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Review: SENSATION Massive @ Centre Bell
Well, I am finally going to bed now in Ottawa, no Beach Club for me. I will write a review when I wake up.. if I wake up 
I don't feel like writting down an essay so i'll try to make it quick
First, let me talk about the VIP. My friends who came with had VIP tickets but not me so we all went to our respective entrance. I don't know for the rest of you, but I got in quicker than them. Sure we arrived at 1am cause we didn't care much if we missed the opening DJs. I also don't think it is necessary to have access to a particular section of the benches when people with regular tickets have access to another one. lol So for THIS event, VIPs were useless. I'm glad I saved myself a big 25$ !
So I got in from the 2nd floor... I had a nice view of the ice from there and I couldn't wait to start partying like an animal. The place was like half filled up at that moment. I haven't been to all the events that took place at Bell Center so I can't compare much with recent events.... but for my opinion, the setup sucked ! This is due mostly cause of the poor lighting show they had. For me it was like if they had placed a few 60W lighting bulb here and there to do there lighting effects. No lasers ??? WTF I was expecting crazy lights, enough to have a seizure. Sure the venue was awesome... but without the lights, its nothing.
Like in any huge room, it's hard to have good sound everywhere. We decided to stay in the middle front where the echoes were less noticable. There wasn't any 50" subs near us to blow our heads off. So for that it was great. I would say it was the perfect spot. Althought... during the trance sets, the highs were too much over peaked, it wasn't that enjoyable. Thank God I wear earplugs.
Pablo Ceballos : for the last our i heard from his set, it was alright but it barely warmed me up. He played Samim - Heater ! lol
6/10
Roger Sanchez : I wasn't at Sensation for him but his work was enough to get me going. He had a laser beamer !!! I thank him for giving us a little laser show while playing. I could say I appreciated his set.
7/10
Rank1 : hmmm, good thing his set lasted only an hour and a half. I just couldn't wait any longer to hear Armin. But I'm happy he didn't played cheesy tracks. All in all, it was a good set... I was just impatient for Armin.
8/10
Armin : His first 30 minutes weren't that great in my opinion. But he droped Dash Berlin - Till the Sky Falls Down and from that point I was 
I love this song. I think I dropped a tear on it. From that point he did an awesome set. It wasn't the best I heard from him, mostly cause I'm currently not satisfied with the recent trance releases. But Armin always sets the dancefloor on fire and that night was no exception. My tune of the night, Stoveface & Terminal - Super Nature... boy I was in heaven ! He also play Rapideye Circa Forever, Solarstone - rollercoaster and finish with The Sound of Goodbye. I had memories of Aria during those tracks.
9/10 Why not a 10 ? I guess I was expecting way too much from him.
Eddie : Sorry I went to bed. LOL
It was great seeing some TAs, they know who they are.
Also, I was so hungry during the night, so I went to buy a hotdog ! HAHah best hotdog ever had.... Lol no seriously it was a good thing to have food over there.
Since I was last minute, I ended up paying $116 to hear Pablo and Roger. I had fun and it was worth it, just to experience a party in a legendary hockey arena.
I thought Pablo played better than Roger, but Roger had good energy. Whatever the track was before Pablo played "Tech This Out" was crazy. Hopefully someone could ID that track for me.
There was no way IN HELL that I was going to stay for the trance part of the show. Had to save my energy for tonight!!!
My sister went with her boyfriend and they had a blast! she told me the music was really gooooood (surtout rank 1 and Armin ) En plus ce genre d'�v�nement n'est pas sont genre elle n'avait pas aim� Resolution au jour de l'An...and she told me there were way less people than at resolution....so far i only hear good things about last night, exept she told me the lighting effects were not so great...I don't regret my choice for not going, i saved 100$ and went to piknic today for 7$ 
where are the reviews?
So I decided to go on Friday at the last minute, I couldn't resist.
Had a wedding Saturday, so had to leave early, get some sleep, so as a result I missed all of Ceballos and Sanchez. whatever.
showed up right as they were announcing Rank 1. Rank 1 meh. They played Breathing, I was happy. Armin came on. PRetty solid set. The crowd was eating up his hands in the sky blah blah. Left after 30 mins of Halliwell. Needed more sleep before the beach today.
All in all, pretty good. 100$ for 5 hours, kinda not worth it. Whatever, I'm glad I went. Was not blown away but would have been disappointed if I missed it. My friends asked me how it was, and I replied honestly, "you've been to 1, you've been to 20". Nothing really out of the ordinary.
Like Anne said, looking forward more to the Piknics tomorrow and next week.
My review
DJ�s
Roger Sanchez: I didn�t ear is whole set but the last hour was nice.
Rank1: I really didn�t know what to expect. They surprise me! I really enjoyed the way the work the transition and put the table for Armin.
AVB: He started off quite slow playing melodic tracks and jump into the harder stuff to finish off with some classics. I preferred his set at BeB but still a great set has always!
Eddie Halliwell: I was expecting this guy to really continue the party but the Trance he played was like 6-7 years old. The style was not at all comparable to the Armin, SVD & Ferry of today. Plus he played way too much with the volume and he scratches CDJ like a Hip-Hop DJ! What the �.? I didn�t hate it! It�s just hard to fallow Armin and he really changed the atmosphere of the party.
SET-UP
Layout: Placing the DJ booth on the wide side compare to Resolution was different. Felt like the Koolhaus in TO.
Sound: Like everyone said if you weren�t in middle the sound was awful.
Lighting & Visual: This was really minimal. For that type of party with 8000+ people & World class DJ they should have put little more effort into it!
Crowd: Dress Code: Black� It�s disappointing that there were a lot of people who didn�t understand it! Hats off to all the stylish ladies!
Overall
Pretty good, but it should be easy to make Resolution 2008 Better!
Dom
Sensation Black arrived last night and it looks like its here to stay. Pretty much everyone was wearing black and with that, it was a pretty cool effect, actually. There wasn't much chatter on TA here about Sensation; TA is such a small community indeed, hense the arrogance from balenblanc 
In all fairness, you guys do a lot of work behind the scenes and last night it all came together impressively. I tip my hat to you, balenblanc.
If you look at the first few pics in that other thread, you'll notice how sparse the crowd was. I arrived at 10PM, hoping to catch all the house beats before leaving earlier than usual. Speaking of beats, this is how I rated the djs:
DJ Malik: I was expecting a set entirely different from the download that was posted on here and also from the House-Pacifique radio show Friday night. While he did add some muster to his set, I did manage to hear a few tracks from that TA set, and it wasn't an energetic opening set, imo. I thought his track selection was average at best. In all fairness to him, there wasn't much of a crowd to work with. 7/10
Pablo Ceballos: excellent set, some tribal, some prog, some dirty stuff all around. On this night, who needed Chus.. he was that good. 8.5/10
Roger Sanchez: S-man delivered big, imo. He dropped some big house hits from the past few years, did some mash-ups of his own productions and generally created an electric party vibe up in the Centre Bell, yo. 8.5/10
Rank 1: started off the set well with some tech house, which led me to optimistically believe he would keep the funky beats going. That didn't happen He dropped Deadmaus' Faxing Berlin, first time I heard that in a big room..overrated track, imo.
The latter half of Rank's set was all trance and this is where I tried to do the Mizza trance hands but to no avail 
. I didn't mind listening to the set high up in the rafters, however... a nice effect with all the laaaazzzzerrrrss. I just can't dance to it. 6/10
Armin: This is the closest I've ever gotten to AVB but by this point, the trancehead mosh pit was unbearable so I listened to a few tracks from the back. I really can't give him a rating here since I left shortly thereafter, but what I heard was a giant meh. He also had the volume up to max in the beginning.. killed everyone's ears.
Marcus, I think I saw you with a bunch of groupies.. are you like, 6'2" or something? At this point, I was a broken legged mess anyways. I will make a point of introducing myself at Black and Blue, considering the rest of TA doesn't go to massives anymore
All in all, it was a successful night for Balenblanc. By about 1AM the dancefloor was jammed packed, almost to Resolution-like proportions, so it was a definite sellout for sure. And the house djs delivered, even moreso than I expected. However the lineup should have been flipped-flopped, as the trance sets killed the dirty, sexy Montreal vibe, imo.
Setup: 8/10, some decent laaaazerrrs
Music/Vibe: 9/10 until Rank 1. After that, 7/10
Women: 69/10 .. just as good as Balenblanc, I'd say.
Sound: 9/10 considering the logistics.
Overall: 8/10
Pros: most showed up effortlessly this time (after 12AM) and the dancefloor was bearable too; the shisha waffling to the ceiling of the arena; paramedics were very efficient, though I seemed to see them almost every 30 mins on the dancefloor.
Cons: Centre Bell turns off its cold water from the fountains this time, and of course bottled water sales increase; some ppl need to shower before they go out - simple as that; concession stands were selling only chips and crap like that.. where are the sandwiches, the fruits, the powerbars 
Re: My review
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DK Man Dress Code: Black� It�s disappointing that there were a lot of people who didn�t understand it! Hats off to all the stylish |
lol, I saw a couple completely dressed in white.. they must've saw the words "Balenblanc" on the flyer and took it literally
You will always get some ppl who don't follow the code, but from where I was, I'd say 80-90 percent were wearing black.
A few things that stood out.
Setup
It was different (in a mostly good way) than years past as the dj booth was on one side of 'the red line', not at the end. Still, I did think that the less than normal sized crowd may have helped. I mean by this that there was a confortable amount of space to dance for most of the night. I would say the crowd size helped things go along smoothly throughout the night. I do wonder and hope that the organizers get a bit of a message from this and decide to book talent a little more creatively (eg. no more Armin). Projection screens were nice minus the barrage of adverts on them half the night. Lights were ok, with a more 'darker' feel.
My biggest complaint of the party was that the sound was way too loud after the trance came on. My ears are still ringning to this minute.
Music
ceballos: Monotone (if not a little boring) but solid. Was nice to hear Heater and Doppelwhipper (remix i believe).
Sanchez. Great opener. A bit diva houseish in the middle. Finished off strong.
Rank 1. A little better than i thought they'd be. But the set was somewhat all over the place as it lacked any real flow.
Armin. Loves to interact with the crowd. Nonetheless, he was too epic for my tastes. Hopefully I won't be forced to see him again for a long while (or maybe even ever) since I've seen him too many times (4-5).
Overall. I had a great time and it was worth going to because of that. But like a girl at the party mentioned to me, "It was fun, but I've been to better parties".
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Spin Laden lol, I saw a couple completely dressed in white.. they must've saw the words "Balenblanc" on the flyer and took it literally You will always get some ppl who don't follow the code, but from where I was, I'd say 80-90 percent were wearing black. |
| quote: |
| Marcus, I think I saw you with a bunch of groupies.. are you like, 6'2" or something? At this point, I was a broken legged mess anyways. I will make a point of introducing myself at Black and Blue, considering the rest of TA doesn't go to massives anymore |
| quote: |
| Roadkill was played 3 times |
I rarely write reviews... but this time i will
I wasnt there for Malick & ceballos... but i heard malick was very good... so props to him
We went to see bodzin... and i pray to god that some day this type of music will enter the big events formula... but im not hopin too much...
Anyways
We came in at 3h30... Sanchez was up and down... all over the place... tribal... vocal... minimal... electribe... major wtf
He was offbeat / trainwreckin at every single funken mix... might be the setup... but i wouldnt understand why the other djs were ok with the sound and not him
Lots of accapelas offbeat and trying to recover by looping em... anyways... his last 30 minutes were good
I dont get why people say Rank 1 wasnt good... i thought his sound was the best you could have asked for that type of event...
His first two mixes were very avaregae... he flunked the transition between Roadkill and the second track... but still... he was 90% tight... very smooth transition and his bassline were very heavy... stole the show to everyone else imo
I would have personnaly played most of his tracks if i was to play an event like that...
Marcus the boots in the dryer were probably because you were in the booth and the sound is very bad if youre not at his place...
Armin came on and didnt really do it for the first 45 minutes for me
Came on stronger for an hour and a half and was average at the end... its crazy how many people get around you in the middle when armin is on... youre like... WTF
Eddie halliwell ... i dont wanna talk about it... terrible performance... never want to see this guy again
Still.. the party was funken amazing... sound was good on the dancefloor... i would recommand a couple of sub right in front of the booth and that would have been much better
Lighting was ok... you dont need a lot... just as long as you follow the dj's flow...
Hanging with good people... partying with the ones you love... that should do it
Props to track ent...
too bad you missed Pablo, I would give him first star.
Sanchez was good. Rank 1 stole the show. Armin was meh. Eddie was pretty good but I was too tired.
Does anyone know the tracklist by Rank 1?
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Spin Laden lol, I saw a couple completely dressed in white.. they must've saw the words "Balenblanc" on the flyer and took it literally You will always get some ppl who don't follow the code, but from where I was, I'd say 80-90 percent were wearing black. |
ceballlossss
so we pretty much got there around midnight or so while ceballos was on the decks. i wasn't expecting too much from ceballos and to be honest i was pretty impressed. hard basslines, proggy and tribal...perfect type of music for this kind of party. very similar vibe to calderone at resolution.
sanchez played a pretty solid set as well. it was my first time seeing sanchez live and i think i'd be making an effort to see him again. i was hoping he'd play nothing like his radio show and his release yourself compilations ( a little too diva'ish for me). his style was actually the opposite. hard dirty basslines throughout with some pretty decent vocals considering im not the biggest vocal fan.
cant say too much about rank 1 considering i decided to take it easy during his set.
wow. armins set was utter garbage. i've been loosing my interest in trance for a while now and sensation really put the cherry on top.. trance blows... think my ears were about to bleed cuz of build ups every 30 seconds. volume was waaay too loud. not impressed at all. eddie halliwell was pretty much the same as armin as well.
Overall it was a pretty decent party ignoring the fact that the trance element of the night wasn't too great. ladies looking good as always, not too full but not too empty. one of the biggest pro of the night was the fact that the sketchbags werent out in full force, well from what i saw at least lol.
looking back at resolution and sensation, i think promoters for these events have been underestimating the house elements for these one room massives. more house = better party!!
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DJ Eterno think my ears were about to bleed cuz of build ups every 30 seconds. volume was waaay too loud. not impressed at all. Overall it was a pretty decent party ignoring the fact that the trance element of the night wasn't. one of the biggest pro of the night was the fact that the sketchbags werent out in full force, well from what i saw at least lol. looking back at resolution and sensation, i think promoters for these events have been underestimating the house elements for these one room massives. more house = better party!! |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DJ Eterno ladies looking good as always, |
rank1 stole the show for sure i thought piet would have a problem going from house to trance but i was so impressed how he handled it, played some pretty wicked prog/driving prog and got the crowd going imo... sanchez had alot of probs mixing guess he couldnt beatmatch for the life of himself bc he kept having to fix it, lots of *blam*blam*blam*
oh and vip... was a god damn bloody joke
I really liked the night, I know beb reads this thread so I have a constructive comment for them, why weren�t the stairs of the left (when facing the dj booth) open? That was causing unnecessary traffic and the right section to be pack compared to the left. We had more place to dance on the left but took forever to go to the bathrooms... Anyway thanks to beb for the nice party!
umm oka so here i go here i go
first off let me say...HOUSE SUCKS TrANCE RULES (don't kill me !)
I know I will get bashed but man wtf was that crap being played, that dark tribal crap or w/e u guys call it which is like a continous same beat for the whole set, no thanks...i didn't get to see the opening dj but the chubellos guy or w/e his name was wasn't my cup of tea at all
Sanchez when he came on and opened with that track i was like yayz finally some upbeat stuff, he was much better then the chubellos guy, but I definetly had higher expectations for him because it was my first time hearing him...so yeah he kinda sucked too
I guess I just have a wrong idea of what house should sound like
I wished I would have stayed outside till armin came on and hustled people who wanted tickets because that was too fun
and now to ummmmmmmmmmm the tranceeeeeeeeee...it was sweettttt so sweet i had my hands up in the air a lot...
Rank 1...I effin love this guy...this was my 3rd time seeing him and he gets better everytime i see him, smooth and good track selection, i love how he dropped BREATHING thats like one of my top 5 trance chooms ever, i was goin nuts for that one...def A+ wow wow i love rank 1
Armin ...fack armin man you think I'd be tired after seeing you for like the 6th time in the last 1.5 years but hells no...honest opinion this was probably the best set i've heard armin play...I clearly don't care about the construction of the set, lol, I wanna hear trance from a trance dj, and Armin man, you fing brought it, there wasn't one track i didn't like, and some of those new trance bombs i gotta get my hands on so i can party it up in my room haha
Eddie H. well first time seeing this guy...i must say he has a very unique style, but i feel sorry for him because he was left to deal with 80% sketchbags and 20% normal people...I can totally see this guy rocking a full party and i'd love to witness it one day...I am not sure why people are bashing this guy so much if he played in the middle of the night people would definetly have different opinions, by the time he was on the sound was absolute shit and everyone was either so fucked or sober even jesus christ armin could not get them to move...like i said I liked it, the cut outs were cool and he was droppin some good tunes, i stayed till the end....
Now the set up:
it was aiight, different, i liked the screens, for a while i wasn't sure where the dj booth was until armin came on haha oh well didn't matter...umm the screens must of been a bit trippy for some people especially when they showed the zombie like girl on them...
the lights succcccccccccccccked, i saw like one ray of a lazer beam, wtf was that, you need lazers for trance, what am i supposed to try to grab with my trance hands...duhhhhhhhh...thats why I love the guverment; best place for trance
the mood was different the resolutions, i liked resolution better, maybe because it was packed when I got inn, or maybe the holy shit factor for seeing a massive at the bell centre was popped during resolution, either way i tought all the the asians from toronto came down for this (no offence), juicers were out in full force and their fake g/f too...i thought there was a lot more sketch than at any other party i attented so far in mtl but its all cool
Umm my biggest problem...where were the bars ? and whatta hell they only sold one brand of beer ? my god that sucked and the old guys working were sooooooooooooo slow, super idea, lets have 80 yeard olds work the night shift...the drinkin was much better at resolution too...their loss because i was ready to ball out but sorry i like redbullz with vodka at these parties
Umm the sound, not sure whatta hell happened but close to armins set end it started sounding like absolute crap, they really need to get on top of that because that can cause some serious ear damage to some people...other wise it was good
I am happy with the overall party, not sure if I would have been too happy if I had to pay 116 bucks at the door...for that reason i'd like to give a shout out to MALEK for the tix hook up, and please don't buy all the resolution tixs haha
I am lookin forward to resolution 08, hopefully its top the last two centre bell parties...
P.S. one more question can someone tell me what the juice monkeys do for a living ? because my goal for resolution is to pick up one of those stripper look alike girls but i wanna know if they are looking just for massive muscles or muscles and money lol and yeah learning french is key too
^^^ lol, best review yet
muscles, money, some french .... and some blow helps, man 
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