I woke up Sunday morning and the thought of the afternoons plans had me in a good mood from the start!
Dom Whiting (A sort of Bradley Wiggins/Sub Focus hybrid) was coming to town to fill the streets of Manchester with Drum & Bass. He’s been travelling the UK and cycling round cities while mixing and each time it gets bigger and bigger.
I arrived at the starting location just outside our studios in Media City and immediately saw fellow Unity DJ & presenter Silver who hosts ‘The North Base & Friends Show’. We caught up and watched Dom setting up his decks and what I’m going to call ‘Bass Bike’.
As it got closer to the starting time, more and more people were arriving and a certain buzz was in the air. Dom did a quick intro, loaded the first track and with a huge roar from the crowd we were off over Media City’s bridge.
The sun was shining and everywhere I looked all I could see were smiles. Very soon we were cruising down main roads and the crowd of cycling junglist was growing by the second. It was a brilliant mix of gun fingers, bass faces and bicycle chaos! I loved looking at people’s faces that were stranded in their cars wondering what the hell was going on. Some were buzzing, sounding their horns, others angry that their midday Sunday drive was delayed but on the whole people were loving it.
We carried on into the city and made our way down Deansgate and Oxford road. Dom dropped a banger, hands went in the air and cheers filled St Peters Square as people screamed for a reload. It honestly felt amazing. With over a year of limited live music, the rolling festival created the most incredible vibe and you could feel the relief as we all left our stresses of modern life behind.
We headed south and soon we were at our end point of Platt Fields Park where we put down our bikes and Dom thanked everyone for coming out. For the remainder of the afternoon, I stuck around and caught up with friends and DJ’s over some well earned refreshments.
Drum & Bass is such a huge part of my life, the diverse and friendly community that the scene holds is like no other. It made me feel proud to be part of such an amazing family and I realised how much I had missed spending time with friends and connecting through music.
Big shouts to Dom Whiting and his crew. He creates such a vibe in every city he visits and promotes the scene brilliantly.
Here’s a link to the the Facebook stream…
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Written by Rory Bramford aka Binx
