Marc's Public Blog - Clubbing and Trance

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)

You can find all the pictures here

Table of Content for clubbing:

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And if you are curious about my outfit, you can read more about it on my led peacock engineer medium post

2019/10/20 ADE 2019 Day #5: Trance Orient Express

π 2019-10-20 01:01 in Clubbing

For the last might of ADE, the parties were more limited given that most people went to work on monday morning. In the ADE schedule, I found Trance Orient Express, which was supposed to be psytrance, so it seemed interesting. I didn't really love the fact that it was far out of town 50mn bike ride at night, so I went or a 25mn cab instead.
I ended up near an abandonned church, I had to walk the rest of the way as cars were not allowed to proceed to the end:

a church turned night club, that was a new one for me...

dB meter to make sure it doesn't bother the neighbours too much :)

I was there at 22:00 when the event started, but unfortunately it was very uninspiring minimal techno for hours that eventually turned into something that was slightly better, but nowhere close to what I'd call psytrance. I'm not sure if it got better eventually, but I bailed around 02:30 and went to bed to get a few hours of sleep before my flight back to SFO.
In highsight, that night was totally skippable but oh well, given how good all the other nights were, that wasn't the end of the world.

See more images for ADE 2019 Day #5: Trance Orient Express

2019/10/19 ADE 2019 Day #4: Luminosity's This Is Trance at Panama, Amsterdam

π 2019-10-19 01:01 in Clubbing

Just 2 days after Shine with John OO Flemming, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Paul Van Dyk, it was time to go back to Panama. The afternoon did have a boat party with Aly & Fila, but by Day #4 of crazy partying, I just didn't have the energy to go, and rested during the afternoon.

This is Trance was expected to be the big party of the week, I was definitely looking forward to it, and it was a great lineup:

Dimension

Andy Moor

Giuseppe Ottaviani

Aly & Fila

Ferry Corsten

John O'Callaghan

Bryan Kearney

Video summary:

I arrived early when the room was virtually empty, and Dimension warmed things up:

the room filled up quickly

Andy Moor was next:

By then, the room was banging, and Giuseppe Ottaviani took over, with a live 2.0 show:

After a banging set, Aly & Fila took over:

Then, was time for Ferry Corsten:

Panama had nice dancers with laser, that was pretty cool:

From there John O'Callaghan took over:

Bryan Kearney took over from there, however he wasn't my favourite, too hard for my taste:

But Panama had a second room, where other DJs were playing good trance too, so I hoped back and forth between the two rooms:

And by almost 06:00, it was mostly over and time to go to bed for some sleep :)

See more images for ADE 2019 Day #4: Luminosity's This Is Trance at Panama, Amsterdam

2019/10/18 ADE 2019 Day #3: Solarstone & DJ Orkidea, Pure Trance Boat Party

π 2019-10-18 01:01 in Clubbing

For Day 3, there were multiple party options available. Solarstone and DJ Orkidea were my favourite in the list, even with the small downside that you were stuck on the boat for the whole night, even if you ran out of steam. So, the answer was not to run out of steam :)

The boat was on the docks behind Amsterdam's central station:

The boat wasn't super big, but it was fun to have a party on a boat, it was my first such party:

and I met some TFSF friends

On the boat itself, it wasn't a great sound system or a great lighting system, but given that it was a boat, they were good enough :)

The only thing that pissed me off is that they used the stupid token system, forced you to buy 4 tokens as the minimum amount (almost $15), and that a token was required to use the toilet. Really? They already make money on the water/beer/whatever on the way in, do they really need to make money again when it comes out?
That aside, it was a good party, Solarstone and DJ Orkidea made sure to play great music for us for the 7 hours we were on that cruise:

Also the weather was kind of frigid outside: it was nice to snap a few shots:

And they were both nice enough to take a nice picture with me, thank you:

Thanks for the party and the trip in Trance memory lane, here is a video summary

See more images for ADE 2019 Day #3: Solarstone & DJ Orkidea, Pure Trance Boat Party

2019/10/17 ADE 2019 Day #2: ASOT 936: 8H ADE Special in the Armada Studio

π 2019-10-17 01:01 in Clubbing

OMG, where do I begin? This was not supposed to happen, but it did last minute due to a friend I now owe a huge favour to :) I missed the first 2H because I was 1.5H away when I got my ticket, but given that it was 8H long, there was still plenty to enjoy. After some train issues and stopping by my hotel to pick up my LED outfit, just in case (and turns out it was a good call), I biked the 22mn to the studio, which is somewhat out of town:

finally, the studio!

Obviously, I couldn't resist a few pictures:

Lots of DJs came by:

Halyene even dropped by to sing live

Initially, I just wore a regular shirt, as I was a bit self conscious about the LED shirt in the studio, and it being a bit too 'flashy' on he live stream. Eventually, though I asked Armin what he thought, and his answer was "sure, that would be fun, go ahead", so I did :)

Andrew Rayel seemed delighted :)

people on the live stream were apparently quite amused to see my outfit

Here's a quick video summary I took from inside the studio:

Of course, there is the official broadcast. I noticed after the fact that at 5:57:20, you can see me asking Armin if it's cool whether I change and put my LED outfit and he said yes. I get back around 6:15:00 wearing it, and at 6:28:40 he notices it and laughs :) Although the best part was being in front of Haliene when she came to sing live (6:36:20)

Saying how awesome this experience was, is hard to put in words, especially for an episode that lasted so long. I definitely owe a huge debt of gratitude for this one, thank you!

See more images for ADE 2019 Day #2: ASOT 936: 8H ADE Special in the Armada Studio

2019/10/17 ADE 2019 Day #2: John OO Flemming, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Paul Van Dyk at Shine, Panama, Amsterdam

π 2019-10-17 01:01 in Clubbing

The evening was a bit longer than that, but I missed the beginning because I was at the ASOT Studio until 22:00, and then had a 30mn bike ride from there to Panama by the Amsterdam central station.
The security was nice enough with my led outfit, but as minuses, and it seems to be widespread in Holland: - pay to use toilets (argh) - lockers you pay for (ok, that one is fair enough) - trying to enforce that you can't bring water in, because they want to sell you 20cl (so small!) glass bottles that cost more than beer or energy drinks per volume (OK, that is plain sad). - and some places even add a stupid token system

DJ lineup:

Saad Ayub

John OO fleming

Paul Van Dyk

Alex M.O.R.P.H.

Jordan Suckley

Lostly

there was a secondary room

Video summary of the night:

I arrived in time for John OO Fleming's set, which was quite enjoyable, and it's always fun to see John with his huge smile :)

Alex M.O.R.P.H. was next, and he went for it:

he nicely took a picture with me at the end

Paul Van Dyk was next. Sadly part of his set was plagued with sound cutoff issues that took a while to fix. On the plus side, he got some nice dancers with lasers:

jordan Suckley was next, but his hard trance was not my favourite, and I had seen him 2 weeks prior in San Francisco, so I went to get some much needed sleep after following a bit of his set :)

Panama was probably the best club in Amsterdam. It's not huge, but it's well equipped. For one, they have a decent laser setup:

the lasers nicely did not make a hole in my hand

I always enjoy looking at the visual control setups:

Despite the sound issues, it was a good night with top DJs. Glad that I went.

See more images for ADE 2019 Day #2: John OO Flemming, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Paul Van Dyk at Shine, Panama, Amsterdam

2019/10/16 ADE 2019 Day #1: Orjan Nilsen / 12 DJs at Club Mystique

π 2019-10-16 01:01 in Clubbing

For the first day, it was already a one of kind night, with 12 DJs playing at Club Mystique in downtown Amsterdam. All of them played a 30mn set as guests in Orjan album release party.

The lineup was impressive:

22.00 - Fingerling

22.30 - Maryn

23.00 - Rodg

23.30 - Ben Gold

00.00 - Ashley Wallbridge

00.30 - Ruben de Ronde

01.00 - Orjan Nilsen

02.30 - Mark Sixma

03.00 - KhoMha

03.30 - Nifra b2b Fisherman

04.00 - Exis

04.30 - Dennis Sheperd

Here is a video summary:

Ruben was nice enough to take a picture with me again :)

That was already a long night, and it was only day #1 :)

See more images for ADE 2019 Day #1: Orjan Nilsen / 12 DJs at Club Mystique

2019/10/12 Transmission at Prague's O2 Arena

π 2019-10-12 01:01 in Clubbing, Festivals

The lineup was pretty epic:

20:00: Thomas Coastline

21:15: Darren Porter

22:30: Giuseppe Ottaviani

23:45: Ferry Corsten Present System F.

00:45: Marlo

02:00: Transmix

02:15: Cosmic Gate

03:30: Key 4050

04:45: Blastoyz

This was a great opportunity to bring my LED outfit. People loved it, and security folks nicely let me in without issues (unlike luminosity). They even asked for pictures with me :)

And the night was as good as lineup implied, non stop energy the entire night in great venue with fantastic lighting and lasers:

do not look in lasers with remaining good eye :)

Video summary:

Pictures:

did I say lasers?

scanning humans for future plucking :)

did I already say the lighting was fantastic?

End of a great night with a massive set of classics turned psytrance from Blastoyz and plenty of lasers :)

See more images for Transmission at Prague's O2 Arena

2019/10/11 Above and Beyond Group Therapy at Prague O2 Arena (AGBT 350)

π 2019-10-11 01:01 in Clubbing, Festivals

Night #2 after arriving in Prague was ABGT. It was a good show, but not enough trance for my taste. I think AnB are slowly moving away from Trance and more into deep and other things I don't like as much (like no offense to Qrion, but I could do without, Spencer Brown is also meh for me). It's a bit sad for trance lovers, but it's their right to change music.

That said, I was really in Prague for Transmission which was the next night, so ABGT was just a bonus the day prior :)

O2 Arena was a really nice venue, with great food if you had a golden ticket.

big line, people were eager :)

found my friend Vic Teo in line

I was worried about the security check, but they guard were amused by my outfit and super nice

We arrived early

I had a golden ticket, which gave access to very good food:

Then it was time for the show:

Above and Beyond & the third one that usually never shows up :)

Qrion started the show, honestly not my kind of music

they were super nice and gave water to people in the front row

a rare sight, all 3 DJs

Video Summary (although a lot had to be removed because Anjunabeats is preventing a lot of their music from being monetized on youtube):

See more images for Above and Beyond Group Therapy at Prague O2 Arena (AGBT 350)

2019/10/10 KBGT Anjunafamily Preparty at Club Mecca, Prague

π 2019-10-10 01:01 in Clubbing

Right after arriving in Prague was time for the first party, the first night of trance:

Video:

See more images for KBGT Anjunafamily Preparty at Club Mecca, Prague

2019/10/05 Triode and DJ Melodie at Endup SF

π 2019-10-05 01:01 in Clubbing

This was my first time going to Endup, there are so many clubs in SF. DJ Melodie started a residency there, and Triode came to play too, so I had no excuse not to go :)
It's a club with nice decors and a nice outdoor patio, I liked it: