- "Good Times," "Upside Down," "Le Freak": dance music in all its guises owes much to Nile Rodgers, the Chic organisation and their take on fiery disco and soul. Rodgers and his now sadly passed-on songwriting partner Bernard Edwards have had their fingers in musical pies belonging to many of the biggest pop stars of the last 30 years. By leading the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, Prince and Duran Duran onto the dance floor, the pair have done much to shape the landscape of popular music while their own creations have helped created whole new territories. As the backbone to the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," the bassline of "Good Times" is one of the key ingredients in the primordial soup of hip-hop, while their grooves also lie as a foundation of house and techno. They're aren't many artists whose back catalogues are as huge as the ones belonging to Nile Rodgers and Chic—or which go down just as well at a wedding as at an after hours club.
Chic's was the glittering disco ball in the crown of the bill for Simian Mobile Disco's Delicatessen party at the Warehouse Project, and meant we were more than willing to take the train from London for the show. Taking place at the soon-to-be-defunct Store Street venue, the original lineup had been insanely juicy with Detroit techno hero Jeff Mills due to take the club to a different dimension once Chic had had their way with us. But the wizard had thrown a wobbler with his booking agent on Facebook only hours earlier and opted not to come. Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook make it much easier for fans to get a glimpse of what lies behind the mystique of their heroes, and Mills let his guard down in spectacular fashion, prompting a huge Internet backlash. (Especially when it was revealed that the WHP's promoters were as much in the dark as the dancers were over his actions despite the fact that his chauffeur-driven Mercedes was primed and ready to collect him from Manchester's airport.)
So by the time we reached Delicatessen and ventured past the heavily guarded doors, the evening had already been shot threw with drama. Any thoughts of Mills, however, were forgotten on the stroke of midnight when the many limbed Chic took to the stage in the main arch of the cavernous venue. Rodgers and his back catalogue may have been around for three decades but showed no sign of age as his band started bouncing through their armoury of pure, pop hits. "I Want Your Love," "Spacer," "Upside Down" and "He's the Greatest Dancer" were all aired and played with the relentless energy of a group still enjoying their first flushes of fame.
The medley of hits was frenetic—there was no pause for breath between songs, meaning the euphoria was almost too much as the wobbly, baying crowd hollered every word back at Rodgers, resplendent in a suit, long dreadlocks and bandanna. The giddy heights of the gig were only pushed higher by the back-story of his victory against prostrate cancer (he lost all feeling in his right hand a year ago which prevented him from playing the guitar). His triumph added even extra warmth to the sweat billowing off the jammed room. Local hero Johnny Marr's appearance for set closer "Le Freak" almost caused a minor explosion in Store Street and was a fitting climax to an hour-and-a-half of peerless disco party music.
In the sweaty post-Chic meltdown it was the turn of Simian Mobile Disco, Space Dimension Controller and Justin Robertson to hold it down and do their bit for techno in the absence of Jeff Mills. As fine as all their sets were, everything paled into comparison when up against Chic and their mighty live show.