- Sill reeling from Bobby and Whitney’s breakup, I was losing all faith that any couple could work together well. Luckily Bodytonic (a group who’ve been around not much longer than avian-bird flu but have been beating it in the growth stakes) had teamed up with Pogo to pull off one of 2006’s best coups (excluding Thailand) in getting The MFA and Superpitcher in the Pod at the same time.
The Pod is located twenty minutes walk from Dublin’s city centre, and it’s also accessible with our wonderful billion-euro tram (Think the monorail in the Simpsons.) Dublin is awash with quality nights these days, but promoters must have some agreement with the unemployment office as most of them are on a Thursday night, leaving Pogo as easily one of the best club nights on a Saturday in Dublin.
The Pod is a multipurpose venue with three rooms. In between the main room and the live venue is a human breathalyser with cheesy pop music, acting as a test of one’s sobriety. It also serves as a way of convincing friends who would prefer to listen to Beyonce or Lilly Allen to try the venue. A marketing masterstroke.
Arriving late, I realised fast enough that I was going to miss either all of the MFA or some of Superpitcher. Luckily during this difficult decision, I got to hear a bit of Barry Redsetta, easily one of Irelands best DJs. Consistently consistent yet hard to predict, Redsetta has set himself apart from the majority of Irish DJs about.
In the end, curiosity and ignorance ensured I decided to venture across the minefield that was the cheese factory to see the MFA live. Being punctual for the first time in ages, I also caught Funboi from the Bodyshock stable spinning a set rammed full of quality, with Pig and Dan’s “I Want Your Mind” and the wonderful “Wet Summer” by John Dahlback making sure everyone packed into this intimate venue knew they were at a party.
Laptops and Milli Vanilli have helped to take away from live performances over the years, but visually The MFA looked busy from the off. Visually they remind you of Orbital, but that’s where the comparison stops: ‘MFA’ stands for ‘Mother F8cking All-stars’ and tonight they lived up to it. Going through the genres quicker than Heather Mills goes through a bottle of turtle wax, for just under an hour the room was filled with electroclash, jungle, house and tech house. Though that’s a list that still won’t give you a picture of what they are all about – they have to be seen to be believed. It’s easy now to see how they went quickly from lazy students messing about to being played by Digweed on his radio show two tracks later. On finishing, their set was met by whistles (nothing wrong with that) and cheers – all justified. Tonight was the last night of their tour and now they’ve got a date in the studio, which can mean only good things – I don’t think it takes Nostradammus to predict just how much 2007 is theirs for the taking.
Funboi reappeared behind the decks and he decided to simply bang out the hits, which was justifiable, especially after the MFA’s performance. Marc Houle’s ‘Bay of Figs’ and Thomas Schumacher were great enough to distract me from the lure of Superpitcher, but eventually I made it over to the main room to catch the end of his set – two of his own luscious songs playing to an army of his fans (the Supermayer mix of Gui Borratto’s ‘Like You’ is a signature of his talent.) It’s not fair to judge someone on two songs alone, but seeing the crowd reaction and speaking to people after, it was clear Superpitcher had been on the ascendancy since the get go.
So a night of talent rarely seen in a club on these shores. Let’s hope Pogo continues their little fling with Bodytonic if this is what’s going to happen.
Special Thanks to Eoin and Billy Dubhamach.