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Cohesion Boat Party rocks river Thames

Reported by Agnes Klos / Submitted 28-06-10 08:24

Glorious weather means only one thing to all clubbers in the UK: festival season is upon us. With this thought in our mind most are looking for a chance to stay outdoors but at the same time enjoy some partying. What a better combination than a party on a boat in the middle of a concrete jungle? Cohesion Boat party brings London ravers exactly what they need on a warm summers day. On 5th June Agnes Klos went sailing with her friends hoping she would manage to stay aboard the entire time. Ahoy!



After a hard week of work, when the weekend finally lands, there is no better place to be on a sizzling hot Saturday than on the board of Golden Flame, cruising down the Thames and listening to some great musical progression ranging from house, electro, tech, psy and a hard dance finale. The ideology of the Cohesion Boat party is to have a fantastic time and to be part of one of the nicest crowds of people who you'll get to meet on one of the best party boats on the river Thames, so I was told by the promoter Danny Gilligan.

I am used to having strange adventures when I go out but this one was quite funny. My friends and I knew the boarding time was 5.30pm. The ticket said that the location was Embankment Pier but when we asked on the information desk we were told Golden Flame stood next to Temple tube station. Very happy that we would not miss the boat and convinced the information on the ticket must have been wrong we walked from Embankment to Temple. We sat down in a bar next to Golden Flame and waited. When 5.30pm kicked in our boat left in front of our eyes, without us.

In that exact moment we realised that Golden Flame was sailing towards Embankment Pier. We dropped our drinks and started running along the river, chasing the boat like crazy. Tourists on the double-deck buses were staring at us in an disbelief as my girlfriend and I chased the boat in high heeled boots. It must have been quite an entertaining view for them. Hot and stressed we finally got to Embankment Pier to see everyone boarding calmly, with only us unable to catch our breath. Later on we laughed about it but it would not have been that hilarious if we actually had missed the boat because of such a silly mistake (lesson learned there I feel - Ed).



Whenever you go clubbing to a new place you never know quite what to expect, especially if it is your first boat party. Usually you wonder what to wear, how big the boat will be and what type of people you will be trapped with for the next six hours. Cohesion Boat party made all that worries and fears disappear in seconds.

The minute we entered the boat the atmosphere seemed friendly and upbeat. There was no pretentiousness and everyone looked very chilled. Surrounded by funky sunglasses, flip-flops, mini-summer dresses for girls and shorts for guys, it felt like being on an Ibiza beach when I walked outside on the terrace. The big advantage of boat parties is the fact that even if you don’t like the music you can simply admire the architectural beauty of London or talk to strangers on the terrace soaking in the sun.

However, music was not an issue at Cohesion Boat party. From the very first beats of minimal and tech house served by Steven Shorter revellers gathered on the upper deck, dancing happily just an half an hour after leaving the shore. It is a quite unusual thing to see as mostly it takes time for clubbers to warm up and the dancefloor stays empty or people simply talk and chat for the first few hours. I was thrilled to see stomping feet and shooting arms from the very beginning, it put me at ease and I joined in the rave.



When I got tired I went downstairs on the lower deck where there were tables with a sitting area and another bar. I got talking to the super-friendly promoter, Danny, who is running the boat parties himself now and is the only resident. I was curious to know how the parties came to life in first place. Danny said: “The idea was basically to do a party where all of my friends could come together for a party i.e. 'Six degrees of separation'. We figured that by doing a boat party and calling it Cohesion the message is that its a party for friends to all come together for a good time, we actually only planned to do one but it has turned out to be an annual event.

“When the first party started there were four of us involved in it, I come up with the idea and the name and Paul, Charlie and Mark were bang in to the idea so we decided to all chip in to do it, that way you split the risk in case it doesn’t make the numbers. We were realistic that this could happen but at the same time totally confident we could sell the party out no problem which we did at our first attempt.”



The main factor which distinguishes Cohesion Boat party from the rest is the great musical progression during the entire evening. It offers variety and gives something to everyone. There were people who came off the boat saying that they had never really listened to, for example, hard dance but really liked it and then there were those who were hard dance people who never really heard some decent tech house and they said the same thing as well. With DJs changing every hour there was only a slim chance you would get bored with the music being played.

After the warming-up set from Steven Shorter it was time for some quality tech house and electro served by James Blackmore playing back2back with Clay Belcher. They heated up the atmosphere properly for Richard Nicholas B2b The Real Tony Montana who overtook the decks at 8pm. Although I am not a big fan of tech house, I truly enjoyed the music. To tell the truth, I am not sure if it was the fact that I felt tipsy all the time as the boat swung from one side to another or simply the DJs played such proper bouncing tunes.



Cohesion Boat parties are known for booking some of the scenes top talents. Personally, I am a psychedelic trance kid so obviously I could not wait for the gorgeous Nikki S to spin the decks. Not only does she have the looks but also her DJing skills put her up there with some of the best in the business. Nikki S started playing at 9pm when the sun began to set. In the dimmed light with the psytrance beat filling in the room I felt able to lose myself on the dancefloor, simply forgetting about the outside world.

Afterwards Nick Sentience turned up the speed, pleasing the crowd with tech trance. Even though the music was top-notch I had to go on the terrace for a while as it got really hot inside. It’s the only thing you have to be prepared for: it is very warm on the dancefloor and quite chilly when you go on the terrace in the evening. Wearing summery clothes is advisable but taking a small cardigan necessary as well. To finish off the party the resident Danny Gilligan played back2back with James Lawson who served Camden Palace hard dance classics. A beautiful finish to an awesome party.



Cohesion Boat Parties raise the bar in terms of having a good time, with the core elements of a decent night all coming together at once on a boat (people, music, venue, vibe). It really makes the event stand out from others. Be aware of the fact that these parties are annual so if you miss one unfortunately you have to wait another year for the next one. However, I have heard some rumours about the promoter looking at organising another one at the end of summer, so fingers cross.

As a point of note due to issues regarding the current event name in future the party will be called the UNITY boat party, still keeping the original ethos of friends coming together which is where the Cohesion name originally came from.

Photos courtesy of Agnes Klos. Not to be reproduced without permission.


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Other Features By Agnes Klos:
Back2Basics - 10 Years of Party Productions & Tomorrowland Stage Hosts
Atmosphere Records - The opening of IBIZA 1936
Entering the world of Waldfrieden in Germany with DJoanna
Piracy is not a crime – sail away with Feestgedruis!
Progressive flavours with DJ R'Deem ahead of Neelix party
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
Comments:

From: Danny Gilligan on 28th Jun 2010 09:46.55
Awsome review Agnes, great writing skills! This party will be known as UNITY look out for the next one....

From: NickSentience on 28th Jun 2010 20:49.33
was awesome great to see fimiliar faces..well done to all dj's.. ..cant beat the baot in summer

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