I was never really one for surprise/word of mouth gigs in the various clubs around Dublin or indeed Ireland as a whole. Taking the chance on admission to the club for a start could either end up in tears outside shivering or inside havin' it to the slick sounds of the 'surprise' headline DJ!
However, I was going to make a big exception to that rule - Sasha was spinning at Power's Hotel - 'Republica' and no bogie stories about expensive admission, ticket-only admission, or complete spoofs were going to stop me!
Will Story (honey) opened up the music board to the night with some pumpin' Prog. House cuts, which delighted the young but enthusiastic crowd. Tension was riding high as 12pm approached on top of the climaxing of Story's 12''s and we were ready, willing and able for what was to come!
The tension was increased with news of a flight delay - this was too much. Eventually Mr Coe stepped up to the booth setting himself for what was to be an incredible 2 hours to follow. Sasha set the mood - playing his own remix of Scandinavian experimentalists Gus Gus 'Purple'. The clubbers present had only heard of the hype that Break-Beats were causing in the U.K. and Sasha was here to give us a taste of what was to come. Indeed having pioneered the rebirth of those crashing chopped-up beats and phat bass-lines weaving the sound in and out of a Trance/Techno boundary - Who better than him to showcase this new sound for us.
Continuing his trade-mark seamless mixing he continued to bang out the very best in his progressive but deep trance set building up a frenzy with the peak of Binary Finary's '1998' - after each peak came a break-beat and a chance for us to catch our breaths. Rarely lifting his head above the DJ booth, his set flowed like a tidal wave chopping in and back out of complicated hip-hop rhythms! The mere programming that this DJ stalwart dished out was so tight, complete with build-ups and breakdowns in all the right places using the mixer EQ as a secret weapon.
Of course the 800 strong demanded an encore and it would be fair to say Sasha was more than happy to deliver the goods. This time the original of 'Purple' was rinsed through the sound system clattering it's way through to the dancefloor! On the receiving end of such a powerful percussive track our heads were left spinning and we were left with an ingenious encore from the master himself!
Barry Dempsey. June '98.