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Music Bucking the party-pooping trend

Many music clubs may be closing or losing their licences in the capital, but London Printworks is going against the grain, says WILL STONE

LONDON Printworks is already being heralded as a go-to venue despite only opening its doors last year and, on closer inspection, it doesn't take a genius to see why. Its vast cavernous central hall is reminiscent of former power plant Kraftwerk in Berlin, the sound system promises to be second to none and the line-ups are frequently big-name draws.

Its forthcoming season puts paid to any plans of hibernation over the chillier months — until January the venue will feature 125 artists over 25 shows. Launching its opening event on Saturday (September 29) is Cocoon, famous for putting on weekly parties in Ibiza. They'll be curating what was the main press room with the likes of legend Sven Vath, Iranian tech-house DJ Dubfire and deep house producer Dana Ruh.

Avant Garde hosts the second Dark Room, with house stalwarts Maurizio Schmitz, Dean Mir and Yacine Dessouki. Other highlights of the season include Brazilian tech-house legend Maceo Plex, whose Mosaic by Maceo event on October 6 will also feature techno greats Len Faki and Ellen Allien.

On November 17, Hydra presents a night headlined by hugely talented Russian techno goddess Nina Kraviz, who'll be joined by the versatile Ben UFO. Hydra returns on December 15 to host what is perhaps the most exciting of all line-ups, with Detroit techno pioneer Jeff Mills making his Printworks debut performance. He'll be joined by legends including Surgeon, Marcel Dettmann, Octave One and James Ruskin.

Clubbers negotiating the venue's maze of corridors and rooms will come across original machinery from the time when the site housed giant printing presses that churned out copies of the Metro and Evening Standard newspapers and its 16-acre press halls, fully soundproofed, were once the largest print facility in western Europe.

Apart from the rich industrial heritage, the venue was also used for two of Secret Cinema's biggest immersive theatre events, Star Wars and 28 Days Later, and was the set for the film Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Unlike most clubs, Printworks opens its doors at 12 noon rather than midnight and finishes at a respectable 11pm instead of 6 or 7am. Mark Newton, Broadwick Live director, told the Star: "Running daytime music events is really changing the way people go clubbing. It allows them to have the same all-day experience as a festival and means the venue also remains full until close, which often isn’t the case when venues shut in the early hours of the morning."

Here's to the daytime clubbing revolution.

Full details of the season are available at printworkslondon.co.uk

 

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