Tut's Blawg

Above & Beyond + Gareth Emery @ Rain

2010-02-03T14:06:00.000-08:00

Above & Beyond + Gareth Emery @ Rain, Las Vegas -- January 2, 2010

I guess in keeping with tradition, I should review the night at Rain. I still never reviewed the Paul Oakenfold night at Rain in December 2008. That may or may not ever happen since all of my pics, vids and a partial review is on my dead laptop. Ain't life grand?

Anyway, there was a contest on the Trance Addict forum that I entered and also made my brother enter prior to this night. The grand prize was "4 VIP tickets & a bottle" and the secondary prize was a few general admission tickets for four other winners I think. I honestly can't remember and don't care to try because Matt won the grand prize, haha! Snuck 'em!

I flew in from New Orleans that night via a stop in Phoenix arriving at about 7:30PM PST. The mother hooked me up with a free room at the Rio so I wouldn't have to navigate my way back to Matt's house in the wee hours. After resting a bit and almost opting out of going due to jet lag and fatigue, we ended up leaving for Rain at midnight. Adam was sending me texts saying how the club was already rocking to the opening guy's set.

We went to Rain, which is right across the street, and it was such a homey feeling since I'd already been to this club. Ampersand definitely feels like that for me and Amnesia totally started becoming my comfort zone on the Ibiza trip.

The last time we went to Rain, we picked up our tickets at this little store right in front of the club. So we went there first to claim the prize and they thought we were nuts because they knew nothing about this contest. They then sent us to the tanning booth where some chicks had a special list, but alas, no luck. We literally walked all over that casino looking for Matt's name on a list. Finally, this one guy near a rope found "Matt C" on his list and started kissing our feet after apologizing to the umpteenth degree. I was like, dude, we're just regular old laypeople. No worries.

This is where it got good. The guy unlatches the rope for us to walk through and leads us to a special door with a bouncer. He checked our IDs and then two more guys came. These two guys led us through the doors and to an elevator that needed a special key. One of the guys asked me during the elevator ride about my favorite DJs or something and I was all "yeah, I love Gareth Emery." I think he said Felix da Housecat and Carl Cox were his favorites. I scanned him up & down and inwardly agreed that he would be the type to love house DJs over trance DJs.

We went up this elevator to the second level, down a hallway where all the club sound equipment was neatly stored behind glass doors and arrived into our own sky box! Holy shit! There was a bouncer outside said sky box keeping us safe while a server girl took care of our drinks. It was so surreal and still is when I stop and think back to that night. I'll also never forget Matt Darey's new tune "See The Sun (Aurosonic Remix)" floating through the club when I walked onto our balcony. My jaw dropped and I just watched all the minions on the dance floor space out to the beautiful beats while Above & Beyond began their set. Apparently, we arrived just in time!

Above & Beyond spun the fluffy set I envisioned and I loved every second of it! Gareth Emery was the closing DJ afterward and he definitely rocked the place as well! Great night! I didn't keep time on how long each set lasted, but I think Gaz ended in the 4:00 hour. That was way too early for me! Ibiza really spoiled me with the party nights lasting until 7AM. Somewhere within all of this, Adam and I texted for a while until he finally ascended the staircase to come hang out in the sky box. He brought Ryan along and we had a blast! I love clubbing with a) true trance heads and b) DJs. It's just a different experience.

This needs to be noted as well. The bouncer turned on the speakers in our sky box and it was amazing! I could hear the mixing crystal clear! I didn't need to go out on the balcony if I didn't want to. I could just party in my room. But since I party in my own bedroom and with my gear all the time anyway, I took advantage of the balcony. ;)

In the end, as grateful as I was for the sky box experience, I concluded that I really missed being on the floor with the crowd. Hard to get a feel of the vibe from so high up. I actually could've gone down there had I wanted to, but was so awestruck with the sky box that I never left the second level. I'd probably do well with VIP only next time or any time because I'd get the option of being on the second level with less crowd. A sky box just isn't a necessity.

Here are some of the tunes from their tracklists in no particular order:

Above & Beyond
Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight
Above & Beyond - No One On Earth
Above & Beyond - Can't Sleep
Above & Beyond vs Andy Moor - Air For Life
OceanLab - On A Good Day (Above & Beyond Remix)
OceanLab - Lonely Girl (Gareth Emery Remix)
Tranquility Base - Buzz
Paul van Dyk - Nothing But You (Super8 & Tab Remix)
Oliver Smith - Cadence
Robert Miles - Children (Jerome Isma-Ae Remix)
Matt Darey pres. Urban Astronauts - See The Sun (Aurosonix Remix)
Cara Dillon vs 2Devine - Black Is The Colour (Coco & Green Remix)

Gareth Emery
Gareth Emery vs Above & Beyond - On A Metropolis Day (Myon & Shane 54 Mashup)
Gareth Emery - Exposure
Gareth Emery - This is That
Gareth Emery - More Than Anything (Stoneface & Terminal Remix)
Wippenberg - Chakalaka
BT feat. Jes - Every Other Way (Armin van Buuren Remix)
DJ Tiesto - Lethal Industry
Dash Berlin feat. Emma Hewitt - Waiting
Wippenberg - Pong

Mardi Gras @ Ampersand

2009-02-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

Mardi Gras @ Ampersand, New Orleans -- FEB 23, 2009
Jaytech, Breakfast, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond

In no real order, here are some track lists of tunes I remember each of the DJs playing that I recognized:

Breakfast (12:00-01:30)
David West - Welsh Morphology
Breakfast - The Horizon
DJ Eco - Borealis
DJ Eco - Lost Angeles (Breakfast Remix)

Ferry Corsten (01:30-3:30)
Ferry Corsten - Made of Love
Ferry Corsten - Brain Box
Ferry Corsten - Radio Crash
Ferry Corsten - Black Velvet
Ferry Corsten - Galaxia
Ferry Corsten - Rock Your Body Rock
Ferry Corsten - Beautiful
The Killers - Human (Ferry remix)
System F - Out of the Blue (Violin Edit)
Vimana - We Came (Akira Kayosas 2009 Passion Mix)
Cygnes (remix)
Kyau & Albert - Hooked On Infinity
Stoneface & Terminal - Blueprint
I think he spun these:
Tiesto - Driving To Heaven (Mat Zo Remix)
Signalrunners - Meet Me In Montauk

Above & Beyond (03:30-05:00)
Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden remix)
Matt Cassar pres. Most Wanted - Seven Days And One Week (Mÿon & Shane 54 Monster Mix)
Whiteroom - The Whiteroom
Above & Beyond - Can't Sleep

I didn't recognize anything from Jaytech because we got into the club halfway through his set. I probably missed "Pepe's Garden." I only recognized four tunes out of Breakfast's 1.5 hour set. Ferry spun a lot of his stuff. Above & Beyond were really deep because they were promoting their Anjunadeep label, but I died when I heard Whiteroom - The Whiteroom. That made my night. I caught like 10 seconds of footage of that one and then my memory card was full.

Jaytech has been touring with Above & Beyond and opened for them, while Breakfast was doing the same with Ferry.

The crowd ROCKED! It felt like a mini-Ibiza having House music at first with a culmination of banging trance and deep stuff. Some girls were dancing on one of the speakers with Mardi Gras masks. Everybody was dancing until nearly the end of Ferry's set when the tiredness started to seep in. I could tell the true trance fans were there for A&B's set because some people recognized "Beautiful Things" and "The Whiteroom." That warmed my heart.

Ferry Corsten @ Ampersand

2008-05-31T18:56:00.000-07:00

Ferry Corsten @ Ampersand, New Orleans -- MAY 25, 2008

Ah, Ferry. He trainwrecked, believe it or not. It's funny because just the other day I was pondering what I'd do should I trainwreck live, and then it happened to him. I honestly can't remember the tune he was trying to mix when it trainwrecked, but he tried it twice, laughed it off when it was unsuccessful and then dropped his own System F tune "Out of the Blue (Ferry's Full On Violin Edit)" to play it off. Since I absolutely love this tune, I got to have a moment so it all worked out. I had two moments last Sunday, one with that tune and the other with "Sirens of the Sea." Give me a cookie since I called it in a past entry!

I was the most inept trance clubber last week, I swear! I couldn't ID tracks for shit. My dumb ass also forgot to clear the footage on my memory card from the Georga Acosta night so I ran out of memory. Thankfully, Craig had his camera and got footage of both of my moments, or at least I think he has them as I'm sure I saw him capture it. We went V.I.P. and I had a lot of drinks so who really knows, eh?

I guess I should do a review. We got to the club closer to midnight because we weren't all that interested in the other stuff going on that night with Freakfest. They opened the outdoor patio where Breakbeats were in full force. Ferry was in the main room which was fine because we really just went to see him. Wyldchile took over at about midnight. Craig took note that Ferry got on the decks at 1:15 and ended at about 4:00. Even though I was a horrible trance fan that night, I managed to keep something of a tracklist on my phone for a good chunk of the night. Funny, though, the first 5 tracks on my list were all "ID - ID," haha! ID is on a roll again with those productions, damn! Thankfully, all I need to do is thumb through Corsten's Countdown episodes to at least ID a few. That, or look through party review threads online!

His set banged as usual. I liked the overall night in October better, but he played more trancey type trance Sunday, which was unexpected, yet very welcomed. Oh and I was like 2 inches away from him when he exited the DJ booth, but was so star struck that nothing got accomplished. Craig, on the other hand, got a handshake! And even though I didn't feel like I was truly there, looking back, I can say it was a very fun night! Memory: him ending his set with a glass of champagne in his hand. Below are some of the tunes in their tracklists in no particular order:

Wyldchile
Tiesto - Adagio For Strings
Planet Soul - Set U Free
Fragma - Toca's Miracle
David Guetta - Love Is Gone

Ferry Corsten
Ferry Corsten - Beautiful
Ferry Corsten - Into The Dark
Ferry Corsten - Fire
Ferry Corsten - Brain Box
Gouryella - Gouryella
Embrace - Embrace (Ferry Fix)
Markus Schulz feat. Andy Moor - Daydream (Lemon & Einar K Remix)
OceanLab - Sirens of The Sea (Above & Beyond Club Mix)
Re:Locate feat. Menno de Jong – Spirit (Paul Miller’s 2008 rework)
Activa – Remember
Solarstone - Spectrum (Duderstadt remix)
Robert Nickson feat. Elsa Hill - Never Again (Nitrous Oxide remix)
Dobenbeck feat. Joanna - Please Don't Go (Greg Downey remix)
System F - Out of the Blue (Ferry's Full On Violin Edit)

George Acosta @ Ampersand

2008-04-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

George Acosta @ Ampersand, New Orleans -- APR 12, 2008

Still lying around with strained muscles in my lower back, I decided to finally write my unofficial review of George Acosta night at Club Ampersand in New Orleans. It’s funny because I waited until the last minute to officially decide to go that night. I’ve been spoiled. My first trance clubbing night ever was in Ibiza (the Mecca of clubbing) and I had the big DJs every trance night there. George is rated America’s #1 DJ, but he is far behind the others globally so I was a little apprehensive. Then again, when am I not apprehensive about anything? Exactly.

So we got to the club very early. When Ferry Corsten came in October he got on the decks a little before midnight. We got to Ampersand a little after 11:00 and Wyldchile was on the decks when we entered. It said Electro-House and Breaks so I figured he must be the opening DJ who spins House. Sure enough he did, but ironically he spun PPK’s “Resurection” when the club was all but empty. That tripped me out and I should’ve gotten footage because nobody spins that anymore. It’s an oldie, but goody!

That DJ spun for 3 hours and by the middle of hour two, I was ready for Mr. Acosta. This certain House was that fluffy, boring, generic stuff that I tire of easily. Upon first arrival, it was ok because I hadn’t heard electronic music live since Ferry’s night in October, but like I said, I was bored. I tried to figure out why and came to the conclusion that the structures of the tunes are just so basic and follow the same pattern. Oh, and then there are vocals. If I want pop music, I’ll turn on the radio. Just to note, this DJ spun David Guetta’s “Love Is Gone” toward the end of his set. That made me chuckle.

Mr. Acosta took over on the decks alittle after 2am. When he entered, I was taken aback because he’s so short. I’m about 5’3 and he was totally my height! I’ll be honest, though, I did not know what to expect because I read different reviews about him beforehand. My opinion just observing him entering the DJ booth and then DJ-ing, however, is that he is not too sociable with the clubbers, but he can spin a very decent set. I guess it’s a matter of do you want a friend/entertainer or DJ?

He spun for about 2.5 hours and the first hour felt like all tech-trance. I know it wasn’t, but goodness it sure felt like it. I’ve grown a liking toward tech-trance and realize how good it is for clubbing because of the sounds and the ability to dance to it, but after a while I kind of got tired of it. That is until he randomly dropped Saltwater’s “The Legacy (Alphazone remix).” I died. When I heard it mixing in, my jaw dropped. That was the highlight tune of my night since I always have a highlight tune. And Rank 1’s “Airwave” shocked me as well!

Here’s a list of some of what I remember in no particular order:
Oceanlab - Sirens of the Sea (ID remix)
Cosmic Gate feat. Denise Rivera - Body of Conflict
DJ Tiesto - Lethal Industry
Rank 1 – Airwave
Saltwater - The Legacy (Alphazone remix)
Sander van Doorn - Riff
Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan – Silence (ID remix)
4 Strings - Take Me Away (Re-ward dub)
First State - Your Own Way
Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400

There were some others I recognized, but for the life of me, I could not remember the IDs. I really could’ve used Naveed that night, lol. Maybe if I see some of Craig’s footage I’ll remember.

Some other things I want to note for memory was this guy in a wheelchair raving. He was too cute! George had an actual CD case of CDs, not a tool like Serato’s Scratch Live. Come to think of it, Ferry still uses CDs as well. I just remember Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk on laptops in Ibiza. I met this girl and guy that came all the way from Georgia. I hope they were here for other reasons because Mr. Acosta will be in Atlanta soon. And I met this guy from Nashville who taught me a cool technique to the way the real clubbers dance. It’s all about the string, haha!

After Mr. Acosta, DJ Trashy took over on the decks with Breaks. And after about 3 tunes, we left. EDM music is about having an open mind, but I honestly think I have to be in a certain mindset to really enjoy myself with that particular House and with Breaks. By certain mindset, I mean drunk off my ass, with dancing shoes, and no intentions of actually feeling anything!

Ferry Corsten @ Ampersand

2007-10-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Ferry Corsten @ Ampersand, New Orleans - October 3, 2007

Uh, yeah, hello, Ferry Corsten came to New Orleans this past Wednesday! What a badass night! I felt like I was back in Ibiza! The Paul Oakenfold and Paul van Dyk nights were tight in Ibiza, but I liken Ferry Corsten night to that of the Armin van Buuren night--it was just so fun! I met up with some people and we had an absolute blast just dancing and humming along. Dude, even my brother was dancing! And Ferry mentioned he'd be spinning at Ampersand during his radio show, Corsten's Countdown, earlier that day. Thought that was cool. Matt said Ferry was having too much fun, haha. Yeah, duh, why do you think I want to do that with part of my life?!

Ferry pretty much spun the same set that he did in Minneapolis actually. I could pinpoint a bunch of the tunes, but sometimes I would run near the DJ booth to ask Ujjal because he seemed to know more than me. I love the guys like Ujjal, Rami and that random dude who just stand in the back, watch, and spout out the names of the tunes the whole time. Tres cool my friends! Anyway, here's some of the tunes that I remember:

Dubfire - Roadkill (Breakfast Remix)
Talla 2XLC - No In Between (Duderstadt Progressive Dub Mix)
Kyau & Albert - Always A Fool (Club Mix)
Above & Beyond presents Tranquility Base - Oceanic (Super 8 & Tab Remix)
Mandala Brothers - Sleepwalking (Duderstadt Uplifting Remix)
Ferry Corsten - Beautiful (Original Extended Mix)
Breakfast - The Sunlight
Lemon & Einar K - Anticipation
Ferry Corsten feat. Howard Jones - Into The Dark (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Ferry Corsten - L.E.F. (Loud, Electronic, Ferocious)
Ferry Corsten - Brain Box
The Thrillseekers - Synaesthesia 2004 (Ferry Corsten Remix)

Dave Homes - Samsara (Ali Wilson Tekelec Remix)
[this tune was too badass for words and even Matt was like "tight"]
Bedrock - Heaven Scent (Greg Downey Remix)
[such a club tune, heard in Ibiza a few times too]
Ferry Corsten feat. Guru - Junk (Ferry Corsten's Flashover Mix)
[my footage of this = awesome]
System F - Out of the Blue
[loved that he closed with his own classic]
Binary Finary - 1999 (Ferry Corsten remix)
[died and went to heaven when he dropped this]
Ferry Corsten - Galaxia
[this made my night because it's the only one I truly wanted to hear]

Ibiza Clubbing - July/August 2007

2007-08-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

MON 30 Release Yourself @ Pacha
TUE 31 Armada @ Amnesia
WED 01 In Bed With Space @ Space, Café del Mar, Meganite @ Privilege
THU 02 Cream @ Amnesia
SUN 05 We Love Space @ Space
MON 06 Cocoon @ Amnesia
TUE 07 Armada @ Amnesia

MON 30 - Release Yourself @ Pacha
Technically I can’t write about this night because I caught up on much-needed sleep, but I’ve heard good things about it. Roger Sanchez headlined and Pacha is supposed to be a very nice venue. I have also heard, though, that Pacha is more of a see and be seen kind of night. Pacha = brand name and lots of house music. I did go to Pacha in Barcelona so that kind of counts, right? That night was pretty cool!

TUE 31 - Armada @ Amnesia
My first true clubbing experience and it was awesome! Some of the group got free tickets to Privilege on the beach that day, but I was very adamant about going to Amnesia. Got there at about 2am and Markus Schulz was on the decks. He was spinning his usual style of prog & whatnot. Good warm-up for Paul Oakenfold who then took over. While he was super boring as a person, his music was banging or so I thought. He exceeded my expectations since he’s flopped in recent years. And he really only played all of one tune that I recognized, but that was fine because I danced and enjoyed myself regardless. Then came my future husband, Menno de Jong. All the tourmates who happened to make it to Amnesia after Privilege and who also aren’t really into trance music said they loved his set. I did as well! However, Menno did kind of bum me out at the end when he dropped Yahel’s “Voyage” to close his set. He totally stopped the song right before the breakdown, which is in my opinion the best part, especially since that’s a classic tune! He then threw out albums into the crowd and one of the guys on our tour, Nick, caught one. It was Menno de Jong’s Intuition Sessions CD! Anyway, it was a great night and we walked out of Amnesia at 7am as the sun starting coming up. Dorothy was shocked so we took a picture, haha. Oh yeah I must’ve missed Blake Jarrell because I only saw 3 DJs, but that’s ok actually, lol.

WED 01 - In Bed With Space @ Space
After Armada night ended at 7am, some of us decided to go to Space for day clubbing which opened at 8am. Our tour manager Emmo, Brianne, Louise, and Dorothy took a taxi to Space. Stephanie, Nick, Ace, and I went to the hotel to freshen up a bit and get some breakfast. Made it to Space at 9am. Holding true to the party theme, there were some beds at the entrance of the club with people lounging around and semi-recovering from whatever night they ended up at. We went in the main room and it was super dark with stars on the ceiling as if it was still night time. That very deep House music was being spun. After a while, my head started hurting from the music and being over-exposed to so much smoke. Meandered off and somehow found the sunset terrace. Was very happy to have found this as there were more fluffy House tunes being played as well as actual daylight since it was mid-morning after all! We left at about 11:30am. The night turned day was taking its toll on us.
Café del Mar
We made it to Café del Mar a little before 7pm for the sunset which doesn’t actually occur until some time after 9pm. This legendary café/bar had lots of chill out tunes to set the mood for watching the sunset. The gang I was with decided to get pina coladas and they were top notch! The only downside was food as I was getting hungry. Café del Mar only serves drinks whereas Café Savannah right next door was serving food. Sad that I only made it to one sunset, but when I go back I’ll hit up Café Savannah for sure!
Meganite @ Privilege
Later that evening, while watching the sunset from Café del Mar in San Antonio, some promoters were handing out free wristband tickets to Privilege again. The catch was you had to be in before 1am. Since the tour officially ended on the Thursday, we all decided to go and hang out together one last time at Privilege. Privilege = a badass club! It’s the world’s largest club and houses a swimming pool in the middle of the main room’s ground floor. The DJ booth is suspended over it with planks for the DJs to escape or enter. As far as venues are concerned, Privilege is the best! Put trance music nights in Privilege and I’d never do anything else with my life except club there forever and a day! While I loved the club, the music was not my thing at all. Dorothy and I were joking about how it sounded like the same track for 4 hours straight. We left at about 4am as some of the tourmates trickled out to go catch flights off the island.
Shipwrecked
I was supposed to go on the boat party that was to depart from San Antonio at 7am to watch the sunrise and catch some good tunes. I was shipwrecked long before attending Shipwrecked and ended up bailing out. I still hear it’s a banging few hours though and I’m still undecided about whether or not I’m bummed about missing it. I truly needed sleep at that point and definite rest because of what was to come that Thursday night though. If ever interested, though, I got my ticket from The Ship Inn in San Antonio.

THU 02 - Cream @ Amnesia
And then God said “Let there be trance!” I don’t even know if there are words to describe this clubbing night. Holy cow! It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life up until this point. There was something of a queue when I arrived, but I skipped the line with my online ticket that I purchased long before the trip. I felt special! I got there around 2am-ish and Marco V was spinning in the main room to a packed house. He spins that crazy tech-trance stuff, but it’s actually good tunes. I happened upon one of his sets in March during the Winter Music Conference special on di.fm and totally loved it so I knew what to expect. Marco’s set was a great warm-up. When all was said and done, 3am rolled around and the legendary Paul van Dyk took over on the decks! Tonight was the release of his new album “In Between.” When he was starting his set, he looked into the crowd. I swear he looked at me and then winked! What do you do when God looks at you and winks? I mean really! He started his set with some tune and then Pascal Feliz’s “From Inside the Speaker (Part 1)” and there it all began. The next 4 hours were banging! One awesome tune after another churned out of the speakers the whole time! Paul van Dyk tends to lean more toward a faster tempo in his sets which is probably why it was so great. I set up shop on the platform in front of the DJ booth, which has kind of become my spot. Amnesia was still packed at 7am when he ended his set and the lines for cabs and buses were super long! This was hands down the best clubbing experience while in Ibiza! Not to mention, everybody was into it and dancing the entire time, even for the Marco V set!
Highlight = hearing PvD's two tunes: "For An Angel" and "Nothing But You"
Oh, and I was totally deaf for a few days after this set. My ears rang but I just couldn’t seem to answer them. The cure for that? We Love Space Sundays!

SUN 05 - We Love Space @ Space
After taking a 2-day break from clubbing, I decided to go to Space for some day clubbing. I headed over to Playa den Bossa where Space is located after doing some shopping in Ibiza town. The tip on Space was that you should go around 3-4pm. I ended up there at about 5pm and the sunset terrace was filled. The House music that I prefer was being played there and that same deep, dark stuff was being played inside the main room. After one quick meander up to the Premier Etage, I basically just stayed on the sunset terrace from 5pm til midnight when they closed it. You can continue the clubbing experience inside the main room or on the upstairs terrace if you so wish until 6am, but by midnight I was beat and ready to roll so I did. Space was a cool experience for me since that isn’t my type of music. I recognized a few tunes though thanks in part to Armin van Buuren and Markus Schulz’s radio shows. I will never bitch again when they throw in tunes from genres such as tech-trance, house, prog, etc. Everybody was half-dressed as it was pretty hot on the terrace. I bought one of those Spanish fans that has Space on it and actually used it. Now it’s a cute souvenir. The highlight for me was the planes flying right over the club as they come in for landing. Don’t have pictures from Space as they aren’t allowed in. Security did a thorough search of my bag in comparison to Amnesia who kind of half-assed it all 4 times! Remembered this but don’t have a picture: some guy had a shirt that said “I AM THE AFTERPARTY”! Haha, how rad! Space’s sunset terrace was banging the whole time I was there with people all over the stage and standing on whatever they could. I was jealous of the lot of people that stood under the fans. They’ve been there and done that before I’m near positive. I also met this cute young married couple from London who were on holiday. What I loved most about clubbing in Ibiza is everyone dancing all the time for the most part, straight guys included! Pigs will fly the day you see that here!

MON 06 - Cocoon @ Amnesia
I met these two guys from London, Marco and Harry, in the little restaurant across the street from the hotel as I was having lunch. They had just arrived and they’re Ibiza virgins as well. Being I’d been on the island a week, I had some tips so offered them. Come find out, they are friends with Pete Tong’s son, go figure! The tip they got was that Pete Tong would be hanging out at Amnesia this night. Never saw him, but I'll bet he was in the V.I.P. section! The three of us went to Cocoon @ Amnesia together at about 2am and Marco & Harry were going to hit up the other big clubs within the few days they were there. While I’m more about the music since we never get these DJs, they were more about the clubbing experiences since London draws every DJ all the time. They had plans to hit up the foam party at Amnesia, do a little Privilege, hit up Carl Cox night, etc. They’re also more into House than Trance like I am. Anyway, we went to Cocoon and oh my god, that was my 3rd time heading to Amnesia while in Ibiza and it was never as packed as it was on this night, holy cow! Cars lined up on the shoulder for at least a mile in both directions of the club! Apparently Sven Väth is huge to the Europeans that were there. I found it to be mostly Italians, go figure that one! Amnesia was packed like sardines playing some crazy music. It wasn’t bad, but the packed house was not my thing. I could only take so much. Not to mention it was weird seeing Amnesia that way and with non-trance music coming through the speakers on both the terrace and the main floor. I called it quits at 5:30am rather than stay the rest of the time. Sven Väth was badass though and really got the crowd going. I ended up meeting this German guy and dancing with him most of the night. I meandered off to the terrace somehow and lost track of the German guy and Marco & Harry. I had no energy to fight the crowd to get on the other side of the dance floor to find them so I left. It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t my music. And then I knew what was to come the next night anyway.

TUE 07 – Armada @ Amnesia
My last night in Ibiza and my last time in Amnesia happened on Tuesday. I couldn’t have picked a better way to end the trip. Oh wait, I purposely did this, haha! After Cream night I figured nothing could top it, not even Armin van Buuren’s 7-hour Armada set @ Amnesia on this night. Wrong was I! Paul van Dyk’s set was the best of the whole Ibiza trip for me, but Armin van Buuren’s was the most fun! His set started at midnight and lasted until 7am. Nobody gets to clubs prior to 2am, but I had to go early for this one just to see for myself. I got there at 12:30 and the place was fairly empty but Armin was up there in the DJ booth spinning away and smiling all the while. He definitely had a slow start with his set, which is expected. However, when 2:00 rolled around, it started banging until the end! I had plans to meet up with a guy from New Jersey and his cousin. Hanging out and dancing with them was such a blast being they club in New York. They said New York clubbers would put the Amnesia ones to shame dancing-wise. I almost totally believe that, but will have to see it for myself for 100% proof. Anyway, I met a boatload of people on this night. There was another guy from New York hanging out with us, Chris. Then there was this guy from Cairo, Egypt and his friend. This guy from Egypt knows Fila of the DJ duo Aly & Fila...how cool is that! And when I was waiting on a cab, I met these two guys from Serbia. Yeah, one of them was all “your eyes are beautiful” blah blah, haha, I’m like whatever. He even threw a “Je t’aime” my way, haha! All I know is I danced for 6.5 hours and had an absolute blast! Armin played lots of tunes that I know since I am a trance fiend after all and this only added to the experience!
Highlights:
- Paul Oakenfold’s “Southern Sun (DJ Tiesto remix)” --> crowd and myself included went absolutely nuts!
- Armin stopped his set at about 6:50am to total silence and then dropped Energy 52’s “Café del Mar (Three ‘N One remix)” – the roof blew off to a still crowded Amnesia; will never forget that as long as I live!
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Starting August 18, 2007, this note is constantly being updated. Many thanks to YouTube and random message boards for refreshing my memory from those badass nights in Ibiza!

TUE 07/31/07 - Armada @ Amnesia
THU 08/02/07 - Cream @ Amnesia
SUN 08/05/07 - We Love Space @ Space
MON 08/06/07 - Cocoon @ Amnesia
TUE 08/07/07 - Armada @ Amnesia
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TUE 07/31/07 - Armada @ Amnesia
Markus Schulz, Paul Oakenfold, Menno de Jong

Markus Schulz aired his Amnesia set during the Global DJ Broadcast Ibiza Summer Sessions episode on August 2nd. The download is floating around the internet.

Markus Schulz
01. Deadmau5 - Faxing Berlin (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction)
02. ID
03. Marcus Schossow - Mr White (Ruben de Ronde remix)
04. EnMass - Base High
05. B.E.N. vs. Mr. Pit - Superstition
06. Wamdue Project - King of My Castle (Sander van Doorn dub)
07. Markus Schulz - Fly To Colors (Genix remix)
08. ID
09. Agnelli & Nelson - Sleeping In Airports
10. Nenes & Pascal Feliz - Platinum (tech mix)
11. Rex Mundi vs. Ronski Speed - The Perspective Space (M. Schulz mashup)
12. Mr. Pit & DJ Defend - Isolarium
13. Pascal Feliz - From Inside The Speaker (Part 1) (Markus Schulz edit)
14. Markus Schulz vs. Chakra - I Am (vocal mix)
15. Markus Schulz - ID
16. Jorgensen - Untitled (Deadmau5 remix)
17. ID
18. David West - Welsh Morphology
19. Marc Van Linden with Funabashi - These Days
20. Ben Jelen - Pulse (remix)

Paul Oakenfold:
Armin van Buuren - Rush Hour
Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (Oakenfold's 2007 rework)
Push - Universal Nation
Mekka - Diamondback
Thomas Bronzwaer - Close Horizon
Armin Van Buuren - Who Is Watching (Tonedepth Remix)
Ascension - Someone (Space Brothers remix)

Menno de Jong (1st time spinning in Amnesia):
Way Out West - The Fall (Richard Durand Remix)
Paul van Dyk & Giuseppe Ottaviani - Far Away
Sebastian Brandt - Technology
Purple Mood - One Night In Tokyo
Ferry Corsten - Brain Box
Bedrock - Heaven Scent (Greg Downey Remix)
Yahel - Voyage <--- closed with this
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THU 08/02/07 - Cream @ Amnesia
Marco V, Paul van Dyk

Marco V:
Nic Chagall - What You Need

Paul van Dyk:
Three Drives - Greece 2000
Markus Schulz - Without You Near
Chicane - Saltwater
Paul van Dyk - For An Angel
Paul van Dyk - Nothing But You
Underworld - Born Slippy
Dogzila - Without You
Filo & Peri feat. Eric Lumiere - The Anthem
Pascal Feliz - From Inside The Speaker (Part 1)
Rank 1 - Airwave (Breathing breakbeats)
Paul van Dyk feat. Vega 4 - Time of Our Lives
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SUN 08/05/07 - We Love Space @ Space

Underworld - Born Slippy
Chemical Brothers - Saturate
Coldplay - Clocks (ID remix) <-- closed Sunset Terrace with this at midnight
Faithless - Insomnia (Rene Amesz & Peter remix)
Samim - Heater
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MON 08/06/07 Cocoon @ Amnesia
Sven Väth, Richie Hawtin

Hugg & Pepp - Snabeln (Repepped remix)
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TUE 08/07/07 - Armada @ Amnesia
Armin van Buuren

AvB aired an hour of his 7-hour set as the 2nd hour of A State of Trance Episode 313 on August 16th, crowd noise and all. Download is floating around the internet as well.

Armin van Buuren
01. Nic Chagall - Back To San Francisco
02. Black Pearl - Bounty Island (DJ Shah's San Antonio Harbour mix)
03. Shah & Cosmo pres. Purple Mood - One Night In Tokyo (DJ Shah Savanah mix)
04. Ilse DeLange - The Great Escape (Armin van Buuren remix)
05. Roland Klinkenberg & Remy - Mexico Can Wait
06. D. Ramirez & Mark Knight - Colombian Soul
07. Genix - Phused (Marcus Schossow remix)
08. Lange - Angel Falls (Signalrunners fierce remix)
09. Dash Berlin - Till The Sky Falls Down (dub)
10. Sultan & Ned Shepard - Together We Rise (Remy & Roland Klinkenberg remix)

Jose Amnesia ft. Jennifer Rene - Invincible (Sied van Riel remix)
John O'Callaghan - Big Sky
Karen Overton - Loving Arms
Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (Tiesto remix)
Binary Finary - 1998 (ID remix)
Energy 52 - Café del Mar (Three 'N One remix) <-- closed with this
Armin van Buuren - Control Freak
Carl B feat. Breaking Benjamin - Diary Of Jane (Sean Tyas remix)
Vincent de Moor - Fly Away (Cosmic Gate remix)
Above & Beyond pres. Tranquility Base - Oceanic
Filo & Peri feat. Eric Lumiere - The Anthem (John O'Callaghan remix)
Solar Stone - Seven Cities (Armin Van Buuren remix)
Neal Scarborough - Stung on the River (Sean Tyas remix)
Michael Dow - Ascent
Dogzilla - Without You
Oasis - Champagne Supernova (ID remix)
FKN feat. Jahala - Why (Aly & Fila remix)
Super8 & Tab - Needs To Feel (Wippenberg remix)
Chris Lake - Carry Me Away
Armin van Buuren - Rush Hour
Pryda - Armed
Wamdue Project - King of My Castle (Sander van Doorn remix)
Nalin & Kane - Beachball
LSG - Netherworld
Bedrock - Heaven Scent (Greg Downey remix)
Cerf, Mitiska, & Jarren - Light The Skies
Gregor Tresher - A Thousand Nights
Booka Shade - In White Rooms
- Reasons To Forgive
Vast Vision presents Mungo - Summer Blush
Tiesto - Adagio For Strings
Onova - Platitude
Alex Bartlett - Touch The Sun (Duende remix)
Cape Town - Metaphorique (Ferry Tayle Neverending Story mix)
Sean Tyas - Lift
Thomas Bronzwaer - Resound