As usual, an enormous review. Read it if you've got the time --- hopefully you'll find it interesting.

The Jump-Off
So we get there around 11:30-12:00 - very short and fast moving line. After getting in and going through the annoying basement, we get onto the floor and our ears are assaulted by some atrociously bad tracks, courtesy of the opener. Honestly, what was this guy thinking?!?! So we had a few drinks, stood around for a while and talked to a few random people. At first, I thought the crowd would be decent, as everyone was so well dressed... boy was that first impression incorrect! So many lame people were there that I found myself wishing that there were more FOBs and Guidos! Like, at many moments in the night I wanted to scream, "Stop facing away from the booth!", and, "If all of you want to grind, you all should have gone to a hip-hop event!".

So after a while we burrowed into the crowded dancefloor, which was considerably strange, as about half of the people were facing away from the booth. Even though by this point it was very crowded, some couples (there were a lot of couples) insisted on salsa dancing quickly, slamming in to the people around then as they spun around... There were a few good dancers though, and I endeavored to dance as well, but this was considerably difficult when you realize how bad the opener was.

Now, I have nothing against this guy, he actually looked pretty cool and seemed to be having a good time. But the fact is, he's an aweful DJ. He played 'Mylo - Drop the Pressure' twice... I don't personally like that track, but there are a few of us that do so I won't criticize it, but what I will criticize was the fact that this opener must have played 4 or 5 tracks that were clearly under 120 beats per minute --- I don't know what he expected the crowd to do!!! Also, this guy was trainwrecking so often that I couldn't handle it --- his beatmatching, in addition to his selection, was terrible. And to cap it all off, at one point in the night he played a less than memorable remix of 'Snoop Dogg - Drop it Like it's Hot'. Honestly, at this point I had to leave the dance floor.

The Party
So it was back to chillin' on the sidelines, since they hadn't opened up the upstairs level yet. Right before Armand got on, the opener dropped his first good track of the night, and finally the part got started! Armand gets on nonchalantly (as he is wont to do) and the crowd hardly reacts. I think, 'fuck it!', get on the dancefloor, front and center, and start screaming and cheering, hoping to start a positive trend... nope, get salsa danced into from behind...

Well, Armand's set starts off pretty well, he starts playing in his usual style (a lot of vocal with long chillouts and short, intense periods of driving beats). Even though he was spinning really well, there still seemed something missing. Maybe I was still angry about the opener, or having trouble dealing with the crowd, which was completely drunk by now, something that led to a seemingly universal spilling of drinks that ended in a soakingly wet floor. There were some good moments though: Armand played a few really hot tracks that really kept people moving, and then all of a sudden mixed them into 'Goldfrapp - Number 1 (Steve Angelo Mix)'. That was definately the tune of the night, and when that dropped, I went crazy. Funny though, I seemed to be the only one within view that knew the words... what does that say about the crowd?

Anyway, he went on to play a few more good tracks, and he dropped what was, as far as I could tell, a new mix of 'Into Your Eyes', which is always fun to hear. Along with a point at which he mixed a few 80s melodies into a frighteningly hard house beat (in the Armand style - 30 or so seconds of 80s melody, 30 or so seconds of hard beat, 30 or so seconds of 80s meloday, etc.), the selection for the night was pretty damn good, and was a pleasure to listen to. Unfortunately, I was at a Dance Club, and I really wanted to dance and let go. The vibe was completely absent though, and, though I'm ashamed to say it, we left early around 4:30 or so. That'll have been only the 2nd club party this academic year that I've left before closing, so you know that there was something wrong.

Overview
Crowd: Terrible - I always thought that poor dress and bad attitude are correlated, boy was I wrong!
Venue: This was my first real party at Pacha, and I can't say I enjoyed the venue - I generally prefer the one huge open space condusive to concert-type parties (like 'Cro).
Opener: I want to know his name so I can avoid any partys that he DJs at... this guy doesn't have a clue.
Main Set: A good set overall, and with some wonderful moments, but Armand was definately much better @ Spirit way back in September.
Track of the Night: Goldfrapp - Number 1 (Steve Angello Mix)
Lesson Learned: Avoid people that are salsa dancing in a packed club.

Oh, one more thing... could someone ID the remix of 'The Number 2 Song' that Armand played? You know, that rather popular rock song that most people refer to as the "Woo-Hoo!" song.

___________________
In MY WORLD, there is always FORBIDDEN FRUIT, ripe FOR AN ANGEL from the OTHERSIDE.