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.

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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.

Last edited by Ravemontreal on Jun-19-2012 at 14:20

... 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?

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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!

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quote:

Originally posted by Ravemontreal Once I took a piss in front of everybody at Stereo. Put the garbage under the mixer, and did it right there while people were dancing and screaming. people thought I was playing with the mixer but I was playing with my zizi.

quote:

Originally posted by Enjoy a classic from the aria days: me: are you on TA? girl: uhhhh... im on speed

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.

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quote:

Originally posted by Ravemontreal Once I took a piss in front of everybody at Stereo. Put the garbage under the mixer, and did it right there while people were dancing and screaming. people thought I was playing with the mixer but I was playing with my zizi.

quote:

Originally posted by Enjoy a classic from the aria days: me: are you on TA? girl: uhhhh... im on speed

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

Last edited by Ravemontreal on Jun-19-2012 at 17:11

quote:

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

yeah this is gonna suck.