MEDUZA & James Hype Present Our House – Magazine Open-Air, London: Event Review
On Friday August 14th, Broadwick Live were set to open their summer residency at Magazine Open-Air, and to launch the series, MEDUZA & James Hype hosted ‘Our House’, a boundary-pushing event concept designed to capture the full spectrum of house music while challenging modern club culture, and the lineup was built upon MEDUZA, James Hype, Dombresky and not one, but two B2B sets from Layla Benitez & Brina Knauss, and also Cristoph & Nora En Pure. A Diverse lineup.
Magazine Open-Air is an outdoor summer event series and roofless dancefloor located on the Greenwich Peninsula, on the Magazine London site. Set on the banks of the River Thames, the venue offers direct views of the Canary Wharf skyline, the River Thames, The Millenium Dome and also overhead plans from London City airport. It’s also created and produced by Broadwick Live (the team behind Printworks and Drumsheds).
I travelled up from the South Coast, and this involved a direct train into London [90 minutes], and then a direct train via the Underground [10 minutes] and then a 5-minute walk to the venue. When travel is as simple as this, it does make a difference, as there is no faffing around waiting for transfers etc, it’s a bonus point for the venue; an easily accessible location.
Inside the venue, I really liked the simplistic approach it adopted; the stage is designed by Matière Noire, on the dancefloor there are 6 tall steel fixtures which the dancefloor lights attach to, whilst from the DJ booth perspective, on the right of the dancefloor area there is the raised standing VIP area which provides more space and a better view too, simplistic yet smart design.
There were multiple tickets options available, including general admission, VIP which included fast-track entry, an exclusive VIP viewing area, and a dedicated VIP bar and toilets, and also VIP Stage which gives you direct access to the mainstage, behind the DJ booth within exclusive viewing areas. If you upgraded to VIP, it is well worth doing as the VIP bar provided a seating area if you needed a timeout, and you also got access to the raised viewing platform on the wing of the dancefloor for an even better view too.
Early set highlights from Layla Benitez & Brina Knauss, who laid down a melodic, progressive set with big-room feels included ‘Kryder – Ascension’ which features a nostalgic 1990s-inspired trance lead with a tech house-infused groove, whilst ‘Aikon – To You’ epitomizes the sleek, experimental edge of modern melodic house and techno; fusng indie dance and dark electro textures, blending modular-sounding synth riffs that duel over the rhythm with a distinct retro-futuristic atmosphere and the unreleased ‘Goon Gum – Just Be Good To Me’ that flips the iconic 1983 R&B vocal by The S.O.S. Band into a modern, high-energy club anthem built around a dense, pulsating sub-bass and a rolling mid-bass line.
Dombresky’s set featured a lot more house groove, paying homage to his French roots, through tracks including Alaia & Gallo – Lipstick (Tony Romera Remix) which trades the house grooves of the original for Romera’s signature tough, French-influenced industrial tech house sound, whilst ‘Junior Jack, Juliet Sikora, Flo MRZDK – Thrill Me (Extended Mix)’ updates the nostalgic flair of the original with a sleek, driving club framework via punchy, tight kick drum layered with sharp claps and crisp hi-hat arrangements and Dombresky’s ‘Soul Sacrifice’ blended a distinct French touch sensibility with feel-good, infectious club energy built around a distinctive, infectious saxophone solo.
Cristoph B2B Nora En Pure’s set oozed progressive vibes, and ‘Cristoph – Come With Me’ exemplified his signature ‘dark progressive’ production style, blending the emotional depth of classic progressive house with the raw, driving energy of modern techno, whilst ‘Nora En Pure – Tibet’ exemplifies her signature ‘organic and melodic house’ production style; the foundational elements of the track are lush, wide-spectrum synthesizer pads, whilst the driving force of the melody is a captivating, progressive arpeggiator, and lastly, for nostalgia, they dropped the unreleased Dosem remix of ‘iio feat. Nadia Ali – Rapture’ which strips away the pop-trance embellishments of the 2001 original, rebuilding the anthem into a modern progressive techno and deep-tech weapon.
Meduza opened on ‘Becky Hill, Goodboys, Meduza – Lose Control (Extended)’ which is viewed by many as the spiritual successor to ‘Piece Of Your Heart’ where Becky Hill’s raw, soulful, and commanding top-line melody flies over the dark instrumentation beats, whilst also dropping an unexpected classic; ‘Steve Angello, Laidback Luke – Be (Original Mix)’, which strips away the lush chords and complex arrangements of traditional progressive house, replacing them with a raw, abrasive, and rhythmically chaotic sound whilst a standout mashup of DJ Wady, Sean Finn, MoonDark – Pasilda (CASSIMM Remix) and Bad Bunny & Los Pleneros de la Cresta – CAFé was a standout; a modern club-focused house reimagining of a latin house classic, which complimented CAFé’s blend of traditional Puerto Rican Plena and modern avant-garde Latin urban production.
Meduza also teased new music in the form of Prospa, Cloone – Free your Mind (MEDUZA Remix), and their take seamlessly blends the soulful vocals and driving baseline of the original track with Meduza’s signature, cinematic tech house progression, whilst ‘Meduza, Henry Camamile – Don’t Wanna Go Home (Extended Mix)’ is a quintessential example of high-energy, late-night festival progressive house, moving away from their darker, underground tech house sound into an anthemic mainstage format, and to close their set, Meduza played ‘Goodboys, Meduza – Piece Of Your Heart (Extended Version)’ which is widely credited with reviving commercial club music in 2019 with ‘Daft Punk – One More Time (Original Mix)’ which is the definitive masterpiece of French Touch (Filter House), an absolute classic, two, to finish the set!
For James Hype’s set, I AM NOT going to discuss his track selection within his set, or summarise his set, I am going to recommend you see him live, as he is one of, if not, the best DJ currently spinning in the music industry. He has elite technical ability, working 5 decks seamlessly, utilising lightning fast transitions, mixing multiple track live at the same time, blending acapellas in synchronisation to the bea etct, and this formula for success, after hours of repitition in the studio has earnt him a well-deserved reputation, and the reason for being a Pioneer DJ brand ambassador too. If you every get the opportunity to see James Hype work the wheels of steel, GO!
Overall, I would say that Broadwick Live has conjured another quality music venue for London, access is easy, staff are polite and helpful, and their strong knowledge of current, in-demand artists enables them to curate top lineups, and MEDUZA & James Hype’s ‘Our House’ delivered a truly versatile soundtrack for the evening, whilst the London sunshine beams down on you, open-air bliss!
