Diesel xXx - London in a charming chaos

As everybody probably knows by now, Diesel threw us a massive birthday party this weekend, filling the new hip-as-can-be venue Matter at the o2 Arena with 2500 people ready to groove. The lineup looked good, as did most of the people, and tickets were said to be sold for up to £80. (!) Nothing makes a good thing better, than knowing there are loads of people who would kill to be in your shoes.

(Pic by Mmelanie)

Playing by the ‘a lady is always (fashionably) late’ rule, I arrived at 10.30 ready to rumble. After a fuss and a massive detour, I’m finally in, getting punched in the face by bad news; Doherty never showed up. Damn it! (Obviously Paris Hilton did though, filming for a new reality show) A cover version of Fuck Forever by The View, with Pete’s Babyshambles bandmate Drew McConnell, heals the pain a bit, and raises the party spirit in the crowd. We blend in with the masses slowly warming up and getting moving. McConnell stays on stage with Lethal Bizzle who gives us some wicked hip hop, performing his hit Pow! and showing that he definitely knows what he’s doing. He is (unfortunately, as, at least I, wouldn’t mind listening to this great stuff all night) replaced keeping up the incredible speed in which they change artists, making it almost impossible to remember who played what. It’s a cool concept, but maybe a bit too chaotic?

Diesel xXx London in a charming chaos

(Roisin Murphy - Pic by Dorian from the Teenagers)

At least that’s what I hear from the people around me in the crowd. “This is a bit weird,” one shouts to me, “The mix of genres, music and people makes it all sort of confusing, and when you’ve heard a song or two and start to like it, they’re suddenly gone again. And everybody is waiting for something different” In the end it all seems like one big whirl, and keeping the bands apart gets harder and harder as the night grows longer and drinks taller. In the end I give up, and to quote Wilde decide to “Remember the essence (…) not the details. Details are always vulgar.” The groove is definitely in the in the house, people are letting go, though many seem too busy being cool, demonstratively not dancing and taking pictures of themselves. Oh well, forget about them.
Mark Ronson obviously didn’t seem to like the short time he got on stage much. He got into what he does best, a nice long set of remixes appearing from his turntables, friends dancing around on stage, smoking and throwing CDs to the audience. Keeping the turntables spinning, wanting to do a last song he tries to talk his way around the bouncer who has appeared, but I guess he made the people with the schedules whine and cry as in the end they just shut the sound off, and that was it.

(Patrick Wolf in a gorgeous Dress - Pic by Mmelanie)

The View, Sons and Daughters, New Young Pony Club, These New Puritans and everybody’s darling Patrick Wolf all play at pretty fast face, pushing the hipness of the party to a max. All in all it was definitely a good party, the music was ace and the brand new venue has potential to reach cult status. (If it hasn’t already) Worth mentioning is also how there were close to no waiting in the bar or the bathrooms, as the place was packed, this must be a result of good planning, skilled staff, a cleverly built venue and makes the evening so much more enjoyable.

Happy Birthday Diesel, keep up the good parties!

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Text by Ada Teistung (stylishkidsinriot.com London)