Three men, six decks, and a record that looks set to be the BIG ONE for X-press 2.
A packed house at Fabric is bursting with anticipation as old mate Clive Henry, of Peace Division, kick starts the action with a splendid selection of tough, drum-laden beats.
Fresh from turning in a top remix of the aforementioned big record, he throws down an excellent deep, percussive set, to the delight of the assembled masses. Clive is one of house music's unsung heroes, but tonight it looks like his time may well have come.
Suddenly the lights focus on the six decks set up across the main stage and Ashley, Rocky and Diesel take their places and start to work their magic, teasing the crowd with a long, drawn-out intro to accompany the shouts, whistles and applause.
They build it slowly, playing off against each other, one bringing in the beats, then whack! One of the other two drops a devastating bassline.
The throbbing hoards love it, but it's apparent they're looking forward to hearing one particular track and the boys waste no time in giving the people what they want, dropping 'Lazy' within the first half-hour of their six hour set.
Everyone goes absolutely wild, arms in the air, singing along at the top of their lungs. X-Press 2 have helpfully printed the lyrics on the T-shirts they are wearing onstage. The volume of the singing crowd dwarfs the sound system. A huge hit looks totally certain.
With that out of the way, everyone can get down to some serious partying on the dancefloor. They pace their set well, building it up, then taking it down, before moving onto groove level for a while. Every so often, they drop one everybody knows, then carry on with the groove.
X-press 2 have a total understanding and command of the dancefloor. That's what separates the good and great, from the downright brilliant. They play with intuition, anticipating where the dancefloor wants to go, and what track will make the moment just perfect.
It's a soundtrack that sets out our definition of house music, and it sound glorious. They've taken the cutting-edge sound of British house and brought it to the masses, without "selling-out" at all.
That is quite an achievement, taking into account the fickle and cynical nature of the music industry. From the looks of the huge number off-their-happy-faces, it really doesn't get much better than this.
