Theo Parrish – All Night Long

Plan B, London (11^th October)

What do you know about Theo Parrish? Do you know that, originally born in Washington DC, he now splits his time between Detroit and London? That he’s partial to wearing a flat cap or two? Or that he sometimes leans back so far while mixing that he’s almost sitting on the floor?!

Or do you know nothing about him at all? Well, it doesn’t matter really – all you need to know is that a set from Theo is something you should try to experience at least once.

I read an interview with Theo earlier this year in which he said: “People don’t know how to dance any more. Not so long ago it was rare for folks to stand to the side and head nod, and it was even rarer for them to be staring at the DJ in the booth all night.” Well, I sit (or stand) somewhere in the middle. I would challenge you to stop me from dancing but, when you have a DJ such as Theo on the decks, it is hard not to stare!

He never fails to put everything into his music and it 100% shows. As his head moves to the beat, his shoulders turn, and he bounces up and down, side to side – his energy is infectious! Add to that the fact that his mixing is so finely tuned – sometimes I think he doesn’t even use headphones as he only seems to have them on for a split second between tracks.

Moving seamlessly from genre to genre, vinyl to CD, from his opening track (Bubble Cougar), disco and house featured heavily on the night with some key tracks for me being Mortal Trance, Catch Me On The Rebound, and Feeling Good.

Now don’t get me wrong, I accept an all night DJ set isn’t for everyone, but Theo has more than one string to his bow.  A great example of this is his live London shows that took place at the Barbican and The Forum earlier this year. We were lucky enough to attend his show at The Forum and we were treated, not only to his musical prowess but also to four other musicians and a fantastic demonstration of dance talent.

It just so happened that this Saturday night was a night in which he worked the decks for 6 hours (or rather 5.5 hours to be precise) and so all focus was on Theo.

Although overall we loved the night, a couple of things (completely unrelated to Theo) let it down. Firstly, for some unbeknownst reason, Plan B has its cloakroom situated in a corner downstairs that means you have to queue circling the perimeter of the downstairs room – not only does this cut off access to the bar, but more importantly it means that nobody can enjoy the music downstairs as there is no real space. This was a shame as Nick Craddock, who was playing, was spinning some seriously good house, including Corazon Angustiado. Sort it out Plan B – both rooms deserve people’s attention! Secondly, too many people were just plain rude. There is absolutely no need to aggressively push and barge your way through the crowd and yet the majority of people there on the night felt this was a requirement. It certainly killed our vibe.

To give you a better idea of what Theo might deliver if you were to catch one of his sets, check out his Boiler Room appearances. He is slightly more tame in his set from October 2012 however you get a good feel for how he flows from genre to genre, whereas you can see a bit more of his musical personality shining through on his March 2013 set, although it lends itself more towards house, soul and disco.

Moral of the story? Go check Theo out for yourself.

Unfortunately the atmospherics on the night did not allow for photos/ videos. Photos featured in this post were taken at Theo’s Live show at The Forum (14^th July 2014). 
Visit our Flickr page to see photo highlights and our YouTube channel where you can watch extracts from other shows.
You can also check out our Past Events page to see our music archives.

 

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