Niceness in the place – from the moment we entered Paul Meme got overexcited because Loefah was doing the door. After Paul’s finished bigging him up we head inside to find Sgt Pokes laying down a fine fine roots set including the Mighty Diamonds, Dennis Brown and Johnny Clarke. He’s clearly having a Good Time as the place fills up. It’s infectious.

There’s a great vibe to the crowd, people chatting and getting the beers in, no po-faced bizness. A few people comment that it’s like a house party with a really good soundsystem, or like they hoped their living room would be on a really good night…

Kode9 and Sgt Pokes at BASH

Next up is Kode9. Now… when a bit boxed in your living room, you might play a load of records just cos you felt like it, because in your head they have their own connections and logic. Maye you’d play Cornell Campbell on Burial Mix and then some early digi ragga, followed by a jungle lick-over of the My Conversation riddim followed by “I’m in Love with a Dreadlocks” followed by “Warrior Charge”…

You might do that in the privacy of your own home, but Kode9 had the crowd eating out of his hand with that selection. Which says a lot for both the punters and him – and what I guess Bash is all about. Pokes tears across the dancefloor and reaches over the decks to do his own rewind, and Kode9 looks completely unphased. Maybe that happens to him all the time, I dunno. An MC who might be Space Ape comes across with some nice poetics. KNine brings Cutty Ranks into the equation. And on and on…

The Bug mashes the place up

Tactical Thursdays – how long can you hang on? How far can you push it and still deal with work on Friday? The arrival of The Bug and crew puts paid to those kind of considerations… a man with a big box of tunes and effects, some geezers with a load of energy and rhymes. Yeah. Fuck yeah. Sleng teng, street sweeper, Papa Levi, Warrior Charge relick. The MCs go completely hell for leather over the Eighty Five riddim. Ras B ramps up the consciousness, Ricky Ranking chats larger than life, Seanie T does his thing…

MCs – three the HARD WAY

The Bug’s own riddims get an airing towards the end of the set, taking it up another notch on the Richter Scale. If I was going to sort out a club of my own it would be… exactly like this. It feels like coming home or something. Does that sound corny? Were you there, tho? Did you see it all going off? By this point there’s nobody lurking about in the sofas area, everybody has either fucked off or is ramming out the dancefloor.

Loefah finishes us all off at BASH

Loefah takes over with a tune that might be digidub or dubstep. I dunno, but it sounds good to me. He goes on to play some brittle ragga. By this time Paul has gone and I’m worse for wear, but it doesn’t matter. Loefah drops “Ghetto Story” by Cham and a load of killer tunes… finishes up with “Ring The Alarm”, Bushman’s “Too Much Violence” on stalag and then Johnny Osbourne’s “Buddy Bye Bye” on sleng teng. The lights go up and there’s no more. Everybody still there is going to tell all their mates, but you never forget your first time.