Okay so review time...
Got to Maison around 12 to find 3 MASSIVE lines, as expected. One for ticket holders, one for will call, and one for everyone else. However, nobody was being let in because somehow they were already at capacity? As stated earlier I'm assuming this party was oversold or ticket holders/will call weren't given any priority whatsoever.
Finally got in through some backdoor mission and headed to coat check. What a clusterfuck. Just like the door, coat check was also at capacity and they were only checking in jackets as others picked theirs up to leave. Some people easily waited 45 mins just to offload their coats.
Headed to the front after having several drinks spilled on me along the way by DJ Pauly D lookalike - affliction wearing - fist pumping noobs who probably had no idea who Ricardo Villalobos even was.
Sneak was just finishing off, tossing some I'm a house gangster bandannas into the crowd......hmmmm....
The sound was extremely underwhelming for me. I've heard Funktion One systems numerous times before and they're incredible. As rabbitjoker said, this was probably an issue with setup or Sneak/Ricardo pushing the mixer too much...
Ricardo started off alright, nothing special and certainly not his typical European sound, but knowing what he's capable of I had high hopes. Unfortunately I couldn't really get into it because of the pushy, over the top and in your face crowd. Some douche literally barged right into a girl we were with and almost knocked her flat on her ass. We asked him quite politely to respect other peoples space and his response was to charge her and try to "knock her out".....idiot.
Headed to the patio for a break and met some really nice girls who came up from Detroit. They couldn't believe the nightmare that Maison and the crowd was, rightfully so. Just as we're having this conversation, a bunch of Mike The Situations' appear and yell "BEST PARTY EVER BROSKI!". Noted.
Head back downstairs, this time to the booths along the side in order to avoid the horror-show of a dance-floor. At this point Ricardo's pretty sloppy, but it doesn't seem to matter in the slightest, the crowd is eating everything up. He literally could have busted out a 40 minute set of random retro and.......oh wait, he did.
No B2B as Sneak's partying caught up with him. Finally decided to leave around 4:15 after waiting maybe 30 mins to get our coats.
I've been to a couple editions of Sneaks Birthday Beats over the years, and as already mentioned, the vibe/crowd/music has always been top notch. Unfortunately last night just missed.
Having said that, I respect everyone who came together to finally bring Ricardo Villalobos back to Toronto, certainly not an easy feat.
If last night was anyones first time seeing him and left disappointed, I would strongly suggest checking him out again if given the opportunity, at a festival or day party overseas. When he's on, it really is magic and a completely different sound then last night.
Overall, clearly last night failed for a lot of reasons that don't need to be brought up again, but hopefully this can be looked upon as a learning experience that can help make future big bookings better.
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MATTY |
- Ambivalent - R U OK (Kasper is OK Mix)
- Do Santos - Menina
- Heartthrob - Baby Kate (Magda's "Where Is My Baby's Daddy" Mix)
- Danton Eeprom - To The Bone (Jamie Jones Deep Sea Dub Mix)
- Matt Nordstrom - Lucky Drawls (Mark Brooms No Rave Stab Mix)
Last edited by LightsOut on Nov-06-2010 at 19:48
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