Saturday night at The Crescent saw the triumphant finale to the Herbal Mafia birthday series, celebrating 20 years of the deepest, darkest bass around.
Review and photos by Caitlin Barnard
This time round, the evening was headlined by drum and bass royalty Dillinja who made his York debut for a night of premier mixing, dynamic MCing, and relentless tunes.
As seasoned attendees of Herbal Mafia nights have grown accustomed to, the lineup featured a manifold variety of genres, drawing from all walks of jungle, drum and bass, dubstep, and dub. Openers Yenz and Catch A Fire showed off their top tier selecta skills in room two whilst OSC kicked off with a slew of dancefloor-ready tracks in the main room.
The main room had been reconstructed with the DJ booth on ground level amongst the crowd, dissolving the separation between audience and performer. This intimate atmosphere fostered that community feeling and shared experience that has come to define The Crescent.
Next up was DJ and production duo Yorkshire Tea Party with high-octane bass tunes amping up the audience as they filed in. With jungle classics and plenty of amen breaks streaming from the speakers cranked up to ten, the anticipation for the upcoming Dillinja headline set felt palpable.
In room two, Brenz shifted energy, weaving through ambient jungle textures and atmospheric drum and bass, veering into an immersive and resonant territory. This was followed soon after by one of the evening’s highlights with an outstanding back-to-back from Joachim and Joe Hell. The pair shared a palpable musical chemistry, constantly feeding off each other and the crowd as they rolled through a weighty selection of dubstep cuts and heavy dub basslines.
Stepping out next, Yesed steered the night into grimier territory with an electric selection of hardcore-leaning dubstep. This momentum was drum and bass outfit Deep Crisis, equipped with up-tempo productions and the fierce live presence of MC Pean. The group felt tailor-made for dancefloors like this, injecting the night with a surge of restless energy and heavyweight bass pressure.
Finally, legendary drum and bass pioneer Dillinja took command, accompanied by MC Parly B. The unrelenting two-hour headline set underscored exactly why his booking felt like a landmark moment for Herbal Mafia. His shared dedication to the highest quality sound system was evident amid the exhilarating torrent of heavy-hitting tracks with the sheer weight and technical dexterity of his performance proving truly incomparable.
His track selection and mixing operated on another level entirely, constantly fusing two records at once with a fluidity that created dense layers of bass pressure. Every drop demanded full-body participation from the crowd, capturing Dillinja’s long-standing philosophy of experiencing “drum and bass exactly how it’s meant to be felt. Not heard… felt.” Loud, physical, and entirely immersive. The audience responded in kind, with the dancefloor erupting into a chaotic sea of movement from start to finish.
Speaking to the man himself after the show, Dillinja lauded both the venue and the atmosphere, reflecting on how he has long wished to found a space like The Crescent. It’s a telling endorsement that even one of the genre’s most revered figures recognises venues like these remain vital pillars of underground culture.
Herbal Mafia: Part 4 featuring Dillinja took place on 23 May 2026 at The Crescent.