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-- Roll Call: Markus Schulz @ Stereo, Friday June 15
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It's Markus Schulz after all and there's no way anybody can really upstage him. If you take a look at who he shares the stage with in festivals he's more than used to having strong DJs playing before his set.

I come from a time when the music was a continuous flow, so I don't believe in clear seperations. If the opening DJ does a good job, the guest could come on, mix over and feel very comfortable to start at the very beginning of his story.

If anyone attended Black Out, they will say that most transitions with my guests were seemless.

Opening and closing is the most difficult thing to do as a DJ. It requires experience, maturity, sensibility and a wide range of music. It takes a long time to do it well.

My mind state whenever I was opening was to be better than the guest, without playing any big tracks or remotely touch to the style of the guest. I was opening for techno guys with 124 bpm minimal, tech house, deep house... respecting the "idea" and the mood but not even being close to what they play. You welcome people, make them feel good, make them go crazy with the most simple beats, and leave where the guest can start vey deep and low and have all the room to explode.

You never play anything from their label, their DJ friends, or any track you think they would play.

... with all these rules, if you manage to be better, than you are a real fucking pro.

I never trusted anyone to open for my guests, the only guys I know that could do it would be DJs like Hakim.

Doing a 2 hours peak time set is the easiest thing in the world.

... of course i'm not saying Malek doesn't have those skills, I'm talking about the art of opening and closing in general.

Sounds like a whole different set of skills to be a really good opener ravemontreal. Do you think there's a risk of being almost too good at opening and being pigeonholed into the role?

There's never any risk at being good, you should always aim at being the best, even you don't always succeed.

Anyway if you start as a DJ, you will start as an opener or closer. So better do it well if you want to have the main spot at one point.

quote:

Originally posted by Ravemontreal Doing a 2 hours peak time set is the easiest thing in the world.

I've heard of stories of big DJs giving shit to the local DJ playing before them because they were playing to hard or too this and that. To me that's complete nonsense and shows how big their ego is.

imagine opening for Pauly D?

downtempo Kazoo house ftw!

but yeah, opening can be tons of pressure but if you do your homework and you have a good handle on your music it can be a great opportunity as well. If you succeed you make a name for yourself in front of a packed crowd and lay out the groundwork for the headliner smoothly.

You can drop old tracks, obscure ones, move around genres, etc, all with being a team player as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Passskal I've heard of stories of big DJs giving shit to the local DJ playing before them because they were playing to hard or too this and that. To me that's complete nonsense and shows how big their ego is.

Sometimes they are too sensitive, sometimes they are right. A bad opening DJ can really fuck everything up.

I wouldn't want to open for Steve Lawler

quote:

Originally posted by Ravemontreal I wouldn't want to open for Steve Lawler

yeah this is gonna suck.

quote:

Originally posted by Ravemontreal I wouldn't want to open for Steve Lawler

lol. what's up with lawler? didn't you play before him at sensation a few years back? or was there a dj or 2 in the middle of each of your sets? i forget...

they put Creator on at 1030PM, something like that. very little flow was considered in that lineup, should have been two separate events with Creator spinning just before Lawler, imo.

Casa, you opening for Lawler?

quote:

didn't you play before him at sensation a few years back?

There was a few DJs in between... Vibe was playing before him.

Actually that was one of my unforgettable moments. I was opening and my girlfriend comes up to me all excited. she says that she was in the DJ lounge and Steve Lawler said to his manager "this guy is good, he is really fucking good"

ha ha, I was stoked. Cause everybody knows that I am a huge fan of Lawler.

yeah im playing 29 of june at the club before him.

quote:

Originally posted by edmottawa Sounds like a whole different set of skills to be a really good opener ravemontreal. Do you think there's a risk of being almost too good at opening and being pigeonholed into the role?

There is nothing wrong with being pegged as a good opener. Many DJ's got their break this way. They open up impeccably, the headliner takes notice and has him do openings on tour.

Opening should be the funnest slot imo. If the guy is good you should hear lots of quirky stuff that you might not have been exposed to otherwise. The good ones create that nice toe tapping vibe to get you comfortable, and then suddenly without really realizing it you are busting a move.

Nothing, and I mean nothing is worse than a premature ejaculating dj who is playing balls to the wall to an empty dance floor. Think of the merry go round when you where a kid. Was it easier to get on when it was moving slowly, or was it better when it was going around full speed so that when you grabbed the bar you would fly everywhere until you smashed your face on something and play time was over.

The best DJ's I know are openers. They might not get all of the credit, but they make the night work, because I'm sure more than a few of us have seen DJs open that didn't get it and mess up the party before the guy you came to see even gets on.

Good luck Casa, I will pray for you lol

quote:

Originally posted by Spin Laden they put Creator on at 1030PM, something like that. very little flow was considered in that lineup, should have been two separate events with Creator spinning just before Lawler, imo.

ah yes, now i remember.

quote:

Originally posted by Ravemontreal Good luck Casa, I will pray for you lol

they shoulda booked him on a saturday to be honest. if anyone is expecting tech house or what I played at picnik from me for 4 hours , please dont show up.

lol

Very interesting interventions and I think Creator really resumes the best how I see it too. The opening act is the most difficult one and you are always learning out of it. Of course, experience helps a lot, but every opening is different depending of the DJ and the venue.

I've made the mistake to open for some dj's where I've heard people afterward saying that I was better than the main act, and a certain point it wasn't good cuz it means you went too hard.

Passskal, i've heard a couple International headliners recently criticising the openign act because he did not warm up properly. I've even experience recently a DJ manager asking me a preview of my set and decide to cut the last hour of my set to give it to one of their DJ because they were not satisfied of the preview... Even if I told them that I will adjust myself.

So was I concerned about that on last Fridays? BIG TIME
Of course, I am disappointed to see some people who found a lack of energy in the set. I was aware of that risk and assume your comments.

But, like Creator is mentionning, having the main act mix in the last track of the opening dj is a sign of success... Which I am proud to say that Markus did on Friday!

For the rest there will always be unsatisfied people, you can't satisfy everyone, but you learn each and every time!

it happens more than you'd think that if a headliner has no idea who the warm-up dj is, they won't come and play the night. That's a bit much for me personally, but whatever floats their boat i guess.

The headliner has a lot more to lose than the opening act.

If the night is shit and all you see is people complain on the internet on how garbage the night was is not good publicity. I've seen openers first hand ruin a night...sitting on the couches at aria wondering when the hell something that makes me want is to move come on. Even if the headliner saves the day, you still end up twiddling your thumbs for 2 hours waiting for it. Sours the mood.

My issue with the opening slots sometimes is the mentality that they need to not be interesting in order to make the headliner shine more. I disagree. I think they should limit the energy, but still make people get into the party. Danny Howells used to do great opening slots while saving the bang for later. Of course, he had years of experience opening for Digweed to hone his skill.

You can play in the spectrum of 116-121 and still have tons of amazing music at your disposal if you aren't a total hack. Hell Innervisions parties sometimes consist of almost nothing but stuff in that area for example, even during peak time.

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