The mood seemed positive as the usual student mob descended upon Oceana for Student Therapy on Wednesday 2/10/2013. With people looking forward to a heavy night of Drum and Bass with the promised Pendulum DJ set, everyone was expecting to leave with throbbing ears, aching muscles and a sore head in the morning.
As the dance floor slowly filled from opening, it wasn’t until roughly 11:30 that Oceana became alive, as people danced subtly, as a warm up, to the usual tracks by Calvin Harris, Akon and Avicii. However this wasn’t the reason the crowd assembled and around the bars it was obvious people were anxiously waiting for the Pendulum set as students were drinking prematurely for the mayhem that was expected.
At around 12:30, the waiting ended and the Pendulum set kicked off, slowly but surely. With some tracks having a club vibe, due to some DJ influence, it wasn’t until classic tracks such as Blood Sugar, Tarantula and Slam were heard that the true Pendulum vibe emerged with friendly mosh pits throughout the dance floor. From this period onwards, the dance floor was slammed and you had to be dedicated to move through the mass of bodies that moved with little control, fuelled by pure adrenaline. As per usual, lasers were streaming and steam was being forced onto the dance floor creating the surreal environment that is required when moving around to songs from bands such as this. A highlight of the show was the beautiful movement from The Island Pt.1 to Pt.2 with the DJ skilfully emphasising the soft to heavy sound of the two songs, as well as the track Blood Sugar. The presence of the song’s heavy drop created a beautiful pulse through the floor as the crowd leapt in sync within the heart of the super club.
Sadly, it wasn’t until the last hour of the Pendulum set that spirits seemed to reach its peak. From 1-2am the atmosphere could not be faulted, however beforehand it felt as if people were half-heartedly enjoying the environment. They were dancing simply because they felt they had to and not really enjoying the music. Within the crowd, also, were surly looking bouncers, stalking the crowd like predators and jumping on anybody that looked like they were having too much fun, telling them to ‘calm down’. That’s exactly what the crowd wants to be told. These two factors definitely had an impact on the general ambiance of the club and certainly brought down my overall opinion of the night, as I’m sure it did for others.
Overall, for the majority of the night, it simply felt like another night at Oceana. Other than the brief hour that I will say was great, it simply wasn’t special. Without faulting that brief period of classic Pendulum tracks, the night failed to deliver on the hype that surrounded the event. Granted, there were mixed opinions of the night, but for somebody that expected a night of heavy Pendulum tracks, the majority of the evening was extremely average
