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Danny Torrence at Stereo
This is the review I wrote for Danny Torrence Dirty Thirty party, back in January 2006. Don't even think twice in going - just go people. He is a super talented DJ, and it is too bad I cannot make it to Toronto, otherwise you would have me at Sonic this Saturday night.
Patius
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Disclaimer: This is how I spent my Saturday / Sunday
I had no idea if it was a good idea to go to Stereo at 2 am or 3 am, although the flyers indicated doors open at 2 am, not long ago the doors were opening only at 3 am or 2:45 am. I know this time thing does not affect many of you, specially the ones that like to arrive at 5 am. I personally like to be there right at the beginning, to let my body flow with time and space, to the rhythm of the music and the people. I believe many of you decided to arrive later than earlier because I got there at 2:30 am and didn't do a line up, maybe just 2 minutes. Check coat number 14 this time, but I'm sure there were more than 14 people by the time I got there.
Passed security check, and I did not cause any red lights to go on, again I make the lives of the security people easier, because I usually I have one less of clothing to be checked by them, I just make the life of the coat check people harder.
Stopped right after security to talk to some of the MTLNIGHTS people, and for a moment I thought someone had recognized me, "they have discovered my real identity" then I realized it was the Stereo Paparazzi taking pictures, I guessed to put a real nice souvenir together for Mr. Torrence - had no idea that I was going to see my picture flashing in the Stereo walls for the next 10 hours, right beside the lovely Loretta.
Moved to the dance floor and it was surprisingly not cold, or maybe it was cold, but nothing compared to the outside weather. Stephan Grondin was already doing his moves up in the DJ booth, and by the choice of music he was spinning, I told myself to get ready for lot of dancing.
Stereo 101 - be nice to the bouncer, coat check people, and security personal.
Stereo 102 - stretch yourself right at the beginning of the evening
Stereo 103 - consume sport drinks along the evening, it will hydrate your body, replenish the lost electrolytes, and give you a bust of energy with its carbohydrates.
I know every professional raver (borrowing Turbo's expression from previous posting) is aware of the fact we have the technology to maintain to body moving for long period of time, just do not forget that "Super Sport Drinks" are not enough, hydrate yourself with water and normal sport drinks as well.
The only other time, I remember I danced from moment I arrived to the time I left Stereo, was when Rampling played at the Halloween party with Morales. The build up, done by Grondin, was fantastic. Smooth transition for the people "I just got here and it is freaking cold outside", then more music for the people "I've been here for a little bit of time now, make me move faster", and finally music for "I'm ready for the party, hit me now".
During Grondin set I found out my red belt was not happening, somehow it was not staying put. I would start dancing, and it would come off, and I got tired of tying it up, so I had to take it off and thanks to James, it stayed in a good place until a couple of hours later when I recovered my beloved red belt.
I have to apologize to Danny Torrence, because I have previously compared his spinning style to another well known DJ. His first extended set at Stereo proved me wrong, obviously there are touches of his inspirational mentors in his style, but he is Danny Torrence and period - job well done.
I have always enjoyed Danny Torrence talent, and I will try not to be bias in this review, but listening to his work for a whole evening, this past weekend, was divine. He didn't only play for his enjoyment, he also played for his dancers, moving them from one side to the other of the dancing music spectrum. Everything was heard, and the music was played in a way that it kept people dancing all night long. I didn't have to look up to the DJ both, I knew he was having a blast, because people were having a fantastic time dancing.
The energy of the crowd was contagious, beautiful people and great dancers. There is nothing like having someone smile back at you when you look at them (now, if they keep looking at you when no more smiles are sent back, them just do what you thought in doing when the first smile came your way). The place was crowed but with enough place to dance, it did get a little bit hot at one point, but we survived.
The Stereo crowd was a typical weekend Stereo crowd, a mix of the people that come out on a Friday night and a Saturday night, and I'm not saying I was confused not knowing if it was a Friday or a Saturday night out. What I'm saying is that when I looked around, I saw happy people dancing, and very few people sitting - I knew where I was, I was at Stereo, not on a Friday, not on a Saturday, but on a weekend.
Torrence was able to maintain the level of enthusiasm until the end, he was able to read his dancers in a way that he knew when to give what to whom, Almost at the end of the night (or day), a friend of mine pulled me out of the dance floor, and brought me together to where she was dancing with her boyfriend. She said "you look bored" and I looked at her and said "I'm not bored, I'm tired, that freaking up there has killed all my energy left in my body".
It is not just the music set that makes the evening, but also how the music is presented to the dancers. You can have great music, but if the party is not happening, if the DJ is not able to tell that people want to learn German instead of Portuguese, you won't have a response in the dance floor. Danny, I have to say that you must have visited the Tower of Babel before coming to spin on Saturday night, because you were speaking all languages with your music.
Perhaps there was only one time when I thought the music stopped for too long, but not a big deal because the next song played counted for three, and made me sweat twice my normal.
Sheena Hershey - what can I say - you go girl - nice performance. The lights once again were phenomenal, and can someone please introduced me to the light people - again, I want to thank them for their incredible job.
Before I forget, who was the guy running/dancing around on a white "anti-chemical" style suit? It was funny seeing him running around Stereo, and it looked like he was having fun, and in the typical Stereo style attitude, if it's making him happy, just smile.
The extreme sport type of video playing when I got to Stereo made me think if the music we were going to hear, were going to take us to the extreme of our dancing capabilities. Everyone can answer that question for themselves, but what a cool idea of start flashing pictures taken during the party, together with the video. If I had known my first picture taken was going to be up the walls, I would had fixed my hair first you know. There were also old pictures from previous Stereo parties, and some from the personal memories of the main DJ.
There are many people, living outside Montreal, that would love to re-experience a little bit of Stereo by looking up to some of those pictures, so if those pictures are going to be made public, let us know so we can share our happy moments with all those people, and I'm sure they are going to be glad revisiting some of their own memories at the temple. If it is not possible, we understand, we don't want to get involved with copyright issues.
The photographers were having too much fun by the end of the evening, I would love to see the last set of pictures taken by the Paparazzi crew, and most likely the best pictures were the ones taken when people didn't notice they were on a photo up.
I did not stayed until the end, but I stayed close to it. Somehow I managed to walk my tired body to the Stereo Bar, and oh my gosh. I think soon enough I will have to start a separate review for the after Stereo parties. Don't know who the DJ was, but it was HAPPY MUSIC playing downstairs guys. How could I not dance to that music?
You only need one person to start dancing to get the rest going, and when everyone else is dancing, how can the people arriving from upstairs not continue to party? I probably stayed for another 2 hours in the bar. Until the Tommy Lee episode happened - happy story for another board. I just read about who the DJs were, thank you Rob Brown, and not just him, but Just Jonathan as well. Super happy music, a beat that you can not resist to it, some Latin influence perhaps?
Great evening at Stereo, fantastic afternoon at Stereo bar, and good morning to you. Finally, just wanted to say, Danny Torrence, you are ready to take the world, now is the world ready for you?
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