THIS AIN’T NO DISCO

Last month I was asked to write two short reviews about Fletch’s DJ performances in Rio de Janeiro that took place in October 2007 and October 2011, respectively, for my friend Jean Campagner of DepecheMode.com.br. You can find the originals in Portuguese here and here with some extra pictures. Here are English versions of both.

October 5th, 2007. It was a Friday night. The club had just opened a few months before and was always crowded. Yet, Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher’s first visit to Rio wasn’t exactly a success. After the warm up with DJs José Roberto Mahr and Tony Viegas, the main guest DJ took over the booth shortly after midnight.

In case you’re still in doubt, he is really spinning. But his style is sort of unique. He doesn’t beatmatch and doesn’t always pick very danceable tracks. Of course there’s a lot of Depeche Mode in his set. And, obviously, these were the tracks that would get the crowd cheering the most.

I was probably one of the few people who paid extra to get to stay at the VIP area, behind the DJ booth. I already knew the club configuration and I knew the DJs had to pass through it to reach the booth. Before, during and after his set, Fletch would wonder around or go to the loo (only when playing very long tracks would he do it during his set).

Whenever he was not playing, he was in a more reserved area with his guests. During one of his ventures outside of the booth, I managed to intercept him and ask for an autograph on my “Playing the Angel” CD booklet I had brought with me.

I was prepared for the autograph, but when I left home, I ended up forgetting my camera. I took some pictures with my phone which were terrible and that was it, but I was already happy. It was definitely worth paying a little more and having had some great reward.

October 13th, 2011. After the disappointment caused by the cancellation of both of Depeche Mode’s shows in Brazil of the 2009 Latin American leg of the Tour of the Universe, there came our hero Fletch to gives another taste of one of his DJ nights.

This time things were slightly different. In fact, it had all the ingredients for a disaster compared to 2007.  It was on a Thursday and at the Costa Brava Club which is hard to reach (think of a venue on the top of a cliff by the shore in the isolated neighborhood of Joá). It’s the kind of place most people from Rio see from a bridge when passing from the South to the West side, but hardly anyone knows exactly how to get there. But in the end it all worked out fine and I made it on time.

Another thing made an entire difference. My devotee friends managed to arrange some time for us and Fletch with the event organizer. I think I was the first one to arrive, given how anxious I was. I took the “Sounds of the Universe” vinyl for him to autograph. We had roughly 20 or 30 minutes alone with him for pictures, autographs and his famous video promising that Depeche Mode would play in Brazil on their next tour. His promise would only come true two tours later, but better late than never.

This time the event was sponsored by a condom manufacturer. The dance floor of this club is smaller than the the one from 4 years before. If it didn’t get fully crowded, at least it didn’t look empty, like in 2007.

I confess I didn’t even pay that much attention to what the other DJs played before him after the state of grace that was that spontaneous meet-and-greet we were given. If Fletch didn’t surprise us in his setlist, his kindness made that night totally worth it.