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)
It was very last minute, but I was able to join my local SF trance friends on a trip to Washington's Gorge to attend the Above and Beyond weekender:
We met in Seattle Airport and went to get an RV (a few of us rode in it but slept in tents) and go to our camp site:
Alvin and Afik DJ'ed in the RV for us with portable equipment they took in the plane
We had premium camping, which was quite nice:
home sweet home
some people had better 'tents' :)
nice views of the gorge even from our location
Afik worked on putting his sign back together after the flight
On saturday, after spending some time at the camp, we went to the gorge side where the event was going to happen. I ducked out in a supposedly forbidden area to get some better shots. The gorge is definitely beautiful and a very nice area for a stage:
My friends made a dash for the merch booth, while I went up to get some pictures of the nice area and enjoy the music:
The maedow had a tent with talks with DJs:
Random people pictures:
tinlicker, cute
And here is a summary video of Day #1:
Things got nice around sunset:
And then it was time to enjoy darkness and the more popular DJs. Time for me to shine and looking for other people with shiny things :)
I made some custom gifs for the occasion
listening to this is like an endless fall to your death? :)
and finally above and beyond, 2 out of 3 as usual
love you too, Afik :)
then things got big :)
Ilan Bluestone finished the night starting with an interesting retake on Enigma, which many people didn't even recognize :) and after that it was time to head back to camp. I had heard a bit late that Seven Lions was playing nearby, so I went there and arrived late, but got to enjoy the end of his set (01:00 to 02:00):
The area also had a nice set of vendors:
Day #2 started with a nice yoga set with Paavo:
this was a fantastic idea, thanks to Paavo for the nice music
In the tent, Tony interviewed Seven Lions, and it was interesting to hear how he got into music and his special style of mixing dubstep and trance (both of which, when mixed together, I quite enjoy):
I then spent most of the day watching the show from a shaded spot. Sadly, I can't say I enjoyed any of the music during the day, it was definitely not trance, nor anything else that did much for me. The views were still nice and it got better as the sun set:
they nicely let a few people of the crowd in a viewing area behind the DJ
Here's a bit of music from Day #2 in the little that I found interesting:
I went to look for more night pictures:
the exiting thing was that I ran into Rory who made a totem pole using some of my arduino code
And by 22:30, it was over:
Now, the best part was still to come, I went directly to the DJ Van in the campground, and we got a huge treat of a great 3H set by many of the DJs who were there that weekend:
That got me in bed by 03:30 or so, and after not enough hours of sleep, it was time to drive back to the airport:
