Reviews

For most people the fact that it is the weekend is plenty enough reason to celebrate, but when you factor into account the advent of this year's new clubbing season after the summer break, and the coming of age of one of Leeds' best kept secrets, it becomes easy to see why the weekend of the 23rd September 2005 was going to be such a special one...
7 years running and as popular as ever, the leafy green behemoth that is Cabbage prides itself in having one of the friendliest, most welcoming crowds around, despite the incredible popularity among its followers, and the growing universalness of it's appeal.

With resident DJs so passionate about their chosen sound and guest acts carefully hand picked from among the scene's most respected and most well-loved artists, it's not hard to see how the enthusiasm that floods the crowd is equalled as much by the party makers as the party goers - a sure recipe for a good time. The irresistible sonic stimulation so lovingly provided certainly never fails to set your feet stomping...
Of course, headlining psychedelic music veterans Eat Static played a startling live set, boldly incorporating diverse and often unexpected aural elements into their ever-popular sound, and bulldozing the borders between musical genres to create a no-holds-barred party sound that keeps your head spinning and your body moving. I don't think i've ever seen any electronic artist rock out to their music quite so enthusiastically as Merv Eat Static, who I seem to recall spent a lot of their set headbanging quite vigorously whilst tweaking filter knobs and twisting the sounds up 'good and proper...

Alongside the brilliant crowd and astounding musical palette, one other thing that sets Cabbage so far apart from many neighbouring club nights is the beautiful handcrafted UV decor, which is especially noticable in the chill out room, a wondefully otherworldly place where both the mood and the music is decidedly more mellow. Chill room headliners Luna Loop proved once again that when it comes to doing their thing, no one does it better than they do - engaging and energetic performers that they are, they created before our very eyes an inspiring all-live set of uplifting melodies, funky beats and intriguing sounds that was perfect for whether you were bouncing with the crowd, having a bit of a sit down and taking a break from the intensity of the main room madness, or just listening in whilst sipping a cup of herbal tea courtesy of the PositiviTea girls and their donation-run tea stall. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt spoilt for choice and ended up running between rooms like a kid in a sweet shop, trying so desperately to take in as much as I could of what was on offer!

After the guest acts had done their bit, the task of providing musical accompaniment to everyones night was finally left to the resident DJs, who would wrap up the night in time honoured fashion, sending all us partygoers to a fever pitch with the choicest of twisted pounding beats to take us all right through til morning time.
It is only then that thoughts return of the other world that we all discarded and left behind at the door, and our temporary collective fantasy slowly fades into the realms of memory. That is, until next time... And there is always a 'next time' - once you have experienced how refreshingly different Cabbage is, there is no turning back!
It's safe to say that Cabbage never fails to hit the spot with me, and this time was no exception; any event where this much thought and effort has gone into fascillitating the best party possible can't possibly fail to come up trumps. If there was ever a night out to set any benchmark by, Cabbage would be it.

For those of you who may not have heard of it, Cabbage is a unique and well established night playing a blend of Psy Trance & Acid Techno in the main room, alongside blissed out backroom beats hosted by Positivitea in the second room. Tonight Cabbage are to witness the long awaited
(well about a year) return of psychedelic electronic pioneers System 7 who are to be gracingboth rooms with eagerly anticipated sets. The crowd have gathered early tonight as this is a"first come first served" ticketless event and the air can be cut with the proverbial knife.

I arrive as Bez23 is playing soothing "ethnotronic" dubby beats, well suited to starting offthe night in the chillout room, the decor looks wonderful and the light of the celluloid projectionist Slim flickers with its own intriguing beauty as Si Splatt, usualy backroom resident, is whipping up a storm of psychedelic energy in the main room. His focus and attention to flow and detail is astounding and he has the crowd rotating and pulsing with glee to his ever ebbing and flowing waves of sound energy.

I take a breather and go to sample some of the chai and tunes in the chillout. Miquette G & Steve H are at the controls playing some of their own more chilled compositions such as "Kupuri" from the recent and raher splendid "Encatado" album and some rather tasty french dub i have sadly forgoton the name of! Tonight though, for the main part i am in "ruthless pursuit of the groove" so go and continue refreshed to dance to the rest of Mr Splatts mind expanding madness!

System 7 now take over seamlessly and the crowd waits "shivering with anticipation" as Mr Hillage starts his trademark glissando guitar and Ms Giraudi plays a waterfall of aural bliss from the trusty Nord Lead synth. The night is now officially in full swing, visuals from Unjulation & 3ye
(aka the leeds VJ mafia) soak my synapses in light and the sound system by SSP moves the air exactly as it should giving the System 7 sound the space to fill this intimate venue into every corner. The crowd whoop and swirl and smile from ear to ear as the set dips and builds toward
its absolute peak, which is for me is the mighty "Alphawave", once again this tune takes me round the universe and back, laughing as i dance because it sounds so fresh even after all these years.

System 7 leave the stage to, dare i say it, an exstatic response from the crowd and things move up a gear with cabbage resident Purusha who continues to push the already happy crowd into even further and as yet uncharted realms of joy and silly dancing. As usual his mixing flows and takes the amassed throng on a sometimes dark and myserious journey into sound.

Anyway , as the old cliche goes,"time flies when you're having fun", tonight time has flown so much i entirely missed the set by Biggins in the back room i had planned to catch and almost without warning
the lights go up and it is time to make our respective ways home. In closing, i have been going out "clubbing" since 1989 and this was amongst the best nights out i have ever been to, that really is a testament to the fact that the cabbage crew REALLY know how to throw a good party.

I am a newcomer to this scene, but the last 2 Cabbages have been 2 of the
best nights of my life, really eye-opening, brain-blowing magic! The finish
seemed way to early on Saturday, we had convinced ourselves we would get an
extra hour, not lose one!

I wanted to be the first to thank you for inviting me up. We had a great
time, you got a really nice crowd and a really great vibe. Would love to
come back up again sometime in the future.

Yea we got away ok, we decided to leave at about 6.30 to beat the traffic
(had a nightmare geting back from Newcastle a few months back) and had a
really smooth cruise back. Hope you like the choons...

"F*CKING AMAZING!

I've never been to such a night, just wanted to say thanks for a f*cking wicked one. Can't really say much more, gutted that I went to the last one before the summer, definately going to the next one.

Cheers,
Rob."

"Awsome night!! had to goto work away for a week on the monday after, which was fun.. (hmm..)

We brought two mates for their first time, they loved it.. they aint shut up about it. hehehe..!!!

There was some AWSOME tunage, we were the first there more or less, so no cueing for us!"

"Cya soon!!

Phil

p.s

hope you all got the new cd's.. If you didn't then get um cos they are awsome!!"

"I will just say that Cabbage must never die-the last one was F*CKING AWESOME. Cool peoples, great music, good vibe, no skanky scallies and many pretty girlies.

BOM SHANKA ALL!!!

"Just wana say that I was at cabbage on the 28th of April and the place was sh*t hot! f*ckin ace man! Definately coming back, gonna get 2 taxis full next time, instead of just the one all the way from York. I am gonna go every month from now on."

I went to my first Cabbage on May 26th, It was mind blowing, I did'nt think it would be that good but my mate's John and Sharron ( who go to every Cabbage event ) talked me into it. Everyone was so friendly and the music was out of this world, I cant wait for the next Cabbage this month on the 30th."

"hi cris, fanx 4 a rockin' time in leeds!!! it was a really freindly almost family atmosphere, which reminded me a lot of home:o)... fukn loved playing to an open minded audience too... they seemed well up 4 it!! hope U enjoyed the nam shub mash and oz weirdness i subjected them tooo:o)... oh well keep up a great club and say hi to all the party gang...many many fanx to stu,
hazza (harry), lyn and bazz and all the other f*ckin' stupidly nice ppl we met on our short sojourn to ya homeworld.... good luck writting tunes too!!

hope to catch U guys in oz sometime!!!

stay in touch

ppppPHil:o)"

Nam Shub of Enki (from Australia)
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"Been twice to you're nights absolutely love it...it's the dogs!!!!"

"Hay x x x"
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"Hi Chris!

Myself and the other Pilgrims from Plymouth would like to say a big thankyou to you and the other Cabbage's for an absolutely banging night. We left Plymouth expecting a good night, and our expectations were exceeded when we got there...

We got into the centre at around 9.30 pm to be greeted by some good sounds courtesy of the 11 year old DJ ( Can't remember his name! ), which seemed to get everybody in the mood - DJ Raw's set was pretty good, we didn't think it was too hard, you're definately influencing him Chris! But the overwhelming cry to be heard from the Plymouth contingent was 'can't wait for Purusha and psy-trance' which is exactly what we got, then that was it - beautiful! Personally I thought it was a blinder, nicely flowing ( did we hear Double Dragon in there, Chris? )

Mark Allen followed on from there, and in response to peoples concern regarding possible quirkiness(!), that was not a worry - his set was pure trance, and full of life - the resident trainspotters in our group picked up some early Quirk offerings in amongst it, but to be honest we were all bouncing around and grinning too much to get our anoraks and note books out! Having done the rounds of UK trance clubs, we were all of the opinion that this was the best night we'd had, and those new to Cabbage could not believe the friendliness of everybody! Sorry about the confusion at the door, Chris, I'll make sure that doesn't happen again. The digital photos came out well, I'll forward those to you seperately and rescind copyright :)

Thanks again!

Terry"

From Jiga (Analog Pussy) - the full, uncensored version!

"We arrived to Leeds a few days before the party. Stuart & Purusha came to take us from the station to Stu`s place and we met his gf Morag and Harry, another member of Cabbage. Harry`s voice will definitely be on one of my next trax.

What can i say about Leeds? first of all the ppl there dont really speak English, and the weather hadn't decided yet if it wants to rain or not. after surprisingly solving a few technical issues, like the gear for the show, all that was left to do is solve the greatest problems of all - what will i wear. and as you all know Chris has an exellent taste in fashion so he helped me to decide.

Although all the Cabbage crew were very nice to us i wish Chris would talk less, and i am slightly suspicious that Stu was trying to poison us with his cooking. he spent hours in the kitchen banging with pans and pots making a lot of noise and the result was warm beans!

Me and Morag passed our time in the control room, watching Coronation Street and giving orders to everybody, until the big day arrived. i put on my sound-check dress and went to the West Indian Centre for the sound check. we came back to the house for a little rest and came back to the venue to see that the place was crowded with ppl getting "stupid", we missed Purusha`s set but were on time to see DJ Mick Chaos for the first time playing a wicked set.

We went up for an hour to give our live show and after us came DJ Raw who is amazingly raw - this block is exrodinarily talented, in my opinion he is one of the best and original DJ`s i ever heard. his set was aggressive, horny, and the ceiling was sweating from his sounds.

Until now i thought that the best audience i experienced was the Israeli ppl, but the ppl of Leeds proved me wrong. they were so warm, open and mad that i just stayed there till the music stopped to watch that miracle. this was one of the best parties i was privileged to play at, thanx a lot to everybody!"

Hi Chris

"Just come across your site for the first time. Having come down to most of the cabbages since May 99, when I first got to hear about the event, I feel indebted to saying......... F*CKIN' STONKIN mate! Nice one for putting such a bangin night on right on my f*ckin doorstep! Each and every time I've been down the vibe and crowd have been spot on, the choons have been stormin and myself and all others have had an A1topbanana night. RESPECT.

Probably the best two I saw were June and November (Nov. being one of the most enjoyable nights I've been to ever), NYE was also a blinder (just who was that vicar....?!)."

"Anyway, thanks very much indeed for taking the time, and once again, NICE
ONE!!! for a top night.

yours

DJ Zodiak

"At last - how many of your e-mails begin this way? - I've found what I've been looking for - and the perfect phrase for it. Orgasmic psy trance.

Too many of the trance nights I've been to - from Kundalini to Return to the Source - have lost that orgasmic quality over the years. Urban influences, techno influences? Whatever.

I was turned on to psy trance in Goa seven years ago and, apart from the odd notable exception on one-off nights, hadn't experienced it since - until Cabbage."

"Anyhow my search is over, and you're only a short drive away!! Consider me a regular from now on. It was brilliant.

Don't you go changin' and thankyou."

Sheffield Dave.

The 'Mixmag' review...

"The crowd were up for it right from the word go, right through 'til 6am. The music was screaming acid techno and orgasmic psychedelic trance at its best - blow-the-f*cking-walls-out-style."

"Afterwards, we joined everyone going to a secret outdoor festival, ate toasted fried egg sandwiches and drank hot chocolate with whiskey. There was a dance tent and a big parachute to crash out under, no bother from the police - what more do you want on a warm Sunday at 7am?"

" The night in three words: No F*cking Sleep."

"Hi Chris!

We did get back OK and much inspired by your lovely party and brilliant public!
;o)

You have a really nice club going up there in Leeds that seems to bring together all the basic elements necessary to bring the trance experience into being (as opposed to just another psy-trance party): good venue with cool as f*ck management, excellent sound system, easy going, lots of good and simple deco ideas, non-hierarchical and stress-free organisation and general positive attitude.

But these are just the basic elements and you guys seem to have the magic alchemical knowledge that send your events into the coveted bracket of those all-too-rare experiences of a lifetime. Lucky Leeds! ;o)

And lucky us for having had the privilege to experience Cabbage! ;o)

The vibe was incredible and never did we get such an enthusiastic reception yet, be it for the DJ, live or visual sets - though, believe me, we always get a most positive reaction. Btw does anyone know how best to heal hand blisters from shaking so many hands at the end! ;o)"

"Once again , Chris, thanks ever so much for having us! We'd love to come back anytime and would be honoured to have you come play a forthcoming Temple of Light.

Greetings to Bridget, Frank, Stuart, Lynne, Rob, Harry, and everyone

Big Big Love, Respect & Light to all cabbages evrywhere,

Cosmic Bolenat!

Ben & DOm"
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"Jeez that was FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!!

I was really worried, 'cause the first time had been *so* good, I never thought it could be as good - and it was :)))))"

"Without a word of a lie, it's the best night I've *EVER* been to - beats the pants off all the mainstream/big names etc."

"Many, many many thanks - words can't describe the fun we've had this weekend.

Sue Bom!
M:)"

"Cabbage, 1st of May 1999.

I was CACKING it.

We were lucky enough to play at the back end of '98, it had been the best gig I'd ever played. The best crowd I'd ever played to, the best vibe I'd ever experienced, the finest music I'd heard and the niceset promotors and crew I'd *EVER* worked with - how the hell could it get any better ?

As everything in our set is generated live, (no DAT/CD/MiniDisk) our Drum Machine is an INTEGRAL part of the set - the power supply failed in soundcheck.

There was also a real concern that Templehead's 4th Birthday party was going to overshadow the events.

Then Chris & I saw two Magpies outside the door.

We patched the powersupply with gaffer tape, the *CROWDS* poured in. DJ Raw played an awesome set, DJ Purusha took us on a fantastic journey through a truly beautiful audio soundscape. How to follow that, well we gave it our all, and the crowd were amazing, I even got some audience participation dragging people up to the front to bash the pads on the DR660 (seemed to go down quite well that ;)

Si McLean & Justin Anderson were amazing, rocked the place to it's foundations.

There really is *nothing* like Cabbage, don't go and you miss out on something so amazing that you'll never be able to forgive yourself.

Cheers Chris & all the crew - you are the best, I'm *so* happy to have been a part of that night.

Sue Bom!
Martin Mobeus :)"

"Hi Chris
Myself and the other chaps wanted to thank you and the Cabbages for an absolutely stonking night in the heart of Cabbageland...well worth the 300+ miles to drive there :)

Despite being there well early, the night seemed to fly-by, I thought the quality of tunes on display was immaculate, especially your own psychedelia set, which, I noticed from a non-chemically enhanced viewpoint set the floor alight. I suspect that banging that in the middle of an acid techno run
heightened the awesomeness of it all.

I won't do a review of mobeus here, I'll get one of the other guys to do it, as I was a bit flaky by then, but I would say to the UK listees to bother there arses and get up to Leeds - these Cabbage guys are going places and you'll want to say 'I was there when it all started'
Thats it."

"Terry"

"Played at Cabbage last Saturday and I thought I'd post a little about the night.

Without a word-of-a-lie it was one of the finest nights out I've had in a longtime. The night was in Leeds UK, and the people were the most friendly and up-for-it clubbers I've ever met.

Everything was well organised, people were bringing *free* bottles of Evian round, along with 'Fruit Salad & Black Jack' sweets (sorry for any non-Uk people who won't have the foggiest). Decor was outstanding, lots of Art peices and Cabbages with burning josticks.   An email just can't come anywhere near the magic of this night, if it's humanly possible get yourselves to the next one.

Highlights for me;

1. Phil Ross dancing whilst DJ'ing his set.
2. Playing our LIVE set to *the* best crowd ever.
3. Chris (a.k.a. Purusha), what a formidable DJ - I've had a go
   with those CDJ's and it aint easy. Some people are born with
   talent, this man has a gift.
4. Driving home and seeing fantastic scenery drenched in sunshine.

One to remember for ever - thanks Chris & the Cabbage Crew ;)

Have a good weekend 604'ers,
M:)"

"What an absolutely *BLINDING* nite :o)))))))

found Cabbage for the first time last night and it blew my head right of, you top special people"

"*please* put me on your mainling list so I never again miss this spiritual communion

Peace & Love
Danny"

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"I think your one of the best clubs going in leeds to date, keep up the good work. have a merry christmas and see you new years eve.

cheers paul."

"Yes I did make it!!!! And it was absolutely fantastic. A friend from Wales came with me who I go to rave parties with in wales alot. I have only recently moved to Leeds and it was good to actually go to a party nearby. Saw a lot of friends there aswell.

"Dear Chris,

Just a quick note to say thank you VERY much for such a wicked night on Friday. Ronnie and I both had a great time."

"Neither Ronnie nor I had ever been to Leeds before but we'll definitely be returning.".

"Take care and have a good week.

Annie x" - from Flying Rhino

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