I gave up my ticket to Ultra Music Festival on Friday because I knew Friday night would wear me out hard, and I needed to save my oomph. Toolroom Knights was a gathering of Mark Knight and the most notable men on his label – Funkagenda, Umek, Richard Dinsdale, Mark Storie, Pete Griffiths and special guest Sander Van Doorn. Why party all day in the dirt at Ultra when you can party all night with sexier beats on the Terrace of the most reputable club in Miami – Club Space?
Being fashionably late cost me a decent chunk of Umek’s set, but the 40 minutes I did hear had me feelin’ it through to my kneecaps.
Funkagenda spun some jewels unusual for a standard set of his, or at least of those I’ve heard recently in Miami. I gawked at how sweet he played an old-school Moby track. It was incredibly well received, and I think he competed with Mark in a close race for the best set of the night. He definitely got an immense amount of love from the crowd.
I must admit that Sander Van Doorn was a weak transition between monster sets by Funkagenda and Mark Knight. His set was looser than the others, pulling in elements of trance, house and techno. Nothing really stuck out to me, though – but that’s just me. He did have on the most genuine smile I’ve ever seen throughout his entire set. That kept me vibin’.
“Mark Knight is in the house,” boomed from the speakers as Mark took control of the party.
He pushed all the gotta-hear-them anthems out of the way in the first two hours of his set so he could begin pumping the techier tunes we were all waiting for. As the sun crept up on us early Saturday morning, I realized yet again why Mark Knight is so damn successful – he’s just really that good.
I made it to Space much too late to catch Richard Dinsdale, and left too early for Storie and Griffiths, but I hear great things about them. Hope to see them in Miami, or elsewhere, soon.
