Just Jack (o'lantern): Halloween at Motion
Bristol dance music institution Just Jack blasted in Motion for a Halloween extravaganza of epic proportions. Cue lights, cue lanterns, cue some of the finest techno selectors in the game. Yet, to Georgia Marsh’s bitter disappointment, 2007 indie smash ‘Starz In Their Eyes’ was nowhere to be heard.
If Just Jack was at school, he’d be the charismatically cool kid with the huge house whose parents are never in town. In other words, Just Jack know how to throw a massive rager.
This time around, Just Jack returned to Motion – the jewel in Bristol’s clubbing crown – for their annual Halloween special. The club that never sleeps put on a sold out event the night before, with The Blast throwing their Carnival of the Dead, yet Just Jack was certainly the superior night of the weekend, showcasing an unrivalled line-up to make any other event that Halloween weekend green with envy.
While most punters stuck to face paint or body glitter, the queue was heavily bombarded with men in Trump costumes, fully outfitted with Oompa Loompa faces, dodgy toupees and ‘Make America Great Again’ caps. The looming US election was definitely a scarier prospect than any bloody and deformed face prosthetic which wove through the crowd during the course of the night.
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The crowd was, in fact, a pleasure to roam in and out of. Because the night wasn’t sold out (probably due to the astronomical prices of final tier tickets), the rooms were heaving but not so much so that everyone was packed in like a squeamish sardine mess, as Motion so often is. This made for easy access to The Marble Factory and The Tunnel, an especially useful feat at the beginning of the night when one wished to trade standardly sleek techno for something thoroughly more danceable.
The Tunnel was especially impressive for these reasons. Dan Wild and Marcellus Pittman in particular served some spectacularly jazzy house, infusing funked-up techno with hard-grooved house. Unlike anyone else that night, they swapped sleek minimalism for something that punters could really get their feet moving to, catering to those who fancied a groove to something with an alternative palette.
The music had a similar feel in The Marble Factory, where the team of two warm up acts – Tom Rio and Dan Wild – played a farfetched set far into the night, following the likes of Pender Street Steppers and Prins Thomas.
An extra special treat for Motion-goers that evening was the occurrence of daylight savings. While some wide-eyed ravers roamed the site bemused that it was still only 1.30am (how could this be? It was 1.30 an hour ago?), others cherished the precious extra hour they were able to spend in the sanctified company of Just Jack.
Headlining the evening was none other but Berghain resident Marcel Dettmann – one of the most influential figures in techno today. His three-hour set managed to lack in anything monotonous, instead venturing into his signature deep, dark techno and kept eyes open and feet itching until the ultra-early hours of the next morning reared their head.
Although Just Jack have pulled back the extravagancies that contributed to the quickness of their fame, this didn’t stop them from pulling out all the stops this Halloween. An emphasis on providing Bristol’s tastiest Halloween line-up proved to be a winning strategy for the label.
Just Jack return to the Coroner's Court on 25th November.