Loukia on Rinse’s 15 Birthday bash…

Friday night marked the celebration of Rinse FM’s 15th Birthday. If you were there then you don’t need to read this because words won’t do it justice. If you weren’t there then go and stand in a mirror and give yourself a punch in the face (punch in the face), grab a box of Kleenex and cry over what you missed.

Rinse FM is undoubtedly the most important, most influential and most listened to of all the pirate radio stations in London. As you regular ravers will know, the multi-annual FWD>> and Rinse events are always epic. This one was the mother of all raves. Split between 2 rooms and crammed with 2,600 sweaty, hype people the night was proof of how UK underground music is doing it TOO well.

Both of the areas played host to sets mixed and mashed and spat and sung by Grime, Dubstep and Funky’s finest. We got grimey with Newham Generals as D Double E had the crowds busy with some fresh new bars. Benga and Skream span for the dubstep heads dropping reverbalicious riddims, which in true dubstep style had our insides shaking and vibrating to the very core. Crazy Cousinz and MC Versatile turned the second room into a funky tribal house party. There were so many memorable sets and performances we’d need an essay (or 8 hours of live footage) to show how immense it actually was.

Representing for the girls, Katy B serenaded us with some of her funky tracks including the sing-along anthem of last summer Tell Me. One of the highlights of the night for me was Ms Dynamite’s showdown, which was evidence that she is still big in the game. She performed some of her new material including her latest single with The Nextmen Lion’s Den. Inevitably she finished her set with the classic Boo which of course never has people booing but getting right down low and waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care.

Perhaps the biggest performance of the night came from Boy Better Know. The crowds went wild as Skepta, JME, Maximum, Jammer, Frisco and the crew took to the stage and tore the roof off the entire arena. Their BBK T-shirt wearing entourage were there fully representing their serious side, showing everyone that they’re always ready and as far as us girls were concerned the fact that there were too many man was definitely a win.

Apart from the lack of cake and not getting to play spin the bottle, it was pretty much THE BEST birthday shindig I’ve been to in a long while. As it made its debut in it’s new home Matter, I’m sure we can expect and look forward to many more events of this caliber from the Rinse and FWD>> mandem. It single-handedly RINSED anything and everything else that might’ve been going on Friday night. (Pun very much intended).

Words: Loukia Constantinou

Boy Betta Know’s set courtesy of Butterz

Tags: FWD, Matter, Rinse FM