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Eclipse 2008 Review Thread

No unfortunatly I dint go this year AGAIN

I would love to read some reviews and some pictures from those who did attend this year.

Shankar?

one word...WOW!

what a killer party....I'll write some more when I wake up. Right now my brain is dead.

quote:

Originally posted by Shankar one word...WOW! what a killer party....I'll write some more when I wake up. Right now my brain is dead.

I cant wait to hear this review man!!now hurry up and get some rest, we are waiting.

After work I'll probably write up a review. Decided to go at the last minute (at 4pm Friday), arranged a ride up and off I went.

Metalogics set was great, but generally speaking I enjoyed the late morning/early afternoon tunes far more than the night-time mayhem.

Short eclipse summary:

eclipse highlight: Metalogic - killer set.
eclipse lowlight: 140bpm squelchy psytance remixes of 80s tracks at 6am.
eclipse adventure: getting lost and unable to find my tent in the middle of the night, so curling up next to the river to chill out for a bit before trying to find it again
eclipse amusement: apparently using a bag of oranges for a pillow in the middle of the night "why does it smell like citrus in here?"
eclipse lesson: Saturday night runs until about 4-5pm Sunday, dont start too early, and the music tends to be better from noon-4pm anyways

Dancing under a scorching hot sun, followed by a dip into an icy cold river = amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by kaniz After work I'll probably write up a review. Decided to go at the last minute (at 4pm Friday), arranged a ride up and off I went. Metalogics set was great, but generally speaking I enjoyed the late morning/early afternoon tunes far more than the night-time mayhem. Short eclipse summary: eclipse highlight: Metalogic - killer set. eclipse lowlight: 140bpm squelchy psytance remixes of 80s tracks at 6am. eclipse adventure: getting lost and unable to find my tent in the middle of the night, so curling up next to the river to chill out for a bit before trying to find it again eclipse amusement: apparently using a bag of oranges for a pillow in the middle of the night "why does it smell like citrus in here?" eclipse lesson: Saturday night runs until about 4-5pm Sunday, dont start too early, and the music tends to be better from noon-4pm anyways Dancing under a scorching hot sun, followed by a dip into an icy cold river = amazing.

Holy shit man that sounds wicked!!! was there alot of people for this year? how was the sound system?

The sound system was pretty massive. My tent was hidden in some tree's near the back of the property - and even laying in my tent you could hear it pretty clearly/loudly like you're tent was setup only a few meters away from the stage.

In some ways it was kind of neat, like the entire area was alive and throbbing with music. Hearing/feeling the pulsing basslines while laying down made it feel like the earth had a heartbeat. Made the party feel like an all around experience and 'not just a party'.

For the most part I didn't mind it, except for a few hours during Monday morning when the music was not the best. I'll need to take some really good earplugs next year to make sleeping a little easier.

Now and then during the builds - it'd sound like a bomb was going off, just hearing a massive boom then the rumble of the low-ends filtering over the hills with horeds of people screaming in the distance.

The quality was pretty good also - I'm actually surprised my ears are not ringing, it was loud - but not painfully loud. Never really felt the need for earplugs at any time.

There seemed to be a pretty good turnout, first party like this and first time going to eclipse - so I cant really compare it to past years or similar events. But, the dancefloor was generally pretty full from the start until the finish of the music, with lots of people chilling out on the field around the dancefloor. You'd also see quite a few people dancing in random spots around the property / at their tents / etc - it was pretty much impossible to escape the music even if you wanted too, heh.

It was always kind of funny when you'd come over the hill once the sun came up and see that there were even more people dancing in the sunlight than there was at night. If I make it out next year, I'm going to need to make it a point to pace myself a bit better and wait until 5-6am before starting to get into 'party mode', as when I was enjoying the music the most, is when I seemed to be the most tired.

On the Sunday night I tried to convince my friend of this as he woke me up from a pretty deep sleep at 2am, his argument "It seems pretty lame to drive 600km just to sleep through the party", but for me - the party didn't really start until the sun came up.

The chillout/alternative stage was pretty nice the entire weekend also - quite a bit of techno/minimal which made for a nice break, and some more dubby-slowed down psychedelic tunes in the mix. Was a bit of sound-bleed between the two stages now and then, but not that bad. The area down there was really cozy - tree'd in bit of land right next to the water.

Wish I had kept better track of the lineup on who was playing when. I haven't really followed psytrance in a long time now so I didn't know who allot of the DJs were. Shpongle didn't impress me as much as I was hoping - used to really dig him a few years ago, but left me feeling "meh".

I think it was Saturday morning that D-Nox went on, and played a really good set, bit of a techy-edge to it but still with that psytrance consistent throb.

Adam Shaik played a nice set before Shpongle, and a nice downtempo/ambient set Sunday morning in the chillout area (when I was curled up by the river half-asleep just sort of spaced out and enjoying it staring at the water and night sky).

I didn't make it down to check out Blandilo - but I think they were the guys using the real drums for a bit. I was relaxing in my tent when they went on and they sounded pretty cool, was really enjoying it but was in vege-out mode.

DJ Bansi (from GMS) played a rather grating set Monday morning with the 80s remixes and cheese tracks.

With no watch on hand (cellphone is my watch, and I couldnt' get reception out there, and I need to get a signal to check the time), and no set-times posted around I had a hard time keeping track of who was on when, so it just sort of blurred together into one big bassline of a weekend at times

With W.E.M.F. officially done, I might hit this up next year, I think!

Eclipse>WEMF

how was vibrasphere, did both of them show up?

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer Eclipse>WEMF

Maybe if you're a psy trance fan.

and d-nox?

wemf is pussy shit no doubt

quote:

Originally posted by Jem_hadar Maybe if you're a psy trance fan.

Yes sir!!

great prog in there too...

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer Holy shit man that sounds wicked!!! was there alot of people for this year? how was the sound system?

I asked Rikard from Vibrasphere what he thought of the event and his immediate response was that the sound system was one of the best he's ever played on. I always find that the sound at Eclipse is crystal clear, balanced, and manages to travel throughout the festival grounds without being too loud up at front. I don't know how they do it but the sheer quality of the system is a major selling point for the festival IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by Jem_hadar Maybe if you're a psy trance fan.

I used to be a big psytrance fan, then got sick of it after awhile. There is a good chunk of psytrance that I don't like any more - but all around most of the music was pretty good.

For the most part, I don't like the night-time full-on stuff. It's a little too fast / hard / squelchy. But the early morning / afternoon stuff seemed to get into more techy-sounding that has a nice steady chug to it. The "minimal techno" trend is starting to creep into psytrance also

The friend that I went with generally dislikes psytrance, and often made fun of me for going to parties before or would cringe when I'd play it when he was around - but he also enjoyed most of the music.

The alternative stage played quite a bit of techno/minimal. While there is most def a focus on psytrance, other genres get some representation also. And, like any genre - there is your share of bad psytrance, but also some quality stuff out there. Don't be so quick to write the genre off as being all bad.

Pheek played the main stage on Friday night (although I wasn't there for it), and Metalogic cranked out their tech-trance boshke beats type sound also which I dig (similar to the Tony Rohr vibe).

Even if you are not a big psytrance fan - I'd say that Eclipse is certainly worth checking out.

Found this video of Hallucinogen - really creeped out intro.



That being said, I do recall laying in my tent and cringing when this came on and waiting for the pain to end.



When I think about it, even if I go to a normal club night from like, midnight to 4-5am, it's rare these days that I love/like 100% of everything that was played. Considering how long the stages went and how many sets I heard - having a few sets be bad isn't surprising and a bit 'whatever, comes with the territory'

quote:

Originally posted by basilisk I asked Rikard from Vibrasphere what he thought of the event and his immediate response was that the sound system was one of the best he's ever played on. I always find that the sound at Eclipse is crystal clear, balanced, and manages to travel throughout the festival grounds without being too loud up at front. I don't know how they do it but the sheer quality of the system is a major selling point for the festival IMHO.

Thats good to know,now I have to go next year.

Psytrance+nature+hell of a sound system = WIN

quote:

Originally posted by kaniz

WTF is this music???? this is worst then electro.

That would be GMS. (I wonder if that was Sunday or Monday morning? You couldn't tell based on the choice of songs, that's for sure.)

quote:

Originally posted by basilisk That would be GMS. (I wonder if that was Sunday or Monday morning? You couldn't tell based on the choice of songs, that's for sure.)

Damn that is aweful.I swear to god if Protoculture or Human Blue or Wizzy Noise or U-Recken are booked for next year I will be there 1000000000%.

quote:

Originally posted by msz how was vibrasphere, did both of them show up?

i thought its never both of them. only one tours. Shankar, am I right?

That is right... the other guy doesn't like to fly. He is starting to get around Europe a bit but hasn't been up for travelling to North America yet.

might hit this next year.


problem is its too far :/

quote:

Originally posted by hardcore trancer WTF is this music???? this is worst then electro.

Yes, that was GMS....wow, I couldn't believe people still play this kind of shitty music. But worse of all, I couldn't believe there were so many people dancing to that crap. Anyways, I actually found an act WORSE than GMS. You may be asking "is there anything worse than GMS???". Apparently yes. Its called The Weirding Way. He literally took on that trend of making cheezy 80s remixes, but in a more obnoxious, annoying ways. Never before I have seen so many people asking me to start my set earlier (I was scheduled to play right after his "live" set). Also to answer the question about Vibrasphere, he was alone. His partner is slowly making progress. He is still afraid of flying, and actually there are many other fear factors involved, but he is making progress. Lets hope that very soon he will start traveling as well.
Anyways, as for my review...
So we arrived Friday night. It was a beautiful trip through the countryside of Northern Ontario (we tried to avoid Hwy 401 and Ottawa). After setting up the tents we made it just in time for Solar's set. All I have to say is...Solar and Darvin Knorr (both from Zenon Records) played really killer sets. Solar also did a fantastic job on the deco. After Darvin, Ray (Ekoplex) went on with his intense and energetic live set. It was really perfect for the time of the night, and made the whole festival dance like crazy. Incidentally, it was his album release set (MAKE SURE to get his album - support your local Toronto artists!). After Ray, Absolute went on, and played one of the most beautiful full on sets I ever heard. When people say that there is no beautiful full on, she was the dj to prove it wrong. The best part of the festival for me was of course Saturday night and Sunday morning/afternoon. Shpongle's set was alright, nothing too crazy. The party for me started after Shpongle with Jeremy Cockwolfe (oops, I mean Tapwatr) who played a sick tech house set. After him OSG continued to rip it up, then Jamie Kidd and Metalogic. Went to crash after that and woke up half-way through GMS set. Couldn't wait for the guy to get off. Ok, here is my beef with GMS. I know his music is cheeze 80s, that is not a surprise for me. What I was surprised about was can you pull off the lamest excuse for not showing up. One of GMS's teammates, Riktam, didn't show up with an excuse he had....take a guess? DIAHRREA! I betcha you could've never thought of that, huh? So original! Yes, you might have gotten another gig in Australia and didn't want to let the chance go. BE MORE CREATIVE! You are an "artist" after all. Oh well, at least he spared the plane from endless bathroom line-ups.
After GMS, music finally started to get better. It was great to hear Vibrasphere live. From the two times we brought him to Toronto, his set really works outdoors. After Rickard, Tenzin went on. His set was not KILLER, but pretty nice and interesting. I noticed that all the prog/techno DJs (including myself, I gotta admit) were competing on how many FM Radio God's tracks they would play in their sets. After Tenzin, D Nox went on with his amazing Techno set. His set lasted for almost 4 hours, as he played deep minimalistic tracks which kept the dancefloor rocking. Sunday night was another treat for me. Blandilo was something out of this world experimental. Using live instruments, those guys played an avant-garde set unlike any others. Other highlights for me were Seb at the chill stage and 2nd set of D Nox and of course, of course...Adham Shaikh. Overall, Eclipse, to my opinion, is the best party in the world. You got a beautiful valley, where it is practically always sunny (with few exceptions of short rainfalls), you got a nice beach with music coming from the chill stage while swimming, you got the best DJs in the world, and you got a whole tribe, a family with whom you dance to your favorite djs and musicians.
My advise - if you never been to Eclipse - CHECK IT OUT!! You will NOT regret it!

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