Featured Review: UFK & Bedlam at The O2 Academy, Bournemouth

Well, what can I see about UKF and Bedlam’s night in Bournemouth. The lineup pretty much spoke for itself; and the O2 Academy’s atmosphere was electric. It was incredible to go to a night of this energy, and each act highlighted the great things about drum & bass as a genre. With power duo My Nu Leng playing one of the best sets we’ve seen them on, Shy FX playing better than he did at Boomtown, Sub Focus giving us a taste of his lyrical dnb, and old school DJ TC ending the night made for an incredible event.

My Nu Leng have certainly taken off this year, playing every festival going, and a strong catalogue of self-produced tracks as well as a barrage of top quality remixes. The Bristol boys are known for their heavy house and bassline, but the jungle/dnb set at UKF was certainly impressive.

Walking in on Leng first bought the mood up straight, and gave an instant excuse to dash to the dance floor. Adding in their usual MC, Dread, makes their set ever better, and what MC Dread does so well is hype the crowd; warming them up for the other acts that would follow.

After a set this strong it’s easy to see why the duo are booked so often across the UK, and in Europe. With an archive of styled synths and infectious bass lines, the duo exhibit both a dark and moody tone that reimagines garage and bassline influences alike. The variation in the boy’s style is excellent and keeps the pair fresh when you here their own work. These two keep getting raved about by press and punters, and that’ll ensure the star will continue to rise for them. If you haven’t yet seen My Nu Leng, then stop hiding under a rock.

Our first time seeing Sub Focus since his early 2014 tour to mark the release of album ‘Torus’. Since then the DJ has come along way. Sub Focus played an upbeat set dropping in some of his own well known songs. The DJ dropped ‘Tidal Wave’ and ‘Turn Back Time'; both well received by the ravers present.

After seeing Shy FX both at Boomtown in August and at Southampton Soundclash in September, there is no doubt that he’s one of the best out there right now. His sets are always entertaining and have an eclectic mix of jungle and drum&bass unveiling the DJ as ‘the second generation of soundboy’ and ‘the original junglist’. This set, though, was simply incredible. The London-based DJ showed Bournemouth what he’s made of; mixing the best jungle and dnb going. ‘Original Nuttah’ and ‘Shake Your Body’ couldn’t of gone down better, and his performance certainly reflected how talented the DJ really is.

TC has been playing drum&bass since 1999, and is regarded as one of the best old school dnb DJs in the UK. Bedlam and UKF had the Bristol-based producer as their special guest, and cleverly placing him on the 4am to 5am slot saw the group dwindle much less than usual. He’s a must see DJ! Tom Casswell launched into dnb when he released his debut album ‘Get It On’. He has since released classics like; ‘Where’s My Money’, ‘Get That Girl’, and ‘Borrowed Time’. TC has also been apart of the D-Style collective for the past few years. TC continues to expand his success in the Drum and Bass scene, and in 2011 set up his on label called “Don’t Play”.

This was our first opportunity to see TC, and we’re glad we did. A perfect DJ to end a perfect night of drum&bass. His heavy rhythm didn’t let off once during the set, and definitely kept up the night’s electric atmosphere.

All of this combined made for an indescribable night. It was an amazing to see an event have an atmosphere better than that of some festivals. Definitely the best we’ve so far encounter at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth. We can’t wait for the next Bedlam event. Not heard of Bedlam yet? Then watch this space!

Photos by Sam Neill – www.samneillphoto.com

Venue – 9/10

DJ/Band – 10/10

Music – 10/10

Overall – 10/10