Hannah Laing returned to Nottingham for her Welcome to The Doof tour and oh my days… it
went OFF! Every time I’ve seen Hannah it just gets bigger and better; her set was another
level completely. From house to trance to techno to clubland- her unique sound has it all.
The vibes were immaculate from the get-go. We got to the venue and a flood of ravers were
lined up, clearly buzzing for the day. We were lucky enough to be on the guest list for this
one, so we headed to the front of the queue and made our way into The Level. Every
groovebox event I’ve been to is always smoothly organised and the team/staff are always
super friendly.
grooving and did not disappoint in the slightest, a massive hats off to both! But today I’m just
going to focus on the madness that is Hannah Laing.
Hannah got her first set of decks at 18, she grew up listening to old school trance with her
parents and has always loved the tunes and the raving. She continued DJing alongside
dentistry for years. By the end of 2022 due to rising success, she was able to quit
the dentist life to become a DJ full time, the hard work finally began to pay off… Fast forward to today and she’s still absolutely killing it. With her Welcome to The Doof UK tour, winning Radio 1’s best breakthrough artist award, and her "Good Love" tune with RoRo has received certified gold with over 100 million streams across all platforms! Plus, she’s currently releasing a 3 track EP, Triple F on her own doof doof label! An absolute icon!
Here are our highlights:
Moments before the set started, no music playing yet and the crowd began to cheer, chant,
and even scream with excitement… “Hannah, Hannah, Hannah fucking Laing!” The room
was dark, but the DJ booth was lit up slightly with a smoky white fog. Slowly emerging from
the fog was Hannah’s silhouette getting ready to activate the doof! The suspense was
unreal! “System activated, welcome to the doof” … What a fucking class intro! It got
everyone going immediately, ravers began to jump around as the heavy beats filled the
room.
Up first she played her tune "Be The One", this is one of my favourites! The feeling this tune gives me I can’t even explain, it’s an absolute banger. The crowd were singing along and bopping to every beat. I already knew we were in for a good night, but I really felt it at this point… I was in my element! The doof visuals were mad, so many cool pictures and icons were flashing up which proper added to the atmosphere.
One moment that stuck out to me is when she dropped her remix of "Coming on Strong" with Ben Nicky and Paul Findlay. Pink lasers became the skies over our heads, then when the beat dropped the room erupted, more pink visuals came up on the screen, all the lights were moving crazy and I heard this one lad behind me just going “doof, doof, doof, doof” Absolutely love to see it!
I loved when everyone sang along to “Castles in the Sky” by Ian Van Dahl, there’s just
something about everyone singing together, being ‘in the mixer’ where we’ve all come to
enjoy the same tunes and just forget about the worries of life. Then when the beat drops and
the bass kicks in, it just gives you that feeling you can’t replicate anywhere else! I love that
Hannah plays all the old school bangers and brings that sound back in to some of her songs
too.
I didn’t stand still throughout the whole of her set; it would’ve been impossible to even
try. But I did slow it down when I could hear "Adagio for Strings" coming up, the crowd
swaying from side-to-side as the euphoric instrumental engulfed the room. I remember blue
lights waving over the crowd, everyone taking in the moment together, a feeling like no
other. The beat dropped and the lasers began to strike the dancefloor, electrifying the crowd.
A magical moment.
I loved every second of this event. Every track was an absolute belter, the energy from the crowd was full ecstasy; we had the best time. So many new and upcoming tunes in Hannah’s set too, I can’t wait for her unreleased track I need it more” to be out. I reckon that’ll be my new favourite, a proper naughty one.
Thank you to the groovebox team for putting on a class party and a huge thank you to Hannah Laing, for blessing Nottingham with her talents yet again. When’s the next one?
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