Solomun at Printworks London

There are few modern house DJ’s like Solomun. You never quite know which version of him you’re going to get. Is it the chilled-out beach one? Or the deep and dark? Or the euphoric uplifting? Well, at his Printworks debut he was all three.  Following the announcement of his Pacha Ibiza +1 residency and two sold-out shows at the O2 Academy he had a lot to live up to and in this huge warehouse venue he did not disappoint.

As I was visiting Printworks for the first time it took a bit of time to adjust to the sheer size of the place and find the perfect spot. Thanks to the many huge speakers lining the room nearly any spot would do. Initially, the music played by Disco Halal’s Moscoman engulfed us and having sneered at the many people I’d witnessed putting in earplugs in the queue I now understood why. For such a huge space they’ve really nailed the sound. The ringing in my ears lasted for days. But it was worth it.

The crowd were clearly Solomun fans and once he started most were glued to the dancefloor. Waiting for a slightly dud track to be played so they could finally dash to the toilet, but one never came. I met a man with a tattoo on his arm that read ‘WHT’ who told me he followed the Hamburg-based artist around the world and by the end of the set I was ready to join him. He managed to top each track with the last, reaching a euphoric peak with his remix of ‘You’re Not Alone’. Shaking the room and filling the high ceilings with cheers and whoops.

My main criticism is that it actually felt too short. The diversity of Solomun’s music choices meant the four hours flew by and it felt like the evening came to an abrupt ending. I know it must be sound related but leaving a gig like that at 2 am was definitely the last thing anyone wanted to do. The staff at Printworks handled the exit well though and you never felt like you were waiting too long considering the sheer number of people in the building.

Overall this was an incredible gig from a DJ at the top of his game. It’s easy to see why Solomun attracts such a large crowd willing to pay such a high-ticket price. I doubt many people left that venue feeling short-changed and judging by the huge grin on super fan WHT’s face, this was definitely one of Solomun’s best yet.