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Their annual week
long drum and bass road trip is one of the highlights of the UK urban music calendar.
Fourteen hours of live Drum and Bass broadcast from 10 cities in six days.
Who better to host the launch night than Portsmouth's Breakneck, widely recognised
as one of the South's premier club nights. Many viewed the line-up as the best
of the whole tour, with arguably the two greatest DJs in Drum and Bass, Andy C
and Friction headlining.  | | Drum
and Bass fans get into the party mood |
Despite
its Monday slot, the venue sold out less than an hour after the doors opened.
The Wedgewood Rooms is more intimate than Breakneck's home on South Parade Pier,
but it was business as usual with all the funky décor, lighting and projections
that the regulars have come to expect. Resident
DJ Charge got the capacity crowd jumping, with MC Gibber confidently spitting
his complex lyrical flow.
SDM and Triple M stepped up next, together with 2Shy MC, and quickly moved up
through the gears. 1Xtra presenter, and occasional drum and bass vocalist Jenna
G was dancing hard on stage, an obvious Breakneck fan.  | | Andy
C at the helm |
Fast
approaching midnight, the crowd whistled and cheered as SDM and Triple M stepped
down, and 2Shy introduced the live broadcast. The red 'live on air' lights flickered
on and up stepped Friction with SP:MC to take the show live. Friction is one of
the stars of 1Xtra's Drum and Bass output.
The stage was a haze of smoke, strobes and projections with animated 1Xtra visuals
mixed in with the Breakneck video projections. Friction pulled out a selection
of dance-floor destroyers, mixing fast and furiously to the delight of the crowd.
Friction's set flew by, and up stepped Andy C and 2Shy.
Not much needs to be said - the crowd was at fever pitch as Andy effortlessly
proved he is still the man to beat. Those
lucky enough to get a ticket will not forget the night 1Xtra went live to the
nation, and Breakneck put Portsmouth firmly on the Drum and Bass map. Were
you at The Xtra Bass Tour in Portsmouth? Tell us if it rocked or sucked on our
clubbing messageboard.
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