Electric Minds: Dimensions Launch @ The Hydra

Post Easter Holiday survival pack:

5­HTP, check. 

Berocca, check. 

Supladiene Max, check. 

Questioning my whole life up until this point, check. 

Longing to join circus, check. 

I’ve decided that after this mammoth Easter holiday weekend I’m going to give up my office job and join the circus. So whilst I stare forlornly out of my wooden cart as it rattles along to our next disintersted town of glazed eyes, I may as well tell you about this fucking great rave I went to on Easter Sunday. To celebrate the launch of this year’s gargantuan looking Dimensions festival, Electric Minds put on a full night of barnstorming techno and house at The Hydra, featuring Omar S, Mano Le Tough and Midland. 

Having started damaging my bodies ability to perform simple cognitive tasks early on that weekend, I started Sunday by having a heart warming Easter lunch with my family, in which I drank so much beer that I kind of passed out at the table potentially twice or three times; if you’re a stickler for statistics and that type of thing. This had put me in some what of a funk, both spiritually and physically, so I had to be motivationally tugged along by the fact the night was in the excellent Hydra, much like a tiny dinghy attached with rope to a cruise ship blaring a Funktion One foghorn. 

If you haven’t already been to The Hydra then you should really fucking go cos it’s mint; and I feel quite fervently about that, so don’t argue with me. 

So there I was was, stomach lurching and face probably doing something weird as I reached the security outside. I felt kind of sorry for a few Bambi­eyed punters who didn’t have ID and were metaphorically tossed aside by the barking bouncers onto the ravers scrapheap. But then I didn’t accomplish a strong receding hairline at the age of 27 for One Direction’s body doubles to breeze in like it’s nothing, so fuck them. 

Once inside I was immediately swooning over DJ Moxie kicking things off in The Black Studio as she warmed up the punters with some tech­house. I noticed that I was lured closer and closer to the DJ booth like being drawn to a Siren, the sound was getting more and more intense. I didn’t realise till after that the system was set up on purpose that way, which is kind of a neat touch. 

When I’d got over swooning over Moxie I made a little journey to the larger Warehouse room for a cheeky bit of Omar S. I’d never seen him before but heard big things, and he was fully up for it, littering his set with some bass crushers. When I first went to The Hydra I was comparing it to other London super clubs like fabric in terms of how it felt but I now realise that it more reminds me of the clubs you get in Berlin like Watergate or *whispers, sacrilegiously* Berghain. They pay attention to the system, have a rigid door policy and alway seem to have really strong lineups.

Which brings me neatly to Midland. Taking the reigns at the peak of the night in the Black Studio with only a red light to illuminate the decks, he caned through a set of rampant techno like it was nothing. Which it wasn’t, because it was really something. Like, gee whizz. Having the slightly smaller room made it seem more thumping than usual, and drop after drop was making me do things that makes me hope they don’t have night vision CCTV in there. 

I know it sounds like a bit of a love in the way I bang on about this place, but if you like getting trollied and listening to an excellent soundsystem push you around with the best techno and house line­ups, then you’ll bsolutely love this place. And if this was anything to go by, then it would be well worth investing in a Dimensions ticket as well.