Enter @ Space 25th July – review

Last season marked the start of a very exciting new venture on the White Isle. Richie Hawtin, one of the most forward thinking pioneers of techno, gracefully thanked Sven Vath for his time in Amnesia at Cocoon and set about building his own ENTER. Empire. After careful consideration of where Hawtin would launch his residency, he chose Space. Now in its second season, ENTER. has quickly become one of the most popular nights on the island through Hawtin's innovative use of the club. We went down last week to witness one of the biggest line ups to date.

The night now begins on the Sunset Terrace, opening at 9pm with a special and intimate performance from a different artist each week. This time, to the surprise of many, it was Disclosure who were invited down to begin proceedings with a DJ set; the duo seemed ecstatic to bring their sound to ENTER., and the crowd were just as happy to see them play. A full room of heads got down on the dance-floor to the bassy house music as Disclosure mixed through a string of their own productions, including the ever popular 'White Noize', and made sure the party was started in good fashion.

At around midnight Hawtin himself came on the microphone and announced the opening of the rest of the rooms in the club; ENTER. was about to begin. From the get go huge headliners set about rocking the numerous dance-floors around Space, with quickly rising Minus star Hobo first on in the main room. Fresh off the back of the success of his recent mix for the Minus MinMax series, Hobo has evolved from one of Hawtin's protégés to a superstar of Minus in his own right. This was reflected in his mix of fast, fresh, minimal techno that worked the crowd into a frenzy in no time.

As the room began to fill more and more, newly appointed ENTER. resident Nina Kraviz took to the main room stage to perform a vinyl mix of bass driven techno heavy enough to shake the very foundations on which Space stands. Who knows at what depths Kraviz finds this array of beautiful yet relentless techno but what can be said is that she is clearly very knowledgeable in her field.

The lighting had been subtle but highly effective all night, but as Matador followed on from Kraviz with his much loved live set the lights really came into their own. Ambient shades of blue and red crept out of the huge ENTER. dot behind the stage as spotlights danced through the crowd, all the while Matador was smashing through his back-catalogue of mighty Minus productions. There was never a dull moment, standard for a Matador live set, and the crowd went wild for now Minus anthems such as 'Klay', 'Kenekt' and the more recent '51 Mexicans'. As usual he was the perfect warm up for the master, Richie Hawtin.

 The main room was now packed full of Hawtin fanatics, each showing their love for the man of the moment with wolf whistles, cheers and screams as he got down to business. What followed on was a mesmerizing mix of minimal techno worked together in such ways that did nothing less than blow the minds of the thousands that were there watching the show. The temperature rose and with it the CO2 cannons commenced blasting the dance-floor in its entirety of cool, misty dry ice. It had been one big build up to this point and the show exploded into something that many a clubber will not forget courtesy of one of the most popular figures on the island, Mr. Richie Hawtin. The rest is history. 

Head here for more information on future ENTER dates.

The next ENTER is on Thursday 1st August, featuring Damian Lazarus, Seth Troxler, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Richie Hawtin, Shaun Reeves, Visionquest, Magda, Lee Curtiss, Bella Sarris, Gaiser, Eats Everything

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