back | search     6: Ministry Of Sound Words: djmag Lost in a commercial wilderness for much of the early noughties, the Ministry of Sound has since enjoyed a credibility restoration that is little short of a miracle. Still commercially savvy, Saturdays might feature the populist electro-house of Toolroom, Pete Tong's Wonderland and house bastion Defected but equally showcase nights like Renaissance, Steve Lawler's Viva, Sander Kleinenberg's This Is…, Global Underground and the techno purism of Derrick May's Hi-Tek-Soul. Even underground party fiends secretsundaze used the Ministry's courtyard for a series of al fresco shindigs last summer, meaning DJs like Argy and Dixon played the legendary venue. Fridays, meanwhile, have been bolstered by the acquisition of the longest running weekly in London - The Gallery - as DJs like Paul van Dyk, Armin Van Buuren and Timo Maas cause weekly roadblocks. Of course, one thing that has never been in question is the layout of Ministry's main room - the famous Box - and the quality of both the soundsystem and production in there. An engulfing chasm of sound and light, shot by two multi-coloured Martin RGB 1.6 lasers, DJs ranging from Tim Sheridan and Steve Lawler to Pete Tong and Mark Knight agree it one of the best systems on the planet. "The Ministry of Sound is like the Old Trafford of main rooms, it's the venue that all DJs aspire to play," believes Mark Knight, whose recent Toolroom Knights party had to turn away nearly 800 clubbers. "Everything about the venue is right - the sound, the lights, the vibe. In my opinion is has the best soundsystem in the world and allows me to play certain records that only really translate there because of the sound dynamics." Again standing tall as one of the globe's clubbing standard bearers, the Ministry of Sound remains one of the few reasons you should ever step foot into London's Elephant & Castle area. If only because it provides such a consuming escape from the outside world around it.