Hailing from rainy Amsterdam, Maduk touched down in London on the 18th of March for his UK debut of Maduk & Friends event series. It is hard to think of a more suitable name for an event like this, as already from the first moments of the night, the energy feels as if you’re surrounded by long-lost friends.
The unique experience that only Liquicity events can offer, started right at the queue where strangers, all eager to be let inside of the doors of Village Underground, were sharing laughs and drinks with people they had just met 2 minutes ago. The venue alone is worthy of a review – revamped from tube carriages, shipping containers and a warehouse, it is definitely a special venue for an equally special event.
Walking in to the venue, we are immediately welcomed by the sounds of Telomic warming up the crowd with the absolute smoothest and dreamiest liquid imaginable and by hundreds of smiling faces under the high arches of the old warehouse, letting the music take them away. Telomic takes us on a musical journey ranging from some of his oldest tracks such as the Raise Your Weapon bootleg, which is his first ever Telomic track, and finishing up the set on the other side of the spectrum with his freshest yet to be released track with Susan H.
As the clock ticks closer to midnight, the crowd is getting visibly excited, knowing that any minute now, Maduk will be taking over the decks for a special 4-hour set together with Degs, who is undoubtedly one of the most sought-after MCs on the circuit.
Once it was time for Maduk to step in front of the crowd, he was greeted by an applause so loud, it almost drowned out the music, showing that the UK crowd had been waiting for this moment for far too long. It is also unsure who was happier to be there – the audience or Maduk himself, as his smile was beaming from one ear to the other as he rolled in with “New Beginnings” as his first track of the coming 4 hours, immediately getting the crowd jumping.
At exactly 22 minutes in to the set, the most notable crowd reaction came from the compulsory “Ghost Assassin” that has almost become infamous for never missing from a Maduk set. The crowd was equally ecstatic to hear the first notes of one of his most know tracks “Go” and “Waveline” by Lexurus.
As is the case with every Liquicity event, the energy of the audience was beautiful – at any point you could see people hugging, making new friends, and reuniting with old ones. The energy on stage between Maduk and Degs was equally ecstatic, as the connection between them fuelled the whole crowd with enough energy to still be going strong on the dancefloor at 4am.
With the night slowly rolling in to morning, there was still one big question in the air for everyone there – who was the ‘secret set’ going to be? Getting to the final minutes of Maduk’s 4-hour set, Degs asked the crowd a question that revealed the answer to this mystery: “Do we want another hour of the one and only Maduk?”. Obviously, the answer from the crowd was a unanimous “Yes, please!” as Maduk more than happily continued on for another hour, and finally finishing off the event with the legendary “End Credits” and “Blind Faith” which was a cherry on top of the already amazing night.
