Steve Lawler.
Newcastle (1) Sunderland (2) University.
23 November.

The last time I saw Steve Lawler, he was deejay'ing at Home in London. I was darn sarf with the lads on a bit of a weekender, and after sampling the delights of Lanndaan's better public houses, we staggered off to Home. Now, my reviewing skills obviously aren't at their sharpest after several bottles of Becks and the odd JD and coke, but I came away from Home happy as Larry, praising Lawler (literally) to anyone I met. I can handle my beer, me you know. Cough. So I was quite keen to see him again to judge how good he actually was, and more importantly, to judge how my standards drop after a few swalleys.

Luckily for me, this time around I managed to keep myself reasonably sober, thanks to my soft southern mate Mark, who doesn't drink. Cough, cough and more coughs…

There was a decent size crowd at the club, especially for a Thursday night, and as always, everyone seemed well up for it. The DJ's on before Lawler were playing a nice mix of uplifting house, the mixing was spot on, and they warmed the crowd up nicely for Lawler to come on and do his stuff. Lawler's stuff consists of chunky deep house and intoxicating, tribal progressive sounds, and as soon as he got behind the decks the crowd were lapping it up. Playing for a good 2 hours, Lawler plays the type of music that makes you want to dance, and the thick, tribal beats ensured that everyone there did just that. By the end of the set, the club was filled with exhausted, yet happy dancers, and one dancer in particular who was happy with not only the set, but the fact that even half cut he could still spot a good DJ. He thinks…