to check the time after dancing uncontrollably and 2 hours would have passed! As Harvey is such an icon and inspiration for many, events like this often attract many recognisable faces from the world of music. James Hillard and Luke Howard from Horse Meat Disco were spotted throwing some moves on the dancefloor. I managed to have a brief chat with James who just said what everyone in the room was thinking – “Harvey is a legend”. As per usual, Harvey’s selections had people climbing up to dance on the speakers and everyone on the dancefloor getting down and groovy under the magnificent disco balls. A couple of personal favourites from the night which notably sent the disco spirit into the soul of the dancefloor include Herbie Hancock’s ‘Stars in your eyes’ and Kon’s nightime remix of ‘Hooked’ by Cerrone. Harvey saves some rare gems for nights like these, there are so many good records which I wish I could identify, but there’s no way of finding them – this is why going to see him is so worth it. His set incorporated a bit of everything from various different genres and it worked so well. In the last hour, Harvey really began pounding out the disco to keep the energy high for the survivors on the dancefloor between 6 and 7am, with Joey Negro’s edit of TW Funkmasters ‘Love Money’ an example of the vibes he was providing, to his disciples on the dancefloor.

Harvey delivered an incredible set once again, and whilst leaving the box to take a breather, a change of scene, or to go get a drink in the central room - ‘Room 103’ you could catch In Flagranti, Harvey Sutherland and Session Victim (3 hour set). Managing to catch a good part of their sets around Harvey, it seemed that they were also providing some great vibes to the rest of the club, playing some  of the best house tunes around at the moment such as Rick Wade’s ‘Can’t you see’ and KHLHI’s ‘Percussions’ which were met with a great reception from the crowd. The whole club encapsulated the experience that Ministry were trying to provide for their birthday perfectly, providing everyone that attended a night to remember. Everyone just wanted more Harvey, even playing an extra hour wasn’t enough! It was an incredible night, and I will certainly be back once again for Harvey’s final residency before the year is out. You just can’t beat Harvey at Ministry.

(Massive thanks to Heidi Lawden for putting us on the guest list for the show!)