Mr. Scruff @ Wrongbar – January 15, 2010

Wrongbar was bumping last year and upon arrival at the club, I must admit, I was somewhat shocked at the lineup down the block of people of vying to somehow get in.   You see, I thought I was the only one who knew about Mr.Scruff - part of the Ninja Tune collective and artist.  But apparently, I’m one of many, which is nice to know.

Inside the club, things were setting off.  Scruff’s extended four hour DJ set was all over the map playing merengue, latin, hip hop, downtempo, acid jazz, funk and even at one point, Scruff threw in a little motown for good measure.  It seemed like as his disciples in the crowd moved  (or as the screen said: ‘Wobble those legs’) or were vibing something, he would feed off that.  Seems easy enough, right?  But to endlessly flow from music type to music type takes some serious skill.

The crowd wasn’t what I expected. I’d made assumptions about cultured music snobs in full attendance, but instead there was a younger enthusiastic audience representing that included British exports to Toronto (took up most of the crowd), old school ravers, the hip hip crowd, indie hipsters, 905 club kids without any clue or regard of what was going on and apparently, some mom-types.  Yes, I saw these two particular ladies with whom I spent a portion of the evening dancing the night with who were as old as my mom.  They kept telling me they needed to powder their noses.  Everybody nose, right? The boys this night were seriously super bromantical with one another. Maybe it’s a British thing, but they wanted nothing to do with the ladies and everything to do with the music & their bros – period.

The main theme of Scruff’s show at Wrongbar though, ignoring all the various musical interludes and journeys taken, is the sense of fun & vibe created throughout the room. Seeing Mr Scruff won’t be a life changing event for anyone who attended tonight. What it will be is one of the most uplifting, fun nights that they’ll have had for a bloody long while. I know it was for me.

Photos by Kelly McElwain