DJ Vadim at Old Queen's Head

DJ Vadim at Old Queen's Head

21 July, 2008
by: SpecialK

There are few things more depressing (Pauline Fowler and poverty aside) than seeing a world class DJ like Vadim being reduced to playing crowd pleasers to an ensemble of moronic estate agents with glow sticks.

Faced with such a crowd there are DJs who prefer to pretend they are at home, digging out obscure white labels and alienating even the most enthusiastic of music buffs with rare Kraftwerk remixes, then there are those who take a deep breath and delve into the section of their record bags labeled 'commercial shit.' Vadim appears to be the latter but if playing mediocre gigs in Islington foots the bill for traveling the world and creating audio delights for real music fans than so be it.

That said, Friday night at the Old Queens Head could only be described as a gathering for people who got bullied at school, celebrating their new found popularity by busting out the running man in chinos, simultaneously spilling beer all over themselves and innocent bystanders of which there were few. It is no secret that Islington is disproportionately full of wankers however in days gone by they were relatively easy to avoid. Conspicuous in their formal attire and uncomfortable in their surroundings, they used to womble back to Wimbledon (or wherever) by nine, happily drunk and covered in delicious lashings of garlic and or chilli sauce. No more. There is a new breed of altogether more intrepid office worker armed with the petty cash and a go get 'em, tiger attitude waiting to invade a pub near you.

If any real heads turned up on Friday they probably left convinced that they had accidentally gate-crashed Foxton's belated Christmas bash. It's a reoccurring problem, possibly only rectifiable by enforcing a strict music-quiz-door-policy. Problematic in itself, as it seems a bit like something Hitler would have done if he liked hip hop.

All moaning aside, Vadim looked like he was having an alright time, bobbing around in his trademark geek chic glasses and flat cap, and its not that there's anything wrong with Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five or Mary J, its just you can listen to that at home and some jazz infused, plinkety-plonkety, boundary pushing beats would have been nice instead.

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SpecialK