LEEDS GETS NEW SUPERCLUB
Out of control
A new superclub is coming to Leeds and, if rumours are to be believed, it’s going to be absolutely bananas...
The venture, led by Jim Albentosa, will offer room for 3100, a colossal Funktion One soundsystem and state-of-the-art lighting. It’ll also feature the world's first-ever Geodome — a gigantic video-mapped LED shell covering one of the rooms — as well as “jaw-dropping production along with entertainers and performers worthy of any huge Ibiza superclub”, DJ Mag was assured when it was announced last month. And if that sounds too good to be true, the first CGI pictures are just as impressive. Seeing is believing, and for the meantime we only have the say-so of the man behind the plan to go on. If you ask him, it sounds more like a circus than a conventional club.
“[Expect] festival-sized production sets, state-of-the-art lighting and gigantic LED walls which backdrop performers flown high above the dancefloor,” says an enthused Jim. “We have a team of highly skilled professional performers and contortionists who are joining us at the end of their Ibiza summer residencies. The venue also has drop hatches above the dancefloor for aerial and trapeze artistes.”
Then there’s “special effect flames, CO2 and pyrotechnics” planned for the main arena, he says, while Geodome technology will see a skeleton wire covering the entire ceiling of the second arena imbedded with hundreds of thousands of high-res LEDs that respond to “special lighting scripts written for the dome".
Impressive, indeed. But as we all know, state-of-the-art bells and whistles alone do not a decent club make. It’s the quality of the bookings that’ll keep street-smart clubbers returning each week, especially within a city as switched on as this one. “Leeds is already awesome,” adds Jim. “It has all sorts of great clubs and an ever-developing scene. But... it needs a big venue that can hold regular
dance events, over long hours.”
Full line-ups will not be released until 1st August but according to Jim, they won’t be a far cry from the calibre of DJ talent witnessed at The Warehouse in recent times.
When you consider that Maya Jane Coles, Andy C, Sasha, Claude VonStroke and Todd Terry are names that have made an appearance during the past few years alone, it’s hard to imagine Control won’t fulfil on its promise.
