Future Entertainment

After a day in the sun at Parklife we finally rocked up at the club just before midnight and much to my surprise, The Thrillseekers had just started after the set times had been changed. Helstrip wasted no time and we wandered into the dark room we were greeted by immense rolling melodic trance. Helstrip is a main stayer in the uplifting trance scene for over a decade now and has produced countless classic tracks, remixes and compilations, all the while managing his Adjusted Music label and playing at some of the biggest venues and festivals around the world. On the night he banged out a flawless set and showed some amazing energy behind the decks. For two hours he was bouncing around, geeing up the crowd during every build-up and just generally looking happy to be there, adding a lot to the energy in the room. He played a number of huge tracks starting off with an uplifting sound then meandering between killer vocal tracks, huge classics and latest melodic bombs. The crowd lapped up the euphoria accompanied perfectly by the amazing lighting and lasers that was showering down on the main floor throughout the night. A couple of the highlight tracks during his set were Super 8 vs DJ Tab Suru, Chicane Saltwater early on and Synaesthesia (Ferry Corsten Remix) to finish the set.

After a brief break to let the crowd show their appreciation, next up was a man that many were waiting to see in action, none other than Belgium’s M.I.K.E. This pioneer producer and DJ can definitely be labelled as one of the most successful names in the trance scene. Kicking off his career as Push and also producing under the moniker M.I.K.E and many other different pseudonyms, he has been responsible for countless remixes, productions and lately storming collaborations with all the biggest names. His kicked off his set on a tough and techy feel, slowly building to solid driving progressive. He seemed to lose the crowd as he worked in more techno and consequently in the second half of the set he picked up the pace dropping some electro influenced trance bombs and huge Push style trance. Other tracks played included Bedrock Heaven Scent, John O Callaghan feat. Audrey Gallagher Big Sky (Agnelli & Nelson Remix), Mike vs Andrew Bennett Into the Danger and the classic Push Strange World.

The beefy line up continued as 3am rolled around with Rank 1 stepping up to the decks. This veteran of the scene immediately rolled out the heavy artillery synth monsters much to the crowds delight, including his latest collaboration with Alex Morph Life Less Ordinary, that has been smashed at clubs all over the world. The set was quite banging with a lot of arena-style anthemesque tunes, but this fit in well for the time of morning. Other memorable moments during the set included Armin van Buuren This World is Watching Me, Vincent De Moor Fly Away (Cosmic Gate Remix) and Rank 1’s own classic Airwave to close which the crowd lapped up. After much clapping and cheering the start of Durand looked quite promising, however after being out since early in the day at Parklife it really was time to make a move and chillout at home.

Lighting and lasers were on fire all night, really adding the euphoric vibe on the main floor. Surprisingly the club was not packed to the rafters with the bottom floor comfortably full, but there were plenty of areas you could retreat too if you wanted some space to chill. Two of the smaller rooms billed for the night were closed with only the 1st level Icon room open playing some of the supporting DJs. Sound was pretty good but distorted at times later in the night, probably due to red-lining the mixer. The crowd definitely added a lot to the out-of-control atmosphere, with punters ready to put their hands in the air and go crazy at every drop.

All in all, this was a top night that really hit the spot after the the fairly chilled sets I listened to during the day at Parklife, but this could be due to my bias towards trance. Highlight of the night was by far Thrillseekers who played the best set for my taste in trance, closely followed by M.I.K.E who also laid down some serious quality. It was good to go out to a trance night and hear significantly different DJs all belting out interesting sets with variety between them all. This really gets me excited about the countdown to Gatecrasher coming up on the 30th October at Home nightclub. See you there.

October 3rd, 2007 by Chewporka www.inthemix.com.au