A Befitting Music Mix-Match to Celebrate a Decade of Vice

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Photograph by Theo Cottle

What better way to celebrate 10 years of line-stepping online journalism than throwing an enormous party with a soundtrack of perfectly suitable live music? An incredible queue in a freezing cold London Bridge underpass to start the evening sparked a few queries and mild Instagram-based complaints – there was even talk of a very Vice-like social experiment, rounding up London’s edgiest with the promise of a free party, to see how long they would stand the inclement weather.

Into the venue, one was hit with a wall of distortion and furious double peddling drums, as California metallers Trash Talk kicked things off. Their no-holds-barred brand of scream-rock really set the tone, with the lucky few early entrants chucking themselves about.

Photograph by Dan Dennison and Victor Frankowski

Everyone’s favourite 90s hip-hop classics soon followed, and we moved seamlessly from getting down with Biggy to daydreming with Peace. Their heady set was filled with their genuine hits and indulgent jams; an elongated intro to ‘Bloodshake’ was a real highlight – it was an impressive performance from the exciting Brummies.

Photograph by Dan Dennison and Victor Frankowski

If the party hadn’t kicked off by now, Andrew WK arrived and demanded as much. Commanding the fun, he threw himself back and forth from hyperactive piano riffs to the shouting from the stage-front, with absurd levels of energy. ‘Party Hard’ and ‘We Want Fun’ whipped up a real frenzy and a festival-like atmosphere emerged before a good old-fashioned pileup.

The musical diversity of the evening was highlighted by the ease in which one could wonder from the hard party into Mark Ronson and the Klaxons’ DJ sets; years were rolled back with more ‘I haven’t heard this in ages!’ garage and R n’ B while Danny Brown offered some seriously refreshing funk to the evening, ‘Grown Up’ becoming a bit of a soundtrack for the evening.

Photograph by Christopher Bethell

The culmination of all this music was a rip-roaring Crystal Castles set. A baggy tee-shirt clad Alice screamed her way through, dominating the packed room and capping off the night with their brilliantly abrasive electro – I doubt ‘Alice Practice’ has ever gone down so well.

Vice throw a serious party, and a decade of their eye-opening publication was celebrated with an entirely befitting lineup of mix-match of music. Here’s to the next 10 years.