Review: Infected Mushroom at The Standford Rex, London

by **Genesis** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:37 am

That's the only word I came up with after considerable minutes of thinking and reliving what I experienced last night.
It's been 2 hours since I left the gig, I'm in the aircraft typing this on my way from London to Dublin, wriggling in my favorite window seat with the aftershock of last night's performance still literally moving my feet and nodding my head and still listening to the Infected buzz in my ears. No engine reeving in my left ear or air turbulance can distract me, ruin my moment, end my hallucination, or bring me back to the reality that one of shortest yet most memorable 8 hours of my life is sadly over. As the tradition demands, I rathered typing the event's review in the heat of the moment even though I can feel my red giggly eyes on fire in desprate need for a few hours of sleep and the fast approaching collapse on my keyboard that I can feel enclosing on me with every single breath.

I left my flat in the northern Irish town of Dundalk early on Saturday morning and headed to Dublin Airport where I took my flight and touched down at London's Heathrow at around 4 pm. My best non-lebanese mate, Angelo, and I teamed up soon afterwards and took off for a bite then a rest from the flight at his flat (which is also where I used to live) and headed to Stanford Avenue in East London. Upon our arrival to the venue, The Stanford Rex, a growing queue that would need an hour or so at its best to clear out was within sight. 'Fuckin hell, all that and the door is not open yet' was Angelo's first remark. My reply was two simple words, 'Infected Mushroom'. I luckily was on the guest list and that was part of the package when purchasing the ticket online but that still kept us in a queue for about 30 minutes. Having finally made it past the check-in desk and the security, we needed to drop our coats and thus queueing for an additional 20 minutes what simply pushed me to the edge: HOMmega's Eyal Yankovich is warming up and I'm here stuck in the cloakroom! Things eventually went my way and we got to the dancefloor.

Eyal delivered a blistering set from the latest of released and unreleased gems in prog-psy. One of the finest warm-up sets I've listened to in a long time had to grab my attention to its fullest and whether it was Eyal or anybody else instead: I was right infront of the booth. There wasn't one booth up there, which is another element that I found interesting: Eyal was thrown in the back behind a deck that could be seen by peaking at it from either sides of the dancefloor and ahead of him was another deck (or I'd rather say ''production studio'') left unattended: a keyboard, a guitar, laptop, a mike... I had no idea what else was up there, but what I saw actually relieved me since I still wasn't believing that I'll see Duvdev and Erez in a few hours from that moment... 'Good, I'm in the right venue'... The dancefloor was getting packed, psy freaks started showing up with their wierd eye catching fashion. There definitly is no need to praise the set up, the sound system, the lights, or the lazers: all what was related to the gig was perfectly installed by Antiworld, Psygate, and 666 (the organizers of the event)... absolutely dustless work. Eyal was going bangier and bangier on us, and we just kept on begging for more. By the end of his set: the dancefloor was packed, the junkies were high, and the vibe was on. It was about 1:48 am when Duvdev's bald head glowed at us from the left side of the booth: the spotlight bounced on his white head and we all saw the 6 foot-or-so tall Russian-born stepping into the booth alongside Erez Aizen and Erez Netz. A wave from the 3 boys was enough to fire up the whole dancefloor for everybody knew they'd be blown through the roof.

I've seen a lot of DJs, a lot of live acts, but nothing like what those three can deliver behind all those equipment and wired machines. I've been to gigs from Tiesto, PvD, Corsten, Warren, Sasha, Deep Dish, M.I.K.E., J00F, Above and Beyond, Gabriel and Dresden, Thrillseekers, Pete Tonge, Tall Paul, Marco V, M.O.R.P.H., GMS, Wrecked Machines, Astrix, Xerox & Illumination, Black & White, Protoculture, and even TH's god: AvB, but nobody (and I take full responsibility for that word) can put on a show like Infected Mushroom does in terms of performance skill and technique (regardless for music quality since that is a variable factor depending on individualistic taste). Infected Mushroom, for a start, do not perform, mix, or include into their sets any un-Infected tune: Duvdev and Erez perform only their own tunes, so it's IM all the way. The lyrics are chanted live by Duvdev, the basslines and beats and being sent from Duvdev's 100-button mixer to Erez that adds a layer of melodic keys and the guitar strings from the guitarist, Erez (IM consists of Erez Aizen, Amit Duvedevani, and on stage guitarist: Erez Netz) and sent out to the dancefloor, burning everybody up and causing an inevitable sweetly painful permanent brain damage. It doesn't matter if you've listened to all Infected Mushroom's tunes and remixes: it all sounds different live, it's all remastered and reproduced live to simply drive u mad with that teasing FX and bangy basslines that you could never resist nor predict. There's always something new after every breakdown and every build-up. The night went on and nobody seemed to start leaving, get bored or even tired (thanks for drugs), and my mate and I were down at the booth foot: screaming, lifting hands up, jumping around, flipping in and out of our minds like never in any gig before. It felt like it's been 30 minutes after they took over the show from Eyal Yankovich when we checked the time: 5 am. I found it so hard to stop for photos or record the video. I felt like leaving the dancefloor for a minute will actually mean that I missed the whole show, I lost a piece of the jigsaw to fully grasp the entity of this performance... the perfection of psytrance. However the dream had to come to an end: our plugs where pulled out of the sockets, and IM left the stage at 7 am after warmly thanking everybody for attending, so modest, so down to earth...it was over, but the vibe was on and still will for a long time to come.
A magical journey that I have never lived, a mystic world that I've never stepped into despite all my obsession and total devotion and loyalty to this sub-genre of trance, a bangy party that I have never experienced any encounter of, a nerve-wrecking, knee-crashing, jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, ground-breaking live performance that could be rewarded with nothing less than admiration and fascination with the high skill that those three have got, with the synchronizing in performance roles, the delivery of one of the purest wildest most original hypnotizing and pioneering goa sound I've ever let into my wasted ears, a spreading virus, an A-bomb whose aftershock lasts for a life time of memories, a hazardous radiation whose exposition to would deliver even deeper pleasure, the feeling of being stuck somewhere not between skies and lands but between a universe and another, a life form and another, the feeling of being light and free, untied and unleashed, the joy of being lost between worlds of demons and angels, worlds of the obvious and ambigious: The world of Psychedelic Trance.

No words can actually be fair enough, no words can nail Infected Mushroom's well-earned and deserved reputation but one phrase can be a desprate attempt to sum things up:

I've Been Infected!

(I apologize for the review being relatively short, but I'm simply wrecked. I also apologize for posting the review late though it was ready, but I've just had enough time read it over and submit it)

by **Genesis** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:26 am

*waits to get flamed by pTq*

:mrgreen:

by **Night Stalker** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 8:50 am

Although i've seen GOA/Psy spun before in "raves" i been to, i never went to any major GOA/Psy djs events.
quite a passionate review, i so wish i was there :cry:

u both got me hyped about seeing the group that seems to be storming the whole EDM scene, and got me hyped about psy in general and my "HOPEFULLY,FINGERS CROSSED, ETC.." NYE trip to GOA india.

U lucky u living close to the UK man :wink: