It’s been in our disco dance diary for what seems like a decade, but as we can virtually touch the “Propaganda XL American Dream” party, this world tour wonder set to amaze Antwerp this Saturday (2nd Feb) at the resplendent Red & Blue, we delight in the event detail, the dynamic D.J. line up and much more in this, our rapturous weekend recommendation recital.
Having circulated the continents clubs over the course of our clubbing history, as we have here in the capital, we have found favour with certain frolics, the memories of Muccassassina in Rome marvellously magical, while the bevy of Barcelona bashes including Matinee, DBoy & Devotion all doing it for us, while who could ever forget the superb Salvation, a Catalonian colossus unconnected with the other global brand of the same name, but every bit as spectacular. Berlin has also brimmed our dance beats boiler, the Hustlaball happening a couple of years ago a real highlight, while the towering techno powerhouse that is Berghain was an exceptional experience in truly captivating company that we will never ever forget. Then there is Paris, our most recent cavort on the continent, a wonderful weekend spent with impressive Israeli Guy Scheiman, taking in the splendour of Scream, this reminding us of the delectable days of Delice Dream on its first festival frolic just north of our beloved Barca, a terrific five day turn where we made many new friends & cemented existing ones. Away from continental Europe our surrogate South African home was our youthful playing ground our first clubbing experience in Johannesburg’s Decadence, while Cape Town has also played its part, the iconic Bronx responsible for a myriad of mischievous night in morning meets, while of all these there is one we have yet to mention that matches all the others & more, a Belgian beauty that, after a stay of absence for two years, welcomes us back with open arms this coming Saturday.
We pretty much fell in love with Red & Blue from the moment we stepped foot in this captivating & compelling club on Christmas Day two years ago, on that occasion Alex Erfan’s Lovechild linking us with this amazing jewel in the Antwerp clubbing diamond crow, while we simply had to pay a second visit when on a tour of duty between Paris, Belgium & Amsterdam two months later, friendships formed enriched with our return, while the classy club still sparkled as brightly as we remembered the first time round. However, it would be Red & Blue’s involvement in that Delice Dream festival we mentioned that would cement a connection with two of its key player characters, enigmatic D.J./producer Elof de Neve & the jovial J.d. Cerronez, a music producer in his own right, while working for the Matinee Group is significant C.V. slice, the friendship we formed in those balmy Barcelona days two May’s ago, so of the best we have had, the energy of Elof and the sheer exuberance of J.d. a dream worthy delight. Indeed we have dreamed of the day that we would once again re-unite with these two brilliant Belgian’s, not to mention the equally excellent Red & Blue, a club that has been hitting the high notes for over 15 years now and still going strong, recent nee brands bolstering any already bountiful business that sees the place packed every single Saturday. So, we say with excitable exuberance that the re-union we have been longing for is almost here, as in just three days time, we will find ourselves in the company of this capital club & those two marvellous men.
And it seems we couldn’t have chosen a better weekend for it, as Red & Blue entertains the Belgian branch of Propaganda, a name which, when we look back to our youth (once more) is more associated with a German bred band, while this particular part of the Propaganda party picture is not to be confused with the Berlin based bash of the same name. However, Propaganda Belgium is part of a pack of others extending from Moscow to Ibiza, while other incarnations exist across the world, including Beijing and right here in the U.K, all scene movers & shakers in 2012, while the Belgian set up and philosophy stems back to the early nineties, which were, as the Propaganda promotions team tell us, “…times when heels and lipstick meant something, when clubbing was about making fun, when people dressed up to go out and when people did go out because they felt the urge to do so, while nothing was impossible…”. Yet while Propaganda Belgium was born just last year, it quickly adopted many aspects of these nineties clubbing characteristics, indeed in the eyes of many at the launch & since say, “…nothing has changed except our will to obey the freedom…” Propaganda propelling a real sense of that along with an environment that encourages its clubbers to escape reality for a while, succumb into its splendour and, in the promoters words, “…release us from being ourselves, from those acts of obligation in our lives and in doing so realise that’s when Propaganda carries the change…”., its two superb strap lines being “Obey the freedom, whatever form it takes” and “Where porn meets humour, sexual freedom can be found”.
So this propaganda is promising a lot but when we take a look at the dynamic D.J. line up which includes Red & Blue superstar residents Elof de Never & Gust Morris, , while the third terrific talent comes in the form of Amsterdam based Max Del Principe also a Propaganda Belgium resident. But while both Gust & max will be playing their part, it is Elof whose set we are looking forward to the most, not least that since we last met, his guest gigs & roving residencies have gone through the roof, the list impressively extensive that includes Farm in Milan, Muccassassina in Rome, Matinee in Paris & Amsterdam, Super Heroes in Cologne, and a whole load of appearances across Spain, Sitges & Portugal. Indeed he has not long landed from a trip to the house of the rising sun, while in two days time he makes his debut at Geneva’s, Must Gay club, Elof headlining the “7 Peches Capitaux” event. Plus with tours Mexico & Brazil earmarked, while Tel Aviv in June is also in the diary, life is so hectic for this brilliant Belgian beatmaster, we find it difficult to keep up, while 2013 is looking as buoyant as 2012 and we already have two dates in our own disco dance diary that will see us connect with him & J.d. Cerronez, Saturday of course and Easter Sunday when we head to Paris for the La-Leche “3D Edition” event. But back to propaganda and what can you expect from Elof’s set on Saturday? Well, a brilliant benchmark is the podcast he devoted to Propaganda a few months ago, while for some of the latest sounds making his set, we suggest you take a listen to his latest compilation, Vol. 33 one of our favourites thus far, although you can’t go wrong with any to be honest, that’s how good they are, a click on https://soundcloud.com/elofdeneve/ revealing all, while for a flavour of Gust’s & Max’s music head to https://soundcloud.com/gustmorris & https://soundcloud.com/dj-max-del-principe respectively.
So to the event information and this Propaganda “XL American Dream” World Tour event takes place at red & Blue in Antwerp this Saturday (2nd Feb), doors opening at 11 p.m. and the event running through to a planned 6 a.m. finish, the D.J. set timings confirmed as follows, Max Del Principe from 11 p.m. till 1, Elof de Neve headlining from 1 to 3.30 and Gust competing the party. As for entrance, well, from memory you may be asked on the door if you are a Red & Blue member, but fear not as you can join there & then, or head to their website (details coming up) for further info, taxes then ranked at 8 Euro’s before midnight & then 12 thereafter, while advance tickets are available through the Propaganda Belgium website at http://propagandabelgium.com/tickets, the process pretty straight forward and a number of language options on offer to make it even easier for the likes of us, our French & Afrikaans a little too rusty to cope. Once in, the Propaganda team will be serving up no less than eight international gogo’s drag queens & acrobats, all performing right through the night from the spectacular stage and the pack of podiums, while this will be that they like to call “…club theatre…” that will blow your mind in a venue that is equally brilliant, indeed one of the best in Belgium & beyond. And if you need further convincing (why should you?!) then just take a look at the video via https://facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151250207239786, while more media can be tracked through http://propagandabelgium.com/media, venue info & those membership details up at http://redandblue.eu.
So, come Saturday we will definitely be “…obeying the freedom, whatever it takes…”, so if you happen to be at Red & Blue too, then please come up & say hi, while smart phone internet connection permitting, we will be re-launching out nibble size tweets which you can follow live at http://twitter.com/discomatt, remembering that to be there you need to “Go There! Be There!” (DISCO MATT)
