Ministry Of Sound, Gatecrasher, Cream and home loom in Yanks' minds as far-off holy lands where God speaks in the mystical language of breaks and beats.
Yanks who fancy themselves as clubbers know that these ar the temples their British counterparts go to every weekend to pray at the feet of some superstar DJ .
Since most New Yorkers will probably never make it to these particular
mountains, the mountains are coming to them. Case in point: The Ministry Of Sound Tour visits Manhattan club The Roxy tonight (The next night, Gatecrasher sets up at Limelight, a former church transformed into a club that was once notorious for being a virtual drug emporium).
Tall Paul, Danny Howells and George Acosta are Ministry's main men. Anyone coming fashionably late misses Howells, who has the first slot from 10pm to 12am. The very Tall Paul takes it to 2am, followed by Miami DJ Acosta, who spins till 4am. It's hard not to feel annoyed at this order since the show's flyer bills Howells and Paul as the main acts, with Acosta's name underneath in smaller type.
Regardless, The Roxy never really fills up, even as the hours inch into
clubbing's prime time. (The "Barely Legal Loft" VIP area is painfully
desolate, leaving Scotty Marz, Justin Johnson, 3PO and Sonic Bee with almost no one to hear their tunes). It's a shame that the place is so empty, because Paul is really kicking tonight, dropping Timo Maas' 'Killin' Me' and Sister Bliss' 'Sister, Sister' in a hard, driving set. The crowd gets its rocks off when Paul throws on a new Fatboy Slim track with the chorus: "They know what is what/But they don't know what is what/They just strut/What the fuck".
Acosta makes a skilled transition into his set, keeping pace with beats so hard they sound like amplified bees buzzing around a hive. He's excellent at being a tease, but it can be maddening too. Those wanting to hear Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400", for example, get it, but it's a brief and distorted shadow of the real thing.
Mia Quagliarello
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