Club review: Back to Basics re-opening party @ The Warehouse with Lil' Louis

This Saturday saw iconic Leeds night Back to Basics hold  their first party at new home The Warehouse.

After celebrating their massive 20 year anniversary in November, it seemed the perfect time for this long running underground club night to make the move. 

The newly refurbished Warehouse really felt like the ideal backdrop for this legendary night. With a capacity of 1100, the iconic Leeds venue has been completely kitted out with brand new state of the art DJ equipment, lighting and a Funktion-one sound system. With the main room, loft, VIP area, two chill out areas and great outdoor smoking area this is the perfect nightclub to host such a great house night.

Back to Basics as a night has made a massive impact within Leeds over the years, with previous guest DJs including the likes of Groove Armada and Basement Jaxx. B2B is one of the longest running weekly parties to ever exist, and has (quite rightly) been rated one of the best night outs in the UK. For the first time ever, Back to Basics is now changing from weekly to fortnightly events, meaning bigger and better line-ups twice a month that no one will want to miss.

For the first of their Warehouse parties, Back to Basics enlisted the formidable skills of Chicago's Lil' Louis and Gavin Herlihy, playing to a packed dance floor until the early hours of the morning and joined by a solid supporting cast of Basics residents.

With Lil’ Louis dropping tunes including ‘Club Lonely’ and ‘Superclash’, he managed to keep an already hyped-up crowd in place with upbeat, moving and captivating tunes. Gavin Herlihy also played a great set dropping ‘Underneath the Wind Machine’ and ‘Opium Haze’. 

Following on from the huge success of this memorable launch night, Basics have some big parties lined up over the coming months. First up is the mighty Rebel Rave crew, with Damian Lazarus, Clive Henry and Russ Yallop on February 4th. Circoloco resident Matthias Tanzmann makes his long overdue return to Basics on the 18th February, before Kerri Chandler returns to Basics on the 3rd of March. 

With its 30 year history, there really is no club in Leeds better suited to host the legendary Back to Basics than The Warehouse. And from the looks of things, the night is only set to get bigger and better as it enters its third decade. We can't wait! 

Words: Natasha Remington

Photos: Rachael Goodrick

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