Mungo's Hi Fi
Roots reggae, dub and dancehall at Open
I’ve never tried to review a club night before and if I’m honest I was probably a little greedy on Friday night. Typical bloody Norwich; the Mungo’s night fell on the same day as DJ Food at the Arts Centre so I figured I could do both! For what it’s worth, DJ Food was absolutely brilliant, a real audio/visual spectacular; the only thing lacking was a sold out audience.
I left after almost two hours of his set and headed up to Open. I’ve not seen a huge amount of events at this venue and all I have seen have been in the smaller club room. This time the bar in the main hall was also being used and as soon as I entered the small room I could see why – the place was RAMMED! Clearly on Friday this was where the party was at. Mungo’s are a Glaswegian based soundsystem harking back to the classic Jamaican systems of the 70’s. They produce their own music, primarily roots reggae, dub and dancehall, and have carved out a niche as the UK’s premier exponents of modern day soundsystem culture.
Like I say the place was rammed with seemingly everyone in the venue dancing like their lives depended on it. I can’t tell you specifically who was playing the records but I can tell you that it was Parly B on the mic and he was just starting his live MCing (or if we’re being authentic, DJing) set as I arrived. I was massively impressed watching him do his thing; an almost constant stream of consciousness, chatting over the top of the tunes like a boss. Highlight for me was getting to hear the killer Bike Rider tune.
After about 90 minutes in the packed room with the constant heavy bass I realised that I had become a bit…tired and emotional I think is the euphemism so it was time to leave and head home.
Next time Mungo’s come back to Norwich I’ll be there and I promise they will have my full attention for the entire evening because they were brilliant and really took me back to some of the classic reggae nights (Dangerzone @ The Regency!) that Norwich used to put on back in the 90’s.
