This is one of the dopest parties I’ve ever been to. Yellow is a serious nightclub and the 3 Chairs crew are serious about their music but the two factors combined to create a lot of fun. The Japan tour saw the four Detroit DJs play the club twice: once on the Saturday and once at a semi-private party on the Monday (they went to Osaka on Friday and Kyoto on Sunday). Yellow doesn’t allow photos to be taken inside and so if you want to write an official review of an event you need to contact them and they’ll then hook you up with a pro photographer. However, in the case of 3 Chairs, the club had to contact the promoter of the night who then had to contact their agent to ask permission, and it was declined. No press allowed. Instead their friend travels with them and records the night as they want it to be remembered, which is class I think.

Theo Parrish played first. A knowledgeable friend said: “He plays a lot of old disco mixed up with detroit house and techno – nothing like the minimal stuff he produces. It’s a real “chill” vibe. He also uses a 3-way frequency isolator to really mess with the sound. He’ll just pull the kick out for 2 minutes and let you dance to the hi-hats while he overloads the mids or whatever, then BAM! and all you’ve got is a bassline and all the tops are gone. I love it when those Detroit guys ‘jam the box’ but it drives some people up the wall. Seeing Theo this year was the first time I have had a DJing epiphany for a long time. He really draws out the emotion in the records. One thing is for sure – you’ll either love it or hate it.” He was on from around 10.30 to 1.30 and I loved it. He chopped up all styles of good house etc with plenty of style and really worked the ever-filling dancefloor so that by the time he got off everyone was cheering and whistling and clapping whenever he pulled some kind of stunt. Rick Wilhite played next and he took it kind of darker with lots of those deep spooky basslines, then Malik Pittman got on at about 3 and kicked shit off with some banging techno-style house action, then I left. So I don’t know if Malik maintained the same pace (but I doubt it).

And, yes, I missed Moodymann aka Kenny Dixon Jr. The reason for this is that my father was asleep at a hotel at that time and I had been up since 6am at a fish market with him, and had another full day ahead and didn’t want to rock in from a club at 7am, which is about when the moody man would’ve finished. Maybe that was a dumb move on my part but, the thing is, Parrish was excellent and then Wilhite honestly played a whole set of the exact kind of music I love and so I didn’t think it possible that what followed it could get any better. He was awesome. A gorgeous, big, black man wearing a white bandana and a t-shirt saying THE BOYS ARE BACK…… Hot club. Hot tunes. Hot crowd. Hot party.