On any given weekend, Leeds’ clubs play host to a multitude of renowned DJs from the UK and beyond. We have options. So much so, in fact, that it’s easy for good bookings to get buried beneath the competition. But even in a city like ours, a select few DJs generate a level of hype that surpasses the rest. Move D is one of those names.
The veteran DJ – real name David Moufang – can surely credit some of his local popularity to the all-disco sets he brings to the UK’s summer festival circuit. Leeds loves Gottwood, and Gottwood loves Move D. Whilst the viral videos spawned from these sets showcase his party-starting abilities perfectly, they do somewhat belie his tastes as a DJ, and his back catalogue as a producer. Those amongst the sell-out crowd at Wire expecting exclusively disco from start to finish were sorely mistaken – Moufang was playing all night long, and he was there to play tracks from across the spectrum of dance music.
Don’t get me wrong – there were horns, and soaring synths, and all of the euphoric crescendos that disco brings to the table. The whistles of Eumir Deodato’s aptly-named Whistle Bump provided the crowd with the prompts they craved to whoop and cheer. To crank things up a notch, Moufang pulled an ace from his sleeve in the form of The Streets’ Turn the Page. The mood changed. The track’s gripping, swelling strings added some intensity to proceedings, and carried the set from a disco bop into the drum-driven sounds of Bobby Analog’s Some Aul Horn On Me.
By now, the place was bouncing. The set was due to finish at 4, an early close for a ‘One Night With…’ event, and moving into what was supposed to be the final hour, the German sustained the pace with a succession of funk, garage house, and soul. Any sense of steady progression then went out of the window. A second Streets song of the night in the form of the classic Weak Become Heroes (the man knows how to please a British crowd) was quickly followed by Change and Luther Vandross’s The Glow of Love. Clear progression or not, the sheer energy at this point was something to behold. And Moufang was clearly enjoying himself too. Upon my departure, the night had overrun its curfew by almost an hour.
Move D’s popularity is unwavering. As such, writing this review is probably preaching to the converted. But on the off chance that you haven’t yet experienced it for yourself, as I hadn’t, trust that the hype is justified. Those wanting to see him in Leeds will have to wait. But for those set complete their yearly pilgrimages to Wales, or Lincolnshire, or wherever else, a proper party awaits.
Dan King
Image credits: zero.eu