Pressure, May 4th, Mercury Live.

This past weekend I managed to pop into Pressure at Mercury Live for a little drum n bass session. I was lucky enough to give away 2 tickets to readers early on in the week so I was keen to visit.

Upon entering I was instantly surprised by Mercury’s make over. What the hell is going on there?! The downstairs bar has been shrunk into a smaller corner bar. The shelf that used to line the entrance wall between the dance floor and pay point is now glassed in! I have no idea if this has something to do with the smoking laws or what but it’s like two separate venues now.

Anyway! Pressure sounded good and looked great as the logo hangs above the DJ box and the letters change colour. I know this is such a chick comment to make but yes, I do wanna go do clubs that put effort into their productions and look good. If it looks good it’s more chick friendly in my opinion! The sound was good too but I didn’t think it was as loud at the start of the night as it was later on.

I missed Hyphen’s set at the start of the night. Dynamo played next and featured an MC. I don’t know what the MC’s name is but he did an ok job – the mic needed to be a bit louder so his lines were more audible. Kamashe followed and kept the party rocking before Rudeone finished off the night’s line up. I really like Rudeone’s sets. Although he plays on the hard side of drum n bass, I actually find his sets really dynamic which isn’t a characteristic I can usually assign to hard sets.

As for pricing: Pressure’s tickets are available all over the show. They’re sold at Shelf Life, Webtickets and at the door for all varying prices. Considering the bar’s are so cheap, it’s really worth going out (best value for R100 on a night out in Cape Town).

The bar prices at Mercury Live are also ridiculous. The bars really are dirt cheap although one does have to compromise on quality of product. The tequila is revolting but hey, I’d rather have some tequila than no tequila. The mixers are all bottled – 2L bottles of Jive to be precise. So the quality is compromised BUT the prices are also SUPER cheap so it makes sense. A double brandy and “coke” is about R20. You can’t beat that in many other places!

Half the bar staff are good, the other half act like they have all night (which they do) which shouldn’t be the customer’s problem. The bottom line is that when last rounds were called they didn’t act too bothered about helping people which was kinda annoying considering the new liquor laws are such a kill joy. NONE THE LESS! The night is about drum n bass and the DJs did a good job.

Over all it was a fun night out on International Star Wars day! The “fourth” was definitely with Pressure that night as the audience was having a great time and the jocks even insisted on an en core at the end of the night. Good job!