Friday 19^th September 2008 @ The Cheese and Grain, Frome
Featuring Performances From: Laid Blak and A Skillz

The final set of the night led by A Skillz, one of the country’s most funky beatmeisters, rocked the former market hall last Friday. His fuse of funk, hip-hop and breaks with his unique style of scratching and mixing emulated the arbitrary mix of people dancing dexterously to the tunes. His reputation as a true party rocker has won him prime-time slots across the UK at FabricLive, Spectrum, Chew The Fat, Supercharged, The Boutique and Sugarbeat as well as gigs around the world at major events, festivals and music industry parties such as The Hit Factory (New York), WMC (Miami) and now The Cheese & Grain.

Those pausing for a break found themselves relaxing in the venue’s make-shift vegetable patch, an area reserved for carrots, cauliflowers and clubbers who’d been turned into cabbages by the end of a long night on the tiles. The Electric Night Garden promises a night of magic visual wonders and certainly does not fail to deliver with UV lights picking up on mushroom wall hangings and the odd psychedelic tutu bobbing up and down in the dancing melee.

Laid Blak wound up the night, getting everybody on their feet with their catchy song Get Down Low, which does exactly what it says on the tin; it gets everyone grinding in unison down to the floor before coming up together and raising their arms to the air. The reggae group from Bristol put on a live set that involves dance music aimed at getting you moving, and with the charismatic vocals and the musical dexterity that is centred on urban reggae, touching on jazz, funk, soul and hip-hop, you can’t help feeling the good vibes. The quality of the sound system at The Cheese & Grain makes it an ideal venue where one can appreciate the spine tingling vibrations and smooth, shock inducing bass.

Under 18s also formed part of the audience, being permitted to stay until 11.30pm. The Electric Night Garden invites youngsters to perform and get involved in organising the gigs. The event organisers promise to share their knowledge with kids who want to learn and start doing their own thing. Top night all round.

The next Electric Night Garden will be held at The Cheese & Grain on Boxing Day for some post Christmas fun and games. Did I forget to mention the gnome skittles?

www.cheeseandgrain.co.uk

Harriet Hernando