
The Annie Mac Presents tour flowed into Edinburgh late last month, bringing with it the abundance of expectation it now carries to provide an elegant explosion of electronic dance music attached from so many successful showdowns before.
The air of anticipation gave the old Edinburgh Picture House a buzzing feel that was quickly picked up by funky house producer Duke Dumont, who started the proceedings early and set a telling tone for the night with soulfully sweet melodies overseen by big bad basslines.
UK chart topper Need U (100%) established the credentials of the sound system were certainly in check, pounding out the irresistible blend of 90s house music and modern day trance to draw the crowd to the dance floor early and ensure the five hour session would be hard hitting the whole way through.
Co-writer of that aforementioned Duke Dumont hit MNEK was on stage to back up the producer with some fresh vocals, but it was the bouncy bassline of The Giver that most notably gave a turbo-boost to the dance floor motions, with party-goers flying onto shoulder tops and producing the camera phones to chant the anthemic lyrics of the summer sensation.
Closing on his soft, progressive remix of HAIM’s Falling, Duke left a solid set to allow Lulu James to take over, the London singer mixing it up with her original style of electronic soul; cool, crisp and consistently heavy with deep bass. Certainly no rest for the entertained then, other than the half-hour odd wait for a drink of course, and the securing of a long-lasting mortgage to afford said beverage.
Chill master Cyril Hahn was up next with his brand of expressive house, oozing a clean, laidback vibe with numbers Perfect Form and Raw Cut – the latter of which grabs for a particularly juicy bassline – yet with a more relaxed vibe to his music than his predecessors, there was a case to be had for perhaps swapping the set times of Dumont and Hahn to add a more natural progression to the night.
Regardless, the ambience and sound waves mechanically hit full throttle when the awesome Annie Mac arrived on decks, pumping out a variety of deep, deep house tunes and letting loose a higher quantity of bass than a stick of dynamite in the North Pacific Ocean.
The buzz created when the signature curls of the innovator were seen was a credit to the status of Mac in the modern industry, and the DJ did not disappoint, dropping the likes of Friend Within’s The Renegade alongside more diverse tracks including a Rudimental live lounge cover of White Noise – with the help of MNEK – to form a warm and wonderful complete house session that brought a truly pioneering style to the Scottish capital.
A massive success from the constantly impressive Mac all-in-all, and one filled with more than enough talent and diversity to make the five hour duration of the event fly by quick as you like.
Stuart Kenny
As published originally at: www.brignewspaper.com