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 WAYNE G Web: djwayneg.com The original DJ god, it was Wayne's residency at Heaven that got me back on my feet, and back to being a regular club junkie after my wilderness years. From the first time I heard Wayne play at Heaven, I was a complete addict to his music, and would find myself arriving earlier in subsequent weeks in order not to miss a single record of his set. This is how I discovered that as a DJ, Wayne didn't just play a set, he created an atmosphere, from the dramatic introduction with his first record, through to a climatic finish, Wayne would fill a floor and keep me and many hundreds of others attached to it. In 2000, as I was spending more and more of my time in Ibiza, Heaven announced their first residency on the island, with headlining DJs Wayne G and Gordon John. Naturally, I booked a two-week holiday that would give me a week to get brown, and where the second week would coincide with the boys debut, so that I could catch two of my Heaven gods on my second home. In the week leading up to La Troya's first Heaven party, I made sure that there wasn't a person left on the island who didn't know how good Wayne was and that nobody in their right mind should miss the gig... Guess who missed it? I'm sure that Wayne would appreciate the irony of what distracted me from the club, and I even had a couple of free passes for Amnesia, but the photos from the night tell the story better than cash ever could. As disappointed as I was to have missed the gig myself, the stories I heard from friends on the island over the next few days reaffirmed my faith in Wayne's abilities, as people used to hearing many musical styles on an island full of parties, described in detail the sets I was so used to hearing at Heaven on a Saturday night. I made sure I was back on the island in September to coincide with Heaven's final gig, and this time I went away with a friend who'd go to Amnesia with me. I wasn't disappointed, with either Wayne's set or my first La Troya, and decided to skip the flight home that weekend in order to go to La Troya's closing party. The first step on the slippery slope had been taken! Saturday nights at Heaven no longer give me the club fix I need, but I will still venture out to gigs whenever I see Wayne headlining, most recently at the launch of the short-lived Ooh La Rouge, the Purple Radio Xmas Bash, and Sound On Sunday. I'll gloss over the Sound on Sunday gig, none of which was helped by the fire alarm, but Wayne's set at the Purple Radio bash was 100% heaven, and took me back to some very good nights at Heaven and one at Amnesia! My first memories of Wayne were when, shockingly underaged for the venue, he would hang around DJ Tony Boys' box at the London Apprentice. A decade on, and he's one of the gay scene's most popular DJs world-wide, and I'm the one spending an excessive amount of my time hanging around DJs boxes! Since writing the above, I got to hear Wayne play at Heaven again in March 2003, as part of the Fruit Machine relaunch, where I was instantly reminded why he's still one of London's most talented DJs... this in turn led to me venturing back to Heaven on a Saturday night, for the launch of Wayne's monthly Heavenly Sessions party, a showcase for Wayne's productions, remixes and edits, and the discovery that Heaven still holds it for me two decades after my first visit!
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When I did finally return to London, the clubs seemed at first smaller in comparison to my first Ibiza hit, but I still kept my Saturday night's out at Heaven at the core of my clubbing calendar, all the time plotting my return to Ibiza for the entire summer the following year.
