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 ALAN THOMPSON Web: djalanthompson.com Let's start at the very beginning... That's a very good place to start... After years of not getting around to it (and very successfully, I might add), it was in the spring of 2002 that I finally made it to DTPM for the first time. It was a night of firsts, not just DTPM, it was also my first time at Fabric, my first taste of ketamine, and the first time I heard Alan Thompson play! For the first time on the London club scene, I found a DJ who had the same impact on me as La Troya's DJ Oliver. There were more than just similar musical influences, Alan as it turned out was just as drop-dead as young Oliver! Another winter passed in London, but not as many DTPM or Alan Thompson experiences as I'd have liked, the relentless distractions of Beyond rendering me physically incapable of making it to DTPM on the same day. I'll give it 6 months before he's moved back to London... Actually, he was back three months later, and played a couple of guest slots at DTPM and Discotec, but I missed both while I was in Ibiza. Next time!
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I'd barely got my feet under the door of DTPM that year, before it was time to pack my bags and head back to the annual summer drudgery of five months clubbing in Ibiza, meeting new people, trying out new dance steps, discovering new DJs, etc. DTPM was the last club I visited before leaving London, and the first one I visited when I returned, all just to get a fix of Alan's mixing magic! One of the new friends I returned home from Ibiza with turned out to be a close friend of Alan's...
I finally broke my Beyond addiction in time for DTPM's 10th birthday party where I snapped this truly pathetic photo of Alan - he is in there somewhere, you've just got to look (my photography's not getting much better, though fortunately the cameras are). And back to Ibiza...
When I returned to London at the end of the 2003 season, I 'discovered' Discotec, one of the best nights out in London, another of Alan's residencies, though in The End's more intimate surroundings, and there I finally plucked up the courage to speak with Alan... Something along the lines of, 'scuse us mate, I need to get to the john'... or something equally profound. After many months of threatening to move to Australia, I hear through our mutual friend Dee that Alan's now planning on upping sticks and moving to South Africa. This prompts me to speak again... 'you don't want to do that...' as profound as ever (words are my life...).
My words (obviously) have more impact than I expected. South Africa's no longer on the cards. He needs to get even further away, and weeks later his flight is booked and he is only three more (London) gigs away from Sydney. Sometimes I just need the right impetus to galvanise myself into action, and so I make it down to those last gigs, at Action (one of the finest ever), at Discotec (where even Laurent looked glum), and DTPM, where everyone who knows music and loved Alan was there in force to say goodbye...
