jackiewragg

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  • SpeKtacular

    17 Jan 2010, 15:45

    Fri 15 Jan – Garuda Private Party. The excitement fluttered in my stomach as a I bought my tickets for this intimate event with only 350 tickets to be had. Upon entering the venue I was welcomed by the DJ skills of the extremely talented Rav Takhar and Adam Flexer working the crowd into a frenzy with tracks such as Beautiful Things (Jorn van Deynhoven's Sundale Mix) and one of my current absolute FAVES which always gets me going just that little bit more....... Time Stands Still. Their interaction with the crowd was fantastic giving us just what we needed!
    No time to check out the bar or the rest of the club as my companions and I took prime position at the front for Andy Moor. What can be said, It's always a treat to see Andy Moor in the UK and after last time I saw him I was SUPER keen on reliving that FANTASTIC set, on friday he performed for us all on his birthday of all days! Andy's choice of tracks always gets me going but that evening it was almost unbearable the beats that he threw out into the jumping crowd had me simply BEGGING for more! Watching him DJ it was impossible not to feel his true passion for the ENTIRE experience from start to finish down to every last tiny uplifting moment.
    Time for a quick drink before settling in to Gareth Emery, the bar like an oasis in a desert for me with a massive selection of cocktails and champagne... tempting. Sitting at a trance event with a huge, very tasty cosmopolitan was a lovely feeling.. something I shall definately be doing again.
    Gareth Emery took the crowd over with another blinder of a set, another DJ who shows simply infectious energy and passion for the material he's playing.
    It would be wrong for me, although I had such a fantastic evening, to not note that there was one thing that surprised me at this event. The event description made a point of stressing the lack of a "VIP" area or a "Them and Us" attitude. Sat in the bar while bouncers stood at the door to the "VIP Area" next to a cordened off table "for the DJ's" I wasn't feeling that. On reflection with the popularity of these DJ's i can understand that it would be hard to find a balance....... it's that they really are now "celebrity" and everything that goes with it including "fanmania".
    All in all the highlight of my night was Andy Moor and I hate to be so crude in my closing statement, however I would like to coin a phrase ... one word that describes my experience of Andy's set.... TRANCEGASM!
    XXXX
  • What a sweaty evening!!! :o)

    10 Oct 2009, 14:49

    Fri 9 Oct – Digital Society
    Arrived at this event just as Daniel Kandi handed over decks to Sied van Riel for a floor trembling set, never seen this guy before and I did really enjoy his set, partly because I had been prepared for a quite techy evening with few vocals (which I wasn't all too excited about) and I was provided with something much more varied. I have to say I was VERY excited to see Andy Moor and with good reason... he was fantastic. His interaction with the crowd made the set even more powerful. The crowd responded with electric excitement as he dropped tracks that I was DESPERATE to hear, particularly a remix of Under Your Spell which is one of my FAVES also dropped in there was Lonely Girl which I believe was the Gareth Emery remix. That set was SENSATIONAL and I will be desperate to see Andy Moor perform again asap. John O'Callaghan took the decks over with a combination of amazing driving hard beats and more melodic vocals interspersed, some great tracks and an Awesome set from him too, another guy that interacted with the crowd really well, will be seeing him at Goodgreef in November so that's a PLUS!!
    Overall I was sooooo impressed with the mixture of hard driving trance (the kind that makes you pull funny faces whilst punching the air on every beat!!) and Euphoric moments that gave me trademark MASSIVE grins and Trance hugs to the nearest clubbers. What a mix of BANGIN tuunes and just enough Trancemotion (i know that's not a word! HA) to keep the crowd feeling that trance positive buzz that brings us all together!!!! BEAUTIFUL!!! oh and my feet... F*****G KILLING!!
  • Gosdkitchen, Birmingham 29.08.09

    31 Aug 2009, 13:07

    Sat 29 Aug – Godskitchen.
    OMFG!!!! What a night...........
    After the preceding evening the journey to Godskitchen was electric... the drive there was filled with amazing tunes to warm us all up and we were bouncing around that car waiting to see Armin Van Buuren again. Instantly as we got into the line for Air, Birmingham I knew the crowd would facilitate a far superior atmosphere than the previous evening. Trance heads in the crowd filled with excitement, talking about our favourite tracks was all the build up we needed. The first set we saw on the dancefloor (right on the front on the stage!) was Gareth Emery Sensational set, Gareth dropped some amazing tracks such as Faces - Ashley Wallbridge & Andy Moor feat. Meighan Nealon and his own Metropolis which is a masterpiece of trance!! The build up to the start of Armins’ set had me feeling like I could explode, oh and I could breathe... move and shake my trance moves all over the place... the crowd was amazing what a load of trance disciples!!! So yeah Gareth, thank you so much for that set you were fantastic we were all buzzing with trance energy and the crowd was JUMPING!!
    Armin as usual was received with chants and screams of excitement and prepared the crowd for the emotional journey he was going to take us all on! For over three hours!!! There was so much passion in his set and I’m pretty sure Armin could feel the electricity from the crowd and the atmosphere. Armin dropped so many tracks from that CD that we made for our journey that It felt like he knew just what we all wanted to hear, tracks such as Johnny The Fox (Barnes & Heatcliff Remix) vs. Be Free (Mat Zo Remix) (Signum Mashup), On a metropolis day (AMAZING remix) and Freefalling took the crowd into a heightened state of trance and the electricity in the audience had me feeling under the influence of narcotics when the only thing in my blood was one bottle of Corona!!
    After the previous night energy levels were dropping even half way through his set but the songs he played made it impossible for me not to dance... I had no choice I was literally lost in the music with no concern for the imminent exhaustion. At the end of his set, after many moments with tear filled eyes the emotion was too much seeing Armin leave and my friend and I who literally live and breathe trance energy were overcome with emotion and left the dancefloor in tears, not sad, let me tell you, but full of emotions so strong that tears were the only way to let some of it out! Every time we see Armin Van Buuren he gets into our system and we cannot control the emotional overspill!!!
    Armin Van Buuren...... we absolutely adore you, need to go to Amsterdam in October for the [event=]Amsterdam Dance [/event] to witness another AMAZING set and hopefully one day you will meet your biggest female trance head fans. Armin Van Buuren is in our blood and like addicts we need our next fix ASAP. Oh and also that festival is graced by so many great DJ’s it would be a travesty not to attend... Cosmic Gate and Chicane YEAH BABY!!!
  • Awaiting the end of the month!!

    30 Jul 2009, 10:14

    Ok, So after that great set by Armin Van Buuren my love for him has been amplified big time!! So at the end of the month we have a weekend of solid Armin planned, on the 28th August at Sankeys, and the 29th at Godskitchen at Air Birmingham along with other great DJ's such as Gareth Emery and alex morph. Never seen Alex Morph so await the review!! Can't wait!!!
  • The first of many true music festivals I'll be visiting!

    28 Jul 2009, 09:52

    Fri 24 Jul – Global Gathering
    First of all, the atmosphere on arrival was great. never have I been to a place where everyone enters those gates to just forget about the outside world for the duration of their visit, what a great place to be....even before the acts!!!!
    The Whip The live performance from this innovative electro band got me going big time! I love them anyway so hearing all my favourite tunes was great. They saved my fave track "Trash" till the end of their set which really set the crowd jumping! "The Whip" ROCKED that stage and I'd love to see a longer performance of theirs.
    After this, the rest of my evening was to be spent in the Godskitchen tent and THANK GOD it was....... what an experience!!!!!!
    The Godskitchen Boombox saw its UK debut in the Godskitchen Arena graced with the presence of various top form trance acts including Sander Van Doorn, Above & Beyond, Menno De Jong and Markus Shulz but the limelight has to be focused on Armin Van Buuren This man communicated so much with the entire crowd that evening, I'm pretty sure they saved the best of the Boombox for Armins AMAZING 3hr set. The upliftied sensation from his amazing set was amplified throughout the entire time leaving me and my fellow trancers feeling not just physically tired but emotionally EXHAUSTED! I have been to see many trance DJ's but have never experienced a set like this and to be just as bewildered as all the people around me was great, we were all baffled by the intense pleasures Armin threw our way!!! And as if that wasn't enough he left the DJ Box during "communication" and entered the dancers box to shake his GENIUS ass for the crowd. ARMIN THANK YOU you have given me one of the best experiences of my life!!!! Forever will I be searching for another set that will almost clear the arena afterwards as everyone was in a STATE OF TRANCE!!!!!
    Global Gathering next year GOD YES!!!!!!!!!!
    :o)