As soon as I set a foot through Church’s doors on Sunday I was filled with the spirit, not so much a holy one, but one of extremely eager bank hol revellers. Queues were long, the dancefloor was packed and smokers was, to put it politely, a free-for-all. It was only 11pm, but with Back to Basics presenting the night with such crowd pleasers, what else was to be expected.

As soon as Kölsch and his infamous fedora took to the alter, the atmosphere intensified. The crowd’s reaction, in particular, to his recent single ‘Grey’ was amazing. His techno beats vibrated through the building, hitting everything from the stained glass windows to the floor. There wasn’t a still body in sight.

Following on to keep the party alive was northern lad Patrick Topping. His rise in respect and recognition throughout the industry was clearly demonstrated by the immense hype of the crowd from the start of his house influenced set. There’s something about hearing hundreds of ravers scream ‘Meet me at the club’ in the middle of a Church that you just can’t forget.

The Chapel, otherwise known as the second room, started off as a more mellowed escape from the chaos. But as NRKY & Numbers took to the decks the mood changed. Without the laser light systems or smoke machines that intensified the main room, the Leeds duo used their techno, bass and electric beats to get the crowd grooving.

As the night came to an end at a somewhat early 3:30am, the amount of buzzing party people around gave me the impression they were after more. I got the feeling there would have been some memorable afters in Hyde Park that night…

Grace Kyne

(Image: https://www.facebook.com/pg/churchleeds/photos/)