Club News: fabric and the Matter situation....



It seems like every other one of my posts has something to do with fabric. I will confess to being a tiny bit in love with the legendary club, but I know I'm not alone. The place is a musical institution, somewhere music lovers have unconditional trust in to throw a truly awesome party every time. While their music policy has stayed fairly rigid for the 10 years it's been open now, it's innovative and forward-thinking attitude to who it selects to play there is forever admirable. Out of all the clubs in the UK, only fabric were brave enough to stick their neck out and let now legendary DJs such as our beloved Ricardo Villalobos (above picture) grace their decks for the first time. That's why along with many others, I have such genuine affection for the club.

After almost a decade of incredible parties at EC1, those responsible for fabric's conception and inevitable success opened matter, a 2600 capacity venue housed in the o2 Arena in London. It was such a promising venture, with a more diverse music policy than fabric but still reserving the same imperious musical philosophy. I have only been once, but I was overwhelmed by how stunning the club was. The soundsystem was especially memorable, so powerful yet with such crisp clarity.

However, all this comes at a cost, and being a privately owned between only two guys, matter just couldn't keep it's nose above the financial water. Reasons? I have my theories- firstly, it's quite frankly outrageous location. Ok, the result looked incredible and it would have been very difficult to replicate something of matter's size in central London, but by choosing to place it in Zone 3, people had to plan to go to matter, and they had to rely on the tube services. Obviously, the last trains are no later than about 1am, but considering that on Saturdays, like fabric, the club often doesn't conclude before 9am, who wants to go so early? And it's not like there's much happening elsewhere in the early hours in North Greenwich to precede entry. The only other option would get a cab, which from central London would set you back more than your ticket.

So despite their best attempts and to the dismay of myself and many others, matter was forced to close it's doors for this summer at least, with so many fantastic parties lined up. Some have found refuge and relocated. Some are yet to find a new home. Anyway, after such shocking news concerning matter's financial situation, connections were immediately made with fabric, of course because it shared the same owners. Rumours were spread, fibs were told, but here's the truth- FABRIC IS GOING NOWHERE.

Yesterday I received an email from fabric sent out to all fabricfirst members, and it said the following:

"....hear us now, in bold print and all: fabric will very much remain open as normal, business as usual."

So there we have it. I can tell you now that even though I did my best to shrug off the whispers surrounding me, that email was music to my ears. Typical of fabric really. Very, very good news for the entire world of dance music. A musical institution remains....

We love you fabric.

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