The Crucast collective are continuing to go from strength to strength. Their most recent triumph, selling out both Rock City and Stealth for the second year running, is the latest in a series of events in Newcastle, Birmingham, and now Nottingham that have seen them champion a wave of exciting artists in the bassline scene.
Mr Virgo, a mainstay in the collective, began at 10pm to an already rammed audience in Rock City. His setlist featured his own tunes Fantasy and Higher, mixed with hits from his contemporaries such as Deep Down Low by Valentino Khan and Holy Goof’s bootleg of God’s Plan, clearly knowing how to please those in attendance.
Next up behind the decks was Bradford-born TS7, currently in the middle of his ‘Clockworks’ debut tour. Providing the stage presence was the lively MC AD, whose high energy was mirrored by the mosh-pits in the crowd. One of the highlights of the night proved to be when AD, donning a 90s Rangers football shirt, introduced TS7’s latest release Lacuna, accompanied by an insane light display and loud cheers of approval back at the stage. This reaction will likely confirm the track as a staple of his future live shows not only for the remainder of TS7’s UK headline tour, but also across the globe at appearances in Australia and New Zealand next year.
"[Darkzy's] as yet unreleased track, sampling Eddie Murphy’s 1985 classic Party All the Time, couldn’t have been more fitting for a crowd that were still going strong well into the early hours of the morning."
Fresh off of an Australasian tour at the turn of 2019 themselves, the combo of Skepsis and Bru-C were next to grace the stage at Rock City. Continuing the trend of football shirts, local boy Bru-C appeared wearing this season’s Nottingham Forest kit to the delight of many locals in the room. He may have graduated to bigger and bigger venues over the years, but the You & I man has managed to keep an intimate feel to his live shows, evident when he crowd-surfed to the relentless Inhaler. While it was very much a homecoming show for Bru-C, Nottingham has always been a welcome home for his London-born compatriot Skepsis. He seemed just as enamoured by the crowd, coming from around his decks to the front of the stage as he dropped With U. However, despite the shower of confetti raining down from above, this was far from the end of the night.

1am saw the introduction of another two artists raised in the shadow of the iconic Rock City venue: Darkzy and Window Kid. The latter quickly dropped his latest release Weekend Boys in collaboration with Bru-C, with a look on his face that made it clear his years of hard work in the scene had paid off. As unflappable as ever behind him, Darkzy held the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout the set. His as yet unreleased track, sampling Eddie Murphy’s 1985 classic Party All the Time, couldn’t have been more fitting for a crowd that were still going strong well into the early hours of the morning.
Crucast next move onto London on November 23rd, the 6,000 capacity Printworks venue hosting their biggest UK show yet. With appearances from all of the aforementioned artists, plus veterans of the scene like DJ Q and Jamie Duggan, the crowning event is sure to be legendary; not as an end, but as a new beginning that will catapult this dynamic group into household names.
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