Saturday. I no longer feel as fresh as a rose. In fact most of Sonar looks a little worn out. The CCCB is packed, there’s a long queue to get in, and everything from the exhibitions to the bars is crowded. Today’s the day when the reasonable people come: the ones who’ve got jobs from Monday to Friday and all that. It’s reassuring to see faces who don’t look as though they haven’t slept for two days. It’s all very well to get a great line up and organise a big club night, but Sonar is a lot more than that: it turns club music into a cultural event, and makes it accessible to those who would never set foot in a night club.

My big favourite on today’s menu are Jazzanova, who play an upbeat dancey set which seems a little too clubby on this sunny Saturday. Nonetheless it’s a big success here at the SonarVillage and the crowd won’t let them leave. The sonarites are determined to fight it out ‘till the end, and it’s DJ Vadim and The Russian Percussion whose job it is to do the honours. But in spite of the maestro’s impressive scratching there’s no shutting up local MC from 7 Notas 7 Colores whose contribution is banale and downright irritating. Polite as the Catalans may be, this guy is unbearable with his uninspired blurb, and the annoyed audience starts to whistle and complain. Only when DJ Vadim takes the back seat does our little pest shut up for good.

No fear: turntablism carries on with The Russian Percussion with some excellent scratching, whilst the human beatbox who’d been thumping away in the corner takes centre stage for the most impressive beatbox session I’ve ever seen. A couple of mic checks with which he shows off dominion over beat, scratch, bass and the sum of these three, then he’s off to places I never suspected the human voice could reach! It’s impeccable, and it’s got more groove than the decks: the fucker gets us dancing, where the vinyl hadn’t! And as we listen, mouth agape in disbelief, he spins his air decks backwards and sets the invisible record playing: it turns out to be one of those old house tunes where they speed up the vocals and he sings it in perfect falsetto bringing on the biggest applause Sonar by day has given anyone all weekend, and leaving us flat on our arses with laughter. Si senor! What a way to call it a day!

Much as I’d have loved to, I can’t tell you about Sonar by night on Saturday. By twelve o’clock I can hardly hold my eyelids open, let alone face six hours of Jeff Mills and Richie Hawtin. As far as I’m concerned Sonar’s over ‘till next year. It’s been a great year, and in spite of quite a few acts who went missing in action, the music’s been excellent. Amon Tobin was totally memorable, Masters at Work brought back my faith in house and Plaid proved that not everything on Warp has to be painful. Congratulation to the organisation who were brave enough to bite bullet and take Sonar by night to Hospitalet for legroom (but we did miss the sunrise on the beach in the Mar Bella) and who have shown everyone how a festival ought to be run. And finally, thanks to all those who attended and made the vibe what it was. See you all next year.

Sonar 2001
Date: June 14th – 16th, 2001
Place: CCCB (Barcelona Contemporary Culture Centre)
https://www.sonar.es