On the 25th October, Stretchy Dance Supply returned for their second party at Sheaf Street.
As their first event of the academic year, the turnout was impressive. The venue was packed with people, however it was often hard to find the space to dance and I’m not sure that Sheaf Street as a venue is the best fit for Stretchy. So much of Stretchy’s event relies on being able to dance and have a laugh, but this event’s predominantly freshers-filled crowd felt more constricting than free.
This is, however, an issue that plagues almost all nights in Leeds around this time of year. The music was typical of the UK bass scene and the DJs were surprisingly attuned to the crowd throughout the night. Yak’s set in particular was percussion-heavy and he even played a couple of his own tunes. The dialogue between the DJs and the crowd was clear, but this meant that the night was mostly filled with crowd pleasers.
Special guest Soundbwoy Killah played mostly jungle classics and, unfortunately, a near-identical set to what he had played at Wire for his headline slot earlier in the week. The night was also pleasantly garage-heavy, which is always fun; my only issue is with how many nights in Leeds are becoming garage-oriented these days.
I know Stretchy are devoted to these sounds as part of a wider love and celebration of UK bass, but more and more nights are leaning on garage as a go-to sound of the night, and it feels at risk of becoming the next standard genre on a Good Life poster. Granted, as already stated, it’s the back-end of the Freshers period and promoters are establishing themselves to an almost completely new crowd and, as a new person to Leeds, I imagine I’d be more than happy to stumble across this party on a Friday night.