|
Well, for some reason - my WMC was very Sasha-themed this year. Granted I always check out Sasha and Digweed at Ultra, this year was an overdose of the infamous duo.
Sasha and Digweed @ Mansion
Day 1 was Thursday for me. I flew down from Atlanta in the early afternoon and was treated to the beautiful "hacienda"-styled Fairmont Hotel and Resort Turnberry Isle in Aventura. Made the trip to the Shelbourne to pick up tickets at the Will Call office - which for the most part did pay off. Then it was back to the hotel, ordered some ZA (Pizza) and relaxed in a quite meditative state until it was game time. At about 11pm we headed down to Mansion, quickly found a place to park and walked up to the lines outside. However, a quick question with the door guy - "where's the line if you already have a ticket?" - and we were in instantly. Once inside, I think we may have heard 2-3 Guy J tracks before Digweed was up near the decks moving stuff around. Then it started. The very slow intro and eventual mushroom cloud of music and crowd going nuts. We made the mistake of going upstairs to see how the view from up there was, but then Sasha got on. The dance floor was so packed - security wouldn't let people downstairs. Eventually after 2 or 3 attempts, we finally made it downstaris. From that point on, we stayed planted dead center of the dance floor about maybe 10 yards from Sasha and Digweed. Only downside of the night, some of the bar staff just sucked. Their tips went from Awesome to none really quickly. Also, I think I lot of the "Vodka" I had - was probably just water. Normally 3-4 vodka redbulls and I'm good. I easily had like 5, still felt pretty sober. So I switched to Jager (yes, Straight) because there's just no way you can hid that. Diluted Jager looks like diluted Jager, unlike Vodka. Anyways, back to the music... it was a 5 hour marathon set. Amazing crowd, everyone on the same level. The crowd was a single organism moving as one. It's a beautiful thing. Digweed played a remix of Holden and Thompson's - Nothing that was really good. Also he played DJ Hell - Je Regrette. No idea what Sasha played - but that sounds about right doesn't it.
Ultra Part 1 and Sander van Doorn, Paul van Dyk, and Gisuppe Ottavani @ Space
Day 2 started out nicely. No timeframe of when to wake up really. Just get to Ultra by 4pm. I underestimated the drink costs during WMC in Miami. Thus, we hit up a liquor store for some vodka and such. Left the hotel around 3:30, got to Ultra at 4-ish and the booze were in full effect (wasn't driving - don't worry). Friday night Ultra - not a lot to recall really. Kinda sampled a bit of everything - but Tiesto was fun to see considering it's been a few years. Will.i.Am was ok - but I was really hoping to hear "I gotta feeling (that tonight is gonna be a good night), but he didn't play it.
So then it was off to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and a mad-dash to Space. Space has been built up in my mind due to all the mixes I've heard from there - and not only that it's just like a big deal. So we get there, and we're in line... forever. Already had tickets - but noooooo. This wasn't Mansion. People who didn't have tickets got in before I did - which is really messed up. We showed up to space at about 1am, we finally got to the door at 2:15am. We handed off our tickets and then were told it's another $15 on top of the like $80 we've already paid. OMG! I was pissed. Reason: it's over two. I couldn't believe they would pull that crap. I made a decent arguement but they didn't care. Finally got in, and the club is sweet. You can be anywhere in that place and see the booth perfectly. Not only that, but the temperature is absolutely ideal. It was at times a bit chilly, but I wish more clubs were that cool and not a sauna. Oh yea, needless to say we completely missed Sander van Doorn because we were in line. It was great though to catch the back-end of PvD's set. He played some great songs... Flaming June, Marcel Woods, a mix of For an Angel.... truly one of the best PvD sets I've ever seen live. Just before Gisuppe went on, he walked by me so- I got to meet him. Pretty fun. So aside from the BS of Space, the night was still pretty amazing. Well almost, I started losing my voice from all the shouting over music and cheers, etc from all the partying. We walked out of the club at around 8am or so. Headed to the hotel and pretty much passed out immediately as I was in bed.
Ultra 2 and Sasha @ Shelbourne
Due to the previous night's festivities, Saturday began a little late. I was hoping to catch Sander van Doorn at Ultra since I missed him Friday night. Oops. We got to Ultra at he was already off. Caught a bit of Gareth Emery's set, but then it was a dash across the field to see Sasha and Digweed. Sasha started the set - which I can't recall the last time I saw that happen. Same starting song as Digweed started out with at Mansion. However, Sasha definitely added more of a drive to the set and quickly. I think it's 'track three' that I MUST find. It's such a great song and really driving. We were completely lost again in the roar and the beat of that what we call Sasha and Digweed. Eventually after the sauna effect kicked in, it was time to go say Hi to Armin van Buuren. I put it that way, as we got bored of him quickly. Some of his drives were fun, but there were too many break downs and honestly I've never been a fan of his mixing style. Song is going and doing it's thing and then - here's another song. So after a short period of time and a buzz kill, it was back to Sasha and Digweed to watch them finish up. It was really cool to see Sasha, John Digweed and Carl Cox all on the same stage at the same time. At this point in the day, we were starting to feel a bit tired. So we kinda walked around aimlessly and eventually wound up at Orbital. Granted you'd have to be really reminiscent to think they would play Halcyon, but I was kinda hoping for it. Pretty quickly the terrain of plastic water bottles, the dark lighting and overall lack of people in the general vicinity turned me off to the idea of watching their entire show. So we then wandered off to Swedish House Mafia, which was suprisingly good. I've been a fan of Steve Angello and Sebastien Ingrosso - but never knew what to expect of the trio. I was quite pleased. Then of course, it was time for the Mau5. Deadmau5 played some great stuff - and the cameos were fun. Little confused of the Tommy Lee connection - but it's still cool. Joel has quite a good sense of humor. When the melody of Ghosts and Stuff came in and the crowd goes nuts, he's sitting there being silly. Good times. At this point I've found the best way for me to communicate is through typing a text on my phone. My voice was almost completely gone, I could talk loud enough to be heard but it was really raspy and slighty higher in pitch. Ugh! We left a lil early to make yet another dash to the hotel to get changed for the final show of my WMC experience: Sasha at the Shelbourne/Shine.
Quick shower, etc - off to the Shelbourne. SoBe seemed dead when we showed, presumably everyone was in a club and not wandering the streets. Sasha was sold out - basically. Apparently people staying at the Shelbourne were allowed in free. But if your names on the list because your ex-gf is awesome, you got in free and they gave you 6 drink coupons and an apology that there are no more tables left. Bummer. I was kinda hoping to sit down for this one, but no worries VIP door man guy - you're really nice - and you gave me a bunch of drink coupons that will be put to good use. Thank you. In we go, Sasha was doing his thing. Charlie May/Spooky was hanging out on stage and going back and forth to the bar. Another solid set from Sasha, starting to recognize his tracklist - one song he played he played at Mansion as well - that was actually in my head before we got there. Gradually it became 5am, and he was done. We decided to step out by the pool because the Shelbourne definitely has that sauna effect thing going on. As I'm lighting up my cigarette, I notice Sasha is standing a few feet away with Spooky and can't seem to find his lighter. So, offer him the light and have a quick chat in my best prepubescent voice. Ahh! I hate it! I sounded ridiculous, but I got to meet Sasha. I was hoping to ask him about the two songs and also about the one we (TA) have posted in the unknown tracks section. After seeing him three times in one week, it was the prefect ending to my WMC experience. And getting a full free ride to Shine/Shelbourne somewhat made up for Space. It evened out. Only 363 days left to next year!
___________________
Last edited by Zer0nium on Mar-30-2010 at 01:29
|
Lindsay & Mikey <3 you guys!!!)
Only Resolute fucking starts conference with a lineup like this.. The madness ensued for 4-5 more hours dropping gritty tech bombs well into the afternoon which we then headed back to the hotel for some R&R by the pool.. 
