Live Review: ShockOne, Nick Thayer, Phetsta, Redial

Redial hit the decks first at the launch of ShockOne's debut LP, Universus, and started up that eardrum-numbing, chest-pumping bass that characterises the d'n'b genre. He remixed a few familiar tunes like G.O.O.D Music's Mercy, Daft Punk's One More Time and The Imperial March from Star Wars. Ninety minutes later, Phetsta made a seamless transition into his set, which was more energetic on his behalf, with a bit of turntabling and live showmanship. Nick Thayer wound it up another notch, stepping out in a Metallica T-shirt, getting down with some quality air guitar and sending the crowd over the edge when he played Blood Sugar by Pendulum.

ShockOne aka Karl Thomas took to the stage at 1.30am with a demure manner and hype man MC Xsessiv taking vocal control at the front. He opened with his hit single, Chaos Theory, from the new album – an action hero theme with an authoritative voiceover from American voiceover actor Corey Burton and a drop that slows the beat to a face-scrunching halt. The crowd went apeshit. Young hipster men threw themselves across the room and little walls of death appeared all over the shop. There were a few choice remixes like Do Or Die feat. Childish Gambino by Flux Pavilion and Kingpin by Friction & Skream, but his best performances were on album tracks like Lazerbeam and Home.

For the final song, he invited the dedicated front row on stage and naturally, half the venue got up there. “Sorry if you think this is a bad idea,” he yelled to security from behind a wall of bodies and reluctant to finish, he spun Chaos Theory again with even more energy than the first time around.

ShockOne presented a huge night of epic electronic proportions and the more than six-hour endurance of people moved by the music was a testament to his variety and skill.