When a half-empty bottle of Bulmers (other ciders are available) careered into my front teeth at about five to midnight on Friday, it mattered not, for Marky and Andy C were about to take to the main room and cause more damage to the main room than my poor old mangled gnashers. I say 'half-empty', the bottle was surely half-full, given the mood of the night.
I've always been fairly choosey about which nights I go out to, but Lord only knows how I'd never managed to reach a Marky and Friends night. Despite the consistent rave reviews, it had always seemed to fall on the wrong night, or at the wrong time of the month.With The End nigh, and a lineup too good to miss, Jules and I made our merry way from Bethnal Green to Tottenham Court Road, via Brick Lane, to take in what promised to be an historic night for our MaF debut.
One of the things I'll miss most about The End when its finally closes is the buzz you feel when you arrive. There's a palpable sense of excitement and energy about the place when you walk in, even if you're the first person in. It's unreal. People discussing if Andy is going to drop Artisan VIP, people jabbering wildly as to whether Marky's going to do that thing with the deck and his shoulder, people just happy to be there and experiencing some of the best of times.
I've always cherry-picked the nights I go to, and have generally, never been disappointed. Admittedly, I've missed some corkers if the venue or the lineup doesn't look quite right, but The End always delivers. To spout an oft-used cliche, on January 25 2008 comes, I feel a big fuck-off piece of me will have died. I've thrown some shapes to Mambo #5 in Oceania in Kingston, I've seen my nephew cry for splitting his glo-stick at a Sum 41 gig at Brixton Academy, I've seen 50 Cent showered in piss at Reading. All great moments. But none will surpass me lifting a random 10 feet in the air, desperately trying to keep time to the amens in Night Flight.
And so Marky got us all warmed up with his 'Influences' set. It was the perfect way to get everyone moving. In the Lounge, I bumped into an old friend I used to work with at Next, who was busy promoting his Under One Roof night in Camden (I think), which I'll have to check.
Could You Be Loved stood out, as did the girl who angrily snapped 'I've GOT this phone', when I was trying to explain to her how to get a decent picture, who proceeded to take a decent three second video of me and her mate, and some other weird bloke, off his nut. Women...
The remainder of the night, I have to say, is a bit of a blur. Andy and Marky put on some show, which I won't forget until I'm old and wrinkly and probably a bit senile and smell of wee. Stand out tunes included Run Off, Tuning, Locuste, Threshold and loads of others I can't remember.
I think there's some kind of unintentional irony in all of this. I just pray they make some of the recording available, as nights like this, are surely worth preserving
By The End, I could barely see, let alone walk straight. Roll on Shogun Audio
