Clubbing
Ok, so I like Techno, more specifically Trance. Unfortunately, the US, it's
let's just say... a bit behind in that department. If you ever hear such music
on the radio, or even in the street, let me know (for instance, in Australia,
I heard great Techno in even a waterslide park of all places).
Anyway, at least, with San Francisco nearby, I've had some opportunities to
see some great DJs, even if at least at 1015, I've often been disappointed by
what they played compared to their usual sets.
Over time, I've seen many of my favorite DJs across the world, whether it was
locally, in New York City, Canada, Australia, and of course
Ibiza, and at Halloween 2004, I finally attended
some great local parties that proved that you could get the good stuff locally
too (even if all the artists came from other countries
)
You can find all the pictures here
Here are some older pictures I didn't have a writeup for, but they're still
enjoyable to browse, or you can also get all the pictures here
Sasha's set, well, didn't really uplift me. He also seemed to be uneasy with
the crowd...
Paul did an enjoyable set, but the surprise was
Alex Gold right afterwards,
who just played such good mixes that it prevented me from leaving for another
hour (I only got home around 03:30-ish).
The pictures and videos from that evening are
here
(see the evening in the Picture library)
When I learned that he was going to be there at the same time than
me, by sheer luck, that was really great news.
It's hard to summarize how it went, but when I got there around 18:30 (having
missed the first half hour due to the engineering meeting I attended before
that), and it the mix was already going strong. After it got dark, they started
the video projectors, and had some nice displays for them.
Tijs just went on mixing good tunes, including his own Traffic,
Just Be
(click next and previous for 2 other ones), and many others well known ones like
(1,
2,
...).
I was in the second and then first row in front of the stage, so I had a fairly
good view :)
When his performance was nearing its end, he handed out some posters of the
show. My hand was there, but the 4 that were cms from my hand went around me,
including two to a lady next to me (I guess she was cuter than me :) Things were
crazy then already, but they got worse when he signed a few vinyls and threw
them in the audience :)
I think one of the things I like about Tijs, is how it's obvious that he's
having a great time and enjoying himself too (too many other DJs have a way too
serious look on their face, which kind of detracts from the enjoyment part). You
can get a glimpse at the event by looking at
the pictures and videos with
excerpts from some of his best songs.
Anyway, this was really an epic show in my opinion, and definitely the best
performance I saw from him (or any other DJ for that matter), and he finished
with his well known
Adagio for Strings remix.
So yes, I am very happy that I just so happened to be there :)
The first loveparade in the US, in San Francisco? There was no way I was
going to miss that.
It was quite fun to walk across SF in major streets that had been blocked
off, with all the floats, some quite reminiscent of burning man (for the
good reason that they were the same), and just enjoy the music while dancing
South to the site where all the floats ended up to play music for the rest of
the afternoon.
Contrary to burning man this year, I did find some floats that played music that
was quite to my liking, like this nice mix of
Ian
Van Dahl, Castles in the Sky
You can get the pictures and videos here
Well, this was an unusual Halloween to say the least... Due to some dance
music festival in San Francisco, a lot of great Techno DJs were there during
the Halloween weekend, so for the best 3 days in a row, not counting Ibiza, I saw some of the best DJs, back to back
(see the evening in the Picture library)
Well, I had seen PVD twice in the last few months, but it would have been silly
to miss him when he came spinning locally (as opposed to going to
Ibiza or New
York City)
It was kind of weird for me to be one of maybe three people wearing a costume
in the club that night, but eh, since 1015 mostly fills up with Asian people, I
wasn't too out of place with my Japanese costume :)
Paul did a good set, and it was fun to see him spin while being smack in
the first row, behind the turn tables.
Saturday was a long day, starting with Tiësto's concert in Holland, which
started around 15:00 in our time zone. I actually considered going there for
that historic event, but it didn't happen, and being able to experience the
concert live, over the internet, was very cool (putting aside the fact that it
required stupid windows DRM and first fixing up a windows machine)
It was fun to watch the concert live, though, while chatting with fellow trance
enthousiasts on IRC, also watching. We were making fun of how stupid the
interviewer was, how they found the only Dutch person who didn't know how to
speak English, and how annoying the MC could be with his silly cheers. Then, we
would play the "name the tune" game to see who could recognize the next song
mixed in the quickest (something I'm half decent at, but some people there
listen to A State of Trance every week and knew every tune by heart, down to the
remix name. It was scary
).
(see the evening in the Picture library)
After about 6H of watching the Tiësto concert, and a failed attempt at a quick
nap, I had multiple options for that evening. I hadn't quite recovered from
the previous night with Paul Van Dyk, but somehow, the Popscicle party looked
like a party not to miss, so I showed up around 11-ish, doped up on some energy
drink.
While getting in was a disaster due to a huge line, and only one single person
selling tickets, in a very inefficient fashion. Even with being "line
efficient", it took me 30mn to get to the box office, only to realize that they
didn't take credit cards, and that they had raised the price from $45 to $50, so
I was $4 short. This plain sucked, there was no ATMs anywhere (this pier was
really in the middle of BFE) and it was quite hard to find anyone in the line
who was willing to give me $5 in exchange for a check, but eventually I found
someone (thank you again, whoever you were) and finally got in.
Well, all I can say is that it was well worth the effort going there and getting
in: 4 rooms with different kinds of Trance (ok, that alone was cool), but the
main room also had some really cool lighting:
Later, came Justine Suissa, who sung 4 of her songs, live, and that was just
really sweet, as I knew all of them. She also does have a good voice. I also
used the opportunity to migrate to the first row, right in front of the DJ
booth, since, well, you can't get any closer than that :)
Justine just rocked, this idyllic moment was only too short, but at least I
was able to capture just a few bits of a few of her songs:
Then, came Lange. To my great shame, I'll admit to not having known who he was
until I saw and heard him spin. I only figured out later that he was a well
known british DJ who had a been on a State of Trance many times (to my defense,
it's not very easy to recognize his name when AVB speaks Dutch on TV).
All I can say about him is that he rocked. Not only did he seem like the nicest
guy (got to shake his hand too), but he was really loving what he was doing, and
spinning some great tunes. While I was supposed to be completely dead by then,
his music just kept me alive.
With the time change, Lange finished around 03:00, but then it was only 02:00,
and time for Above and Beyond to rock the house (at least I knew them beforehand
due to the many tracks and remixes they've done).
They were also spinning some good stuff, which I really enjoyed for a little
more than an hour, but I eventually ended up going home because I was beyond
dead, and still had a boring, sleep inducing, drive back from San Francisco.
The pictures and videos hardly do
the evening justice, but they're still quite enjoyable to browse (especially
the small videos, since the sound is almost half decent
)
(see the evening in the Picture library)
After two awesome nights, it took a lot of mustering to get the remaining energy
to do this again for a 3rd day in a row: it started reminding me of Ibiza
So, I had seen Oakey once before, but it had been 3 years, and I barely recognized him with his long hair :)
Before (2001)
After (2004) / Give it to me, baby
This also was my first time at Ruby Skye. I had been meaning to go for a while,
and this was the perfect occasion to go. Nice decor, sure doesn't look like
a cheap hangar, like 1015
Yeah, first row again, smack in front of the DJ booth (it was halloween, remember?
)
Anyway, this was an awesome weekend, even if it was exhausting. For
that matter, it most likely beat any 3 consecutive days I had in
Ibiza, and that's saying right there.
This weekend finally gave me faith that you can find good Trance in San
Francisco
(see the evening in the Picture library)
If you asking, who he is, it's because you don't know the European Techno Scene.
I had the chance to find out who he was and see some awesome sets he did through
at Trance Energy via some videos downloaded from the net.
So, when I heard he was coming to 1015, I couldn't wait to go, and it's only
on that night that I found out that it was his first time in the US apparently.
On one side, it was a bit weird to not have full house, but the crowd that was
there did love him, and what is there not to love. Not only did he play
great tracks, but of the DJ's I've seen, he was the most willing to play with
the crowd, shake hands, pause for pictures will spinning and so forth.
He just seemed like the nicest guy who (obviously) really enjoyed his job too.
His set was from 01:00 to 04:10, and it didn't matter how tired I was because
his music just made me stay. On top of that, he even shook my hand, took a
picture with me, and give me a signed picture. What more could I have
asked for?
Hopefully, more people in the US will soon find out who he is, because he sure
deserves it.
(see the evening in the Picture library)
Man, I guess, this was an awesome past 30 days: so many great DJs, so
who would be better to close it up, than ATB?
Because I'm a moron, I showed up around 00:45, expecting the set to
start around 01:00, but ATB started at 00:30. Doh!!!
Either way, I still got most of it, and he did an awesome job mixing great
tracks, working the crowd up by taking the mike, and just doing a great set
for us.
There are also a few video clips
This is probably the first time I went to a big DJ set, and didn't attend all of
it (I missed the last hour and a half). No, that doesn't mean Tiësto sucked that
night: on one side, it wasn't the best set I've heard from him, but on the other
side, it was still a great evening: not only did I run into some fellow trance
loving coworkers, but I also was in great company, which only made the evening
better.
The pictures and videos are here
Man, I had been waiting for this for so long. It might be silly to say, but
I really can say that my life is complete now, I have seen all my favourite DJs
(also top techno DJs in the world), spin live.
Needless to say that I'm a big fan of Armin, and while I've been disappointed
by some of the top DJs some nights, Armin sure didn't disappoint: his first
hour and a half, he just spun great tunes, some of the recent favourites on
his weekly The State of Trance radio show.
But I think the best part was just how nice and cheerful he was. While he's
been spinning for a long time, and has done many many hours and sets worldwide,
he still had a huge grin on his face and was having a great time (I would not
say the same thing of someone like Paul Van Dyk, or especially Sasha for
instance)
Armin's set was more than 3H, but I had to bail a bit past 3 so that
I could get home without ending up in a ditch or climbing the center
divider after having fallen asleep. I thought the set had gone a bit downhill
after the 1.5H mark anyway (which is just as well for people who only stayed
at the beginning)
The cool part though was that I was able to shake his hand and give him a note
thanking him for all the great music he's been spinning for so long. It's a
lot easier at Ruby Skye than at Amnesia where the DJs are totally out of reach.
The pictures and videos are here
To make up for not going to Ibiza this year, and when I found out that Tijs
would do a tour in the US, under the name of his world famous concerts in
Holland, which I regretted not having attended, I knew I had to go. It was also
a good opportunity to go visit my friend Jennifer who lives there.
Since it wasn't quite clear how the seating and viewing would work out, I ended
up getting a couple of VIP tickets, which while somewhat overpriced for what
was being offered in return, were a good way to just know that we could go
anywhere and choose the best vantage point.
The arena got reasonably full half way through the concert, but strangely enough
half the people weren't there when it started. What a waste...
Anyway, while after looking at the size of the stage, I was a little bit dubious
of how much this would resemble his historic concert in Holland last year, I
was still pleasantly surprised, especially when a couple of well known trance
voices:
Kirsty Hawkshaw
of "Just Be", and
Jes Brieden of
Motorcycle, as the Rush Comes, and Waterfall came on stage and sung live to
their track (and on key, no less).
All in all, it was a good evening: good
lighting, nice stage appearances (although inferior to TIC1 and very inferior to
TIC2), but 4H for such a concert was just too short compared to the 8-9H he did
in Holland. Yet, for those of us who can't just randomly fly to Holland for a
concert, it was well worth it.
The pictures and videos are here
I went to Burning Man like the last 3 years, except that
we really got a treat: Oakey and Tiësto played there. You can read my
Burning Man 2005 report for lots of pictures and
details on the event.
But in a nutshell, it was payday for Trance Lovers, as Armin would say (Oakey
and Tiësto's appearances were not really widely announced, which is good as it
kept the attendance to Burning Man attendees, as opposed to people who might
have attended Burning Man mostly unprepared and as tourists, just to see those
two start DJs.
Anyway, Oakey did a very enjoyable set, especially for his fans like me who
recognized all the tracks he played from his 1996 debut with Dragonfly, a Voyage
into Trance. All I can say is thank you so much Oakey.
The pictures and videos are here
(note that most are dark and coarse grained because you mostly can't take
flash pictures at Burning Man due to the dust that is flying everywhere in the
air. Also, Oakey was smiling and having a great time, I just got unlucky on
most of the pictures I took)
As noted right above, burners got a treat with two of
the greatest Trance DJs two days in a row. It's funny because I had no idea I'd
get to see Tiësto before being at Burning Man, and I had just seen him two weeks
prior at his Tiësto in Concert in LA.
Anyway, this is the kind of set that you have to experience to believe it.
The music was of course great, but half the experience was being at Burning
Man with people dancing around fires, art cars, people with costumes, or
without , and having the mix be after the Man Burn until sunrise.
It was just awesome (see this page for details on Burning Man 2005)
The pictures and videos are here
Considering how much I listen to his music (I just managed to get more than 140 episodes of a State of Trance, and almost everything from episode 78 onwards: 216, please drop me a note if you might have the 5 or 6 I'm missing), I could not miss Armin coming to San Francisco again this year (thank you for stopping by)
Turns out that I had actually been sick for the last 4 days including that sunday, and spent part of the day in bed, but I could not resolve to missing his set, so I doped myself up (that is with caffeine, aspirine, anti-cold symptoms medecine, and diet rock star), and drove up to San Francisco.
The warm up DJ was playing some quite nice stuff, and then Armin came up and took the crowd .
Armin played for almost 4 hours, a quite nice set I might add, and just kept giving more at the end, honoring several "one more tune", to the point where he played almost one hour after initial signs of him being about done (going from about 23:40 to 03:40)
I also got to be backstage, i.e. by the DJ booth, and hang out with Armin while he was spinning. This just gave me another chance to see how much of a nice guy Armin is, and how much he still enjoys his work, even when being the #3 DJ in the world (and quite frankly, he is way in front of PvD, who doesn't seem to care nearly as much anymore, and I also think he can give Tijs a run for his money )
All in all, it was a great night, and I forgot everything about being sick while I was there, which confirm that "Armin heals!" (ok, just kidding )
I should add that Armin's website now has a link to
Audio
Jelly/Armada, to let you buy Shivers, his latest album, online. I'm
mentioning this because I don't care much for CDs and ripping when I can buy
the MP3s directly. I think it's very cool that Armin is one of the artists who
has now started offering digital medium over the internet.
Anyway, pictures and videos of that sunday night are here
First, I was not very happy that Air New Zealand didn't have a direct flight from Auckland to SFO on Monday, but since I had no intention on making a non direct flight (that would be non stop for you people at United) to SFO, I opted for coming back a day early, on Sunday.
I wasn't overjoyed by that, but in the end it turned out to be a good thing as Armin ended up being scheduled to play at Ruby Skye on sunday night. While I onlyhad had about 4.5H of sleep on the plane, and was a bit jetlagged, I was able to go Ruby Skye and enjoy the party, with much thanks to the kind soul who got me there and back :)
Armin did a fair set, just not too many of my favourite tunes, but I met the usual suspects there, and was in good company, so it was a quite nice night indeed :)
You can also look at the other
pictures of Armin at Ruby Skye
// posted by MM
@
23:17
Tijs started playing some time past midnight, and overall I thought he did an ok job, but I having listened to what Armin and other DJs played at Asta the night before, I would have much rather been there. I guess it doesn't mean that Tijs was bad as much as I tend to prefer Armin's music nowadays.
That said, it was still quite a nice party, especially with the cool decors work that Ruby Skye did, it was really pretty.
All in all, it was a godo evening, despite my being a bit too tired to fully enjoy it, and hoping for a few more nice tunes.
A few pictures are below, and you can also look at the rest of the pictures of
Tiësto at Ruby Skye that night
// posted by MM
@
23:40
Ferry is another Dutch DJ who's not as well known here as he deserves to be, and it turns out that while I had heard him spin many times on various radio shows, I had never seen him live.
When I found out that he was coming at Ruby Skye, going to see him was an easy decision.
Ruby Skye's atmosphere has really gotten nice, and their decors and sound are quite good.
Ferry's set was enjoyable, although I wish he had played more of those top Trance songs, instead of some of those non distinct boom boom tunes, but eh, it was still a good evening.
It was also good to see that he was having a good evening, and giving it to the crowd.
You can also look at the rest of the
pictures of Ferry Corsten @ Ruby Skye
// posted by MM
@
12:53
While I attended the original LoveParade in San Francisco, I ended up missing the LoveFest last year, as I was in a transcontinental plane at the time, so it was nice to be able to see what the event had turned into this year.
The path that went through Market Street was very nice and central, and the floats represented a good sample of the different kinds of electronic music you can get nowadays.
The final resting location at the Civic Center Plaza allowed for the floats to get a good resting place around park, and blast their different kinds of music around the street, for party-ers to sample and enjoy. The
Burning Man
enthusiasts will also have recognized some of the floats out of BM, like Opel/Zool, and the Space Cowboys.
If you'd like more, you can go look at the
pictures and videos of the Second Annual LoveFest Parade
That DJ booth was right out of
Burning Man
// posted by MM
@
20:07
After the LoveFest, there was the after party, and a big party it was. It brought me fond memories of the 2004 Halloween Popsicle Trance Party (for that matter, it looked pretty obvious that the same people who setup the first event, setup this one too, good job guys).
The lineup was quite nice too: Christopher Lawrence, Paul Oakenfold, and Above
&
Beyond as highlights. Too bad Above
&
Beyond were at the end of the lineup, at 03:00 when we were quite tired already, especially as they just played killer tune after killer tune. Whoever sets up those lineups, and puts Above
&
Beyond at the way end, first thanks for bringing them over, but please, they deserve an earlier spot: they were the highlight of the night for me.
Oh, and who do you need to kill to have the DJ timeslots in advance? Why does it have to be so hard, or almost impossible to get that simple information when it's known and set beforehand? Please, publish this on the tickets or the main web site.
But all that said, it was a great night, and a great day when you add the LoveFest in the afternoon. You can go browse the
pictures and videos of the lovefest after party
// posted by MM
@
22:30
Monster Massive had such a great lineup this year, that I figured it made sense to fly there for the event, especially because I needed to do a long flight for my IFR training, so flying to Santa Monica to go see the event that night, made perfect sense.
The search felt pretty strict, first searched for all metallic objects, just like in an airport, and then searched again for things they didn't like you to bring in, but that were not linked to safety. On one side, I can appreciate that if you gather 10,000 people in downtown LA, you might have to worry about the occasional person who'd feel the need to bring a gun, but on the other side, it feels weird to go through security that is at least as strick as an airport.
I however have to take offense to the rules against bringing handheld digital cameras. I mean, WTF? First, if I pay $200 for two VIP tickets, I don't want any of that unannounced "oh, you can't take your digital camera" bullshit. But second, those rules are totally arbitrary and stupid: you're not going to confiscate cell phones, and they now have 2-3 Megpixel cameras. If you allow those, it is totally stupid to ban digital cameras, on top of being unfair, and bad business towards the customer who just gave you $100/ticket.
Once inside, the party was quite nice, the lineup was great, and I am definitely thankful to the organizers for having posted the DJ schedule in advance on their website. Everyone should do that :)
No, no guns here, but I want to keep my camera, thank you
Yes, there were other DJs than Armin, I just didn't stay closeby in the pit during the whole time :)
I do have to say about Paul Van Dyk though, voted #1 DJ again: while I don't mind his music, I'm not sure how someone who doesn't bother to spin anything anymore, and just brings a laptop, where for all I know he could just press play on a pre-made mix, got voted #1 again. The worst part is that they had to stop the music several minutes while he got the turntables/CD players out, and plugged in his laptop. Lame if you ask me....
But eh, I'm happy Armin got the #2 spot, and Tijs at the #3 spot is still very deserving too.
Anyway, you can see many more
pictures and videos of Monster Massive 2006
// posted by MM
@
21:16
To celebrate his tens years as a DJ and producer, Armin did another Armin Only at Ahoy, with 9.5H of DJ'ing this time (9H last year). The 12,000 tickets sold out weeks in advance, but luckily, my Dutch nephew Justin, was able to find a few for me.
Since I was tired of missing the best trance parties in Holland, and that's while living next to one of the 5 US cities that at least gets some trance and visits of the best DJs once in a while, most people in the US aren't that lucky. So, I decided to start going to Holland for the top parties, and Armin Only seemed like a perfect way to start :) (yes, it was an expensive trip, but it was well worth it)
It took a while to get everyone in, even with a reasonably speedy search. I get a bit annoyed when they steal my water at the entrance to later sell me some quite tiny unsold bottles from DanceValley 2005, but whatever I guess... Eh, at least they had enough sense not to disallow cameras like at Monster Massive. Thanks for that.
My cousin Justin properly set me up for the evening :)
a few people showed up indeed, and lines went outside in the rain
For the first 3 hours, Armin hid behind a drape, and spun from behind it, probably as a way to tease the crowd a bit, and I'm sure it also gave him the opportunity to get a potty break and get something to eat, because at 01:00, 3 hours into his set, the drape went down, and he didn't go anywhere and spun for us for the next 6.5H, all the way to 07:30 (indeed totalling 9.5H).
Armin had some nice surprise guests, like Justine Suissa who performed several of her well known songs (
Burning Desire
,
Wall of Sound
, and
Sky Falls Down
). Justine just did the best performance hands down again, you could tell she had all her soul in it, and she does have an amazing voice.
That said,
Isle the Lange sung a nice track, The Great Escape
, and Susanna was also here, singing
Shivers
.
Justine Suissa is just amazing: great voice and great performances
Isle the lange
Susanna from Shivers
Of course, let's also not forget Armin's brother,
Eller van Buuren, who was the first performer, and played some nice tracks on an electric guitar
(
clip 2
). Other welcome guests included
Rank 1
,
playing live
.
Eller Van Buuren playing the guitar for us
Rank 1, playing live
Many people stayed until the end (luckily it was easy for me, because my body was still on california time, i.e. the party was more or less daytime for me). Armin finished with
Words for Love
, and the never dying Motorcycle, as the Rush Comes (
clip 1
,
clip 2
, and
clip 3
).
Armin then went to thank the crowd as much as he could without getting mobbed (the one guy he got up on the stage with him was very enthusiastic and would almost not let Armin go :), and we headed home in a grey, overcast, morning, with memories of one of the best parties ever.
So what's all this about PvD still being #1 with his self DJ'ing laptop? Come on, Armin deserves the #1 spot already, by a long shot. He also deserves an award for being the only DJ to have done close to 300 weekly mixes. Just like ASOT 250, thanks for the last 10 years Armin, and we're looking forward to the 10 next ones, since Trance will not die :)
In a word like in a thousand: "Armin, thank you"
Anyway, you can have a look at the rest of the
pictures and videos of Armin Only at Ahoy
to get a small taste of the event (before you Email me to ask, the videos require the
divx video plugin
as microsoft video at similar bitrates is pretty poor)
While I thought to myself that the lasers and decors were poor during the first 3 hours, before the curtain went down, they were quite nice after that. Very colorful indeed
Y'all go home now, you hear? :)
// posted by MM
@
12:50
2007/04/30
Thanks to my friend Jason, I knew that Faithless was coming to The Fillmore in San Francisco. It's a shame that most people here don't know who they are, but at the same time it was nice to see a full house at The Fillmore.
I have known then for years: 7-8? and they are still unique in their mix of genres from Techno to rap-like. It was a pleasure to see them perform in person.
Here are the
other pictures of Faithless at The Fillmore
// posted by MM
@
23:22
This summer, we got many trance DJs in San Francisco (not counting a monster set from AvB in Los Angeles). There were unfortunately more DJs and parties than I was able to attend, due to other prior travel plans, but the first party I was able to attend was Blank and Jones at Ruby Skye.
While I knew their music quite well, I had never had the opportunity to see them play live. Now, play is a big word because they pretty much plugged in a Mac, and apparently pressed play. While I might be wrong, it didn't look like they were mixing songs live. Then again, while this isn't much of a performance anymore, I suppose I don't mind too much as long as the music is at least good (which it was).
All in all, it was a good evening.
And here's a link to the rest of
the pictures and videos of Blank and Jones at Ruby Skye
Labels:
clubbing
// posted by MM
@
18:46
It was good to see Armin at Ruby Skye again. He still has a strong following, and fans who've seen him elsewhere (I saw someone who had also gone to Rotterdam to see him at Armin Only).
As always, he played a good set and gave everyone their money's worth. I ended up leaving a bit before the end because we were exhausted and Jennifer had to go work the next morning (which really was more "in a few hours" by the time we got home)
My only wish is that Ruby Skye sold stage access tickets as opposed to reserving them to a few VIPs (as in "you need to know someone"). Either that, or for them to put me on the said list so that I can take better pictures :)
But it was a great evening, and a real pleasure to see Armin as always. And here's a link to the rest of
the pictures and videos of Armin Van Buuren at Ruby Skye
Labels:
clubbing
// posted by MM
@
19:10
As a complement to my
Burning Man 2007 report
, I should write a few notes about the great DJs that
Opulent Temple
setup for us.
While it was impossible to see all the DJs there, I managed to see a few top DJs who spun there.
On Thursday, we had DJ Dan, Friday had Paul Oakenfold and Gabriel and Dresden did a great sunrise set
for those who were still awake, or had just woken up, and after the man burn, Christopher Lawrence spun right after the man burn.
Needless to say that it was quite a nice lineup, especially when you remember that it's in the middle of the desert, with dust everywhere, and run from generators.
You can see
all the pictures here
, as taken from the
Opulent Temple report from burning man 2007
Labels:
clubbing
// posted by MM
@
20:41
The lovefest parade itself was fun. It was the usual floats going through market street, although this year the parade was broken up in pieces to let a few cars go through between the floats. In my opinion, the city police would have done a better job by preventing cars from arriving on those one way streets where the only way out was through market st. Oh well...
The floats were good this year again though, and the party around civic center plaza was good. Now, I should have noticed at the time a problem with the skills/spundae guys: they didn't actually care to tell you who was spinning at their booth.
Seriously, I'm starting to get ticked off at that: why do some of those people deem that we don't need or want to know who's spinning? Compare and contrast with the 1015 guys:
1015: good
spundae/skills: bad (fancy ipod, but couldn't get anything really useful on it)
Unfortunately, for the after party, the did the exact same thing, which was pretty sad: they had good DJs: Gabriel
&
Dresden, John 00 Flemming, Ferry Corsten, Sasha, and others, but they couldn't be bothered to less us know who was playing when.
This really pissed me off, as people around me where asking "who's playing now?". And it did actually matter, because unfortunately, many of the DJs played played "base/boring" techno instead of trance. Quite frankly, Jennifer and I got bored, and as luck would have it, we ended up leaving 10 minutes before Ferry Corsten took the decks, apparently around 02:30 (at least from what I read after the fact). In a nutshell, I think the combination of some DJs playing pretty boring stuff, and not knowing who was playing were, just made the event very disappointing.
Spundae/Skills: bad mark for you! After the fact, after more searching on the internet (it hadn't shown up in search indexes in time for the event it seems), the linup was:
09:00 - 10:00 - deep voices feat dyloot
10:00 - 11:00 - robert nickson
11:00 - 12:00 - joof
12:00 - 01:00 - gabriel & dresden
01:00 - 02:30 - sasha
02:30 - 04:00 - ferry corsten
Here are the
pictures of the 3rd Annual Lovefest
, and
pictures of the Spundae Lovefest Afterparty
Labels:
clubbing
// posted by MM
@
16:16
After being thoroughly disappointed by the "definitely had potential, but ultimately utterly disappointing" Spundae Lovefest Afterparty, I was still keeping good hopes for Monster Massive 2007 in LA, with a great Trance Lineup: Infected Mushroom, Markus Schultz, Armin Van Buuren, and Judge Jules.
Unfortunately, I got sick that week, and on saturday, when I was supposed to fly Jennifer and me to Santa Monica, I wasn't quite feeling back to normal yet. Yet, I figured I'd give it a shot, and we made the flight down to LA.
When we finally got in the event that evening (which took about 90mn from the time we left the hotel nearby to walking far, getting tickets, going through one line, and then another security line that was only a full size metal detector short of an airport security line (you were however fully searched and padded with a portable metal detector), we got in (and that was 90mn with VIP tickets and a special, shorter VIP line).
Unfortunately, by then the first DJ had just finished, but on the plus side I was able to get my digital camera in (for some strange reason, point and shoot crappy cameras were allowed while digital cameras were not supposed to be. WTF!). Turns out that a few other people were able to get their cameras in too through various ways (which I'm sure had to be about as inventive as mine). But seriously, events that restrict personal cameras are stupid.
Anyway, we were there for the next 4.5 hours, during which we got to listen to Markus Schultz from Global DJ Broadcast fame, the now #1 DJ in the world, Armin van Buuren, and a very nice closing by Judge Jules.
I don't want compare and rank them, they each had their own set and style, but suffice it to say that they all played good trance, which made for a really good evening. I had been a while since I had listened to so many good DJs actually playing good tracks in a row. I guess this is thanks to that, that I forgot to be tired and sick during that time, and had a great night.
Thanks to you all!
Markus Schultz
Armin
Judge Jules
The Amount of people still there around 03:30 was amazing, that was quite a crowd (I guess the good music helped)
And being close to Halloween, costumes were encouraged. The "it's my dick in a box" guys won, in my opinion :)
We cheated and just showed up. It was enough of a feat in itself for us.
We definitely had a great time. Thanks!
And here's a link to all the other
pictures and videos of Monster Massive 2007
, and I'll part with a 5mn clip of a very nice
mix of Adagio For Strings played by Armin
(divx plugin required)
Labels:
clubbing
// posted by MM
@
23:42
I managed to miss a few events at Ruby Skye this year unfortunately, but was at least able to make it for Above
&
Beyond this time.
This time it was actually Paavo and Tony who came to play (so far I had only seen Jono and Tony). While they had to start a little bit late, probably due to the backlog of people waiting outside to get in (yes, they still draw a good crowd), they played a great set.
Hours later they were still rocking the place, playing great tune after other great tune when we were feeling beat and were trying to go home, keeping us inside instead :)
It was definitely a great time, looking forward to the next.
Here are the
other pictures and videos of Above & Beyond at Ruby Skye
.
Labels:
clubbing
// posted by MM
@
23:51
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