Dash Berlin at Webster Hall

Dash Berlin was at Webster Hall last Saturday, March 19, 2011 and his set was massive. He got the crowd going - singing, dancing and fistpumping from the start until the end. He had a good mix of tune starting with a Disarm Yourself Intro Edit then straight to Till The Sky Falls Down before mixing his own tunes with various tunes for other DJs.

He played his remixes of Never Said Goodbye by Cerf, Mitiska & Jaren, This Night by Filo & Peri and Audrey Gallagher, Reverie by First State and Sarah Howells and Medina's You and I as well as tunes like Arty's Rock N Rolla Remix of Ferry Corsten's Punk, Gareth Emery's Citadel, Calling by Tydi & Audrey Gallager, Cosmic Gate's Fire Wire and Exploration of Space and Come On by Tiesto and Diplo.

Dash Berlin dropped his own tunes as well such as Surround Me, Till The Sky Falls Down, Janiero, Man On The Run and of course closing with my favorite tune, Never Cry Again which got the crowd all singing and me, emotional. Then of course, I started shouting "One More Song" and the crowd followed and he didn't disappoint by playing Waiting with Emma Hewitt.

Laidback Luke at Pacha

Laidback Luke at Pacha

Last weekend, I headed to my first gig of 2011. The act - Laidback Luke. The location - Pacha NYC.

Because of the snowstorm the previous day, I was afraid that Laidback Luke will not be able to make it to the gig but luckily the storm didn't cause a lot of delays and cancellations and he arrived in New York with plenty of time to spare.  

Junior Sanchez at Pacha

So I got to Pacha and it was already getting crowded. Junior Sanchez opened for Laidback Luke (LBL) and he played a mix of house, hip hop and pop tunes and got the crowd pump for LBL. The only problem with Pacha is that it gets really too crowded especially if they have a DJ who plays mostly House and Electro. 

Laidback Luke at Pacha

As the night progress, I got separated from my friends but was still in the middle of the dance floor head bopping and fist pumping to Junior Sanchez's set. Then it was Laidback Luke's time and his started off really strong as the crowd converged into the dance floor making it really hard to move and do anything other than going with the flow of the crowd. There will be instant when you the crowd tapers off only to be squeeze back again. But this didn't deter me again from enjoying LBL's set. I think he really played into the crowd with his set compose of house, techno, electro, hip hop and pop. One of his tune was a mashup of Nirvana's Smell Like A Teen Spirit and Fedde Le Grand's Back n Forth (see it here). He ended his set around 3 in the morning and Junior Sanchez came back to close out the night. Me and my friend did leave early because Pacha was over crowded that they wont even let us go down during the time we want to leave to get our coats because, according to the bouncers, "it was too packed." I really had the feeling that they oversold tickets for this event. 

Trance Takeover last weekend

So last weekend was Trance Takeover. Its a 2 night event held at Pacha NY and produce by Massive Events. Its almost like a really tiny Electric Zoo but with DJs playing mainly trance tunes - hence the name of the event.

Headlining the first night were Filo and Peri and Marco V. We got there early on friday since my friend won't a Meet and Greet with Marco V through his promoter. I got a chance to see Zack Roth  who was opening at the main floor. I would say he was pretty good playing a lot of psych and progressive trance and he got the crowd ready for Filo and Peri

Then about 11:30, Filo and Peri came up the DJ's Booth to start their set. I would have thought they wouldn't start till midnight but I guess the schedule got change. They started off with Arty's remix of D-Mad's She Gave Happiness, which seems been using as opening for a lot of DJ sets lately. And transition to a mix of different trance tunes like Armin van Buuren's Remix of BT's Every Other Way with little electro (Swedish House Mafia's One) in between. And of course, not to miss out, their own tunes such as This Night which they collaborated with Audrey Gallagher and the classic Ashley with Aruna. They surely got the crowd revved up just in time for Marco V.

This is the first time I've seen Marco V live and didn't disappoint. And we got lucky to get into VIP by this time when we saw his promoter and told her my friend didn't get a chance to meet him. So she let us into the VIP area which was fantastic.

His 3 hour set was mainly composed of hard and melodic trance playing tunes such as Dada Life's remix of Kaskade's Dynasty, Len Faki's remix of Dustin Zahn's Stranger to Stability, Tiesto's Remix of Faithless' Tweak Your Nipples and Stoneface & Terminal's Moment among others. He surely got the crowd pumping and tearing up the dance floor and from my view from above, I could see that everyone was just having a great time and no one even left the dance floor.

Oh, and during his set, I had a chance to meet Bo Pericic, one half of Filo and Peri. Really nice guy.

After his set, I had a chance to meet him which was really awesome. The only drawback was the bouncer who kept on moving him around that I could tell he was getting confused. Anyway, luckily I got a chance to get a picture with him before he was swish away towards the exit.

The next night - Trance Takeover Part 2 - had Ronski Speed and Andy Moor headlining.

I got there around midnight and the place was already banging. Ronski Speed was already on decks and he surely tore up the dancefloor. He played upbeat tunes that makes you just wanna keep on dancing. His set was a mix of old and new trance tunes from Gareth Emery's Sanctuary to Armin van Buuren's Remix of BT's Every Other Way (which Filo and Peri also played). One tune surely got the crowd wild - well at least me and my friends - Ronski Speed vs Oceanlab ft Justine Suissa - E.O.S. Sattelite.

Then Andy Moor took the helm and started off with a melodic deep trance before mixing it up with deep and vocal trance. Now if Ronski tore up the dancefloor, Andy just blew it off the roof. He played a great mix of tunes and mashups such as Faces in a Good Dream which he did with Ashley Wallbridge, tyDi and vocals by Meighan Nealon, mashups such as Gareth Emery Mashup of Lethal Stadium Four, a track he collaborated with Tiesto, Lange, Andy Moor and Komytea; and his own mashup of The Great Escape Right Back (Rank 1 & Jochen Miller & Yuri Kane); and of course, his tune She Moves, a track he did with vocals from Carrie Skipper, which on my own opinion, is one of the top tunes of this year. His set was just out of this world. My ears were ringing after I left..

which reminds me, I have to buy some earplugs

Filo and Peri - Website | Facebook | MySpace | Vandit | BigRoom Podcast
Marco V - Website | MySpace | YouTube
Ronski Speed - Website | Facebook | MySpace | YouTube |
Andy Moor - Website | Facebook | MySpace | YouTube | Moor Music Podcast