Ok, so I like electronic dance music, more specifically Trance. When I started in the 1990's, the US was a bit behind in that department.
Still, with San Francisco and San Jose nearby, I've had some opportunities to see some great EDM/Trance DJs. Back in the early 2000's, they sadly played club music in the US that was nowhere close to the hits they had composed and were known for, but over the years, as Trance started becoming more popular, those DJs finally started playing their good tunes in the US too, and maybe from 2004 on, it's only been getting better. Popsicle Halloween 2004 was really the beginning of great music parties in the San Francisco Area, and thankfully things have gotten even better since then
As a matter of fact, after another 10 years (2015 and beyond) the good news is that Trance has grown quite a following in the US, and places like the SF Bay Area, and while Trance has been declared dead a few times in the last 10 years, it's still going strong here.
Trance Family SF is definitely strong in the area, we've been getting more big trance parties every year, including many top DJs that come visit us what feels like every other week now (as of 2018-2019), and through those events, I made many friends in Trance Family SF. Thanks to you all.
Over those years, I got the chance to meet a few of my favourite DJs, including Armin more than once, and my last hobby has been to work on lights for my shirt and pants (version 3) and (version 4)
Wait, a trance party, close to my home, with DJs that flew from some other country? Really? OMG, yes! Sign me up!
Big minus for San Jose Civic Center who randomly decided that the batteries for my outfit would not be allowed. Thankfully I had friends to rescue me in, but that was a bit sad.
TenSteps started the night:
Ruben was next:
And then Andrew Rayel took over for the end of the night:
Nice to be able to see some of my friends again, and great to have a real show again, thank you to all:
We were supposed to get Vini Vicci, but unfortunately he got covid, so the show had to be cancelled. Instead, our trusty local DJs took over for the night, and gave us a great show (thank you)
People had fun:
Thanks to all who made the night happen
Video summary:
This was my first time at Public Works, and it was great to be there for a TFSF event, Aly and Fila's Fadi no less. Last time I saw him was at ADE in 2019 pre-covid.
Another night to test/debug my next version prototype LED outfit
Hi Niko :)
Fadi took over and did a nice 3H set
Dave Neven closed the night after Fadi
Thanks to all, it was a great evening, and it was lovely to see public works
Video summary:
Thanks to Seventh Sign for organizing and playing at this great psytrance night, and Khromata for her great set too before Dimibo.
This was my very first fully indoors, no indoor dining event since covid, you know just a regular club that you go and dance in. That was awesome!
First time using my new outfit for a real event. Still work in progress with a few bugs, but it's getting there. It's great when I happen to have the right shirt for the occasion, haha :)
I wasn't the only one who used the opportunity to dress up :)
Seventh Sign started the evening with a nice psy set, and handed off to Khromata after that, who played my favorite set from her so far, really good psy:
It was then time for Dimibo to take over and finish the night:
Except for the club shutting them down 10mn early in the middle of a great finishing track (WTF was that?), it was a great night. Glad to be back. Thanks Connor!
Short video summary:
OMG, Haliene coming to San Francisco, we're not worthy! Haliene is the Trance Angel fallen from the sky. I think only Jes also has enough tracks to her belt to sing over an hour like Haliene did. It was such a treat.
Jes and Haliene are my favorite trance singers because of their raw singing talent, we're lucky to have them.
Kailey opened the show with a great set, to the delight of her new fans:
triode did a great job recording and broadcasting the whole event
Triode was next for another banging set:
you knew that given enough liqueur, Triode could sing, right? :)
I used the opportunity to continue beta testing my outfit :)
And in damn cold weather, Haliene bravely came to the stage to sing for us:
Save the castles! Thank you so much Haliene for taking this timeless track to a next level
Thank you so much Haliene for coming to see us, it was a fantastic show:
This was our first big TFSF party since the pandemic, over a year already. Both an outside party with Markus Schulz, and then the first indoor party (limited attendance) at Midway.
Chri5py opened up and Jonny Atom took over:
the whole crew was here to attend
hi findtherabbit!
And eventually Markus took over:
got to use my new outfit (still work in progress)
Markus was nice enough to take a picture with me:
The indoor party used tables with assigned seating. After Markus was over, we went in for the 2nd party, pretty limited due to crowd size limitations, but still, first indoor party, yeah!
A few of us hung out in the back to keep twitch working:
After 1h30, Niko took over:
And that was it for an epic day/night, really a first after a year+. "T'ill we dance again" was today.
Video summary:
Can't believe it was my first party of the year, but it was. Thanks a mil to David Lewis (Blurr) for inviting me. Thanks to Opel Productions for the party.
DJ Blurr running the decks
Syd came next
he came prepared for the cold, thanks burning man
plenty of burning man crowd, they were also prepared (yes, it was actually cold as balls)
Triode and Blurr, enjoying the party
As the sun was setting, Dave Dresden came on. Great to see club quarantine ouside of a computer screen:
This was not a trance event, but Dave played a bit for us anyway (thanks Dave):
This was also my first time to try my brand new high resolution outfit, now with 2 computers, and 4 times more pixels. It needs a bit of work still (plus a ridiculous amount of improvements I already have in mind for it), but it worked, yeah!
As the end of our trip driving across the southern states back to CA, we ended up in San Bernandino.
Yeah, festivals, it's been a while, we missed them. Park and Rave was nowhere close to what a real dreamstate would have been, and quite expensive ($360 for a single night per car), but eh, beggars can't be choosers. We're glad we had at least this :)
After close to 3000 miles coming from Dallas, we arrived an San Bernandino just on time for the show:
our vehicle was too big though, so we had to park in the back
I took my outfit, and found a few friends. Thanks to Bryan Keyes for adopting me in his box:
I even happened to run into Triode (but got in trouble for it and sent back to my caged area)
Thumbs up to everyone who brought some partying spirit:
I was not very close to the front, especially with our campervan that had to be all the way in the back so as not to block the view, but with a proper zoom, it wasn't too bad to take pictures:
The videso were more shaky on long zoom though (sorry):
I can say without doubt, this was the very best festival I went to this year of covid :)
It has been so long since the last show, 7 months for most of us. We now have so many talented TFSF menbers who took the decks one after another, before Christopher. The full lineup was:
Kailey Grace
Jonny Atom B2B Shane Alexander
Blurr B2B Taj [Vinyl Classics]
Christopher Lawrence
Unfortunately that day was one of the worst air days in the bay area with all the fires around us:
drive to SF was quite hazy
my tesla model 3 was able to keep the air clean enough with full recirculating
but outside was terrible
I was prepared, though :)
The midway did a great job setting up socially distanced areas for groups of 4:
Nice running into my friends I hadn't seen in person for so long:
hi shane
Afik, Alvin and Benjamin came to join me for our VIP table:
haha, my dinky lights looked like crap when it wasn't dark enough yet
Kelly was at the decks at 16:00, that was my first time seeing her play live and she did a fantastic job:
+
Shane Alexander and Jonny Atom were next, and did a quite enjoyable B2B set:
Blurr and Taj were next, another great B2B set, with fantastic vinyl tracks:
live on twitch for those who couldn't join
Christopher Lawrence was last. I'll admit that when I last saw him 10+ years ago at burning man, I didn't care much for what he played then. I much preferred his set this time, slightly unusual (for me) psytrance. It was a good way to end the evening:
And eventually it was time to go home after a fun 5H (likely a 21:00 sound curfew):
Yes, yes, it was just a few tables in the middle of a street outside in an industrial part of SF, in quite frankly unbreathable unsafe air, yes, we weren't really supposed to dance much and leave our respective little table area (there was some leeway), but no one cared. We all had a great time, and damn, it felt so good after 7+ months cooped up at home.
Thank you Ulrich, thank you Midway, thank you all the DJs who played for us. Can't wait until the next time.
Video summary:
