Friday 9th October 2009 @ Motion, Bristol

There is no mistaking Motion’s place on the Bristol club scene. Since its opening to the odd club night over 3 years ago, Motion has grown exponentially to be, by far, the biggest and most influential club Bristol has to boast about. It ticks all the underground scene boxes, all the kids want to party there and all out-of-towners want to feel like they are buying into the Skins-esk cool we have somehow adopted recently. Needless to say the club is always busy and tonight was going to be no exception.

Grove Armada was going to be the highlight; everyone’s festival favourite playing at Bristol’s best club was guaranteed to be a recipe for success, and so it was! The main room was completely heaving, a bit of a body crush as hot, sweaty bodies eagerly jumped up and down to bangers like Easy. It was a strange thing to listen to them inside a huge warehouse rather than lying in a field at Glasto, but the crowd seemed to get into it.

As the set wore on, one thing became very much apparent; although the newer, less well known tracks are good and generally come alive in the live arena, it’s the old tracks that the crowd are here to see. Nothing gets a reaction quite like Superstylin’ and it’s no wonder. If one song could ever sum up Groove Armada it’s this, sassy, party track and still sounds fresh as ever.

The band still know how to work the crowd and they appreciate where the old and the new tracks fit into the set. I left wondering if any of the kids in the audience really ‘get’ Groove Armada. Sure I grew up listening to them, but perhaps someone half my age would recognise their big tunes from TV adverts but whatever the situation, the people at Motion loved them!

www.groovearmada.com

David Penfold