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Hard to pick, but these stand out as defining moments: (sorry for their length, but I had to describe "why"...)
1 – Groove Junkies 11/2003. This was my first live PA, which I’ll never forget. It happened by chance. Evan’s wife had been handed the mic to announce last call as “Gonna Get By” was dropped. Since it’s a MoreHouse track, and Solara is a vocalist for the label, she just started singing. The place erupted, I was up on the platform in disbelief, and she ripped the track. I have a copy of the video from that night and I still get goosebumps.
2 – Ferry @ Glow 12/27/03. The closing of Glow at Insomnia. My best friend and I flew to NYC Christmas day, partied there for 36 hours, then flew to DC for 12 hours to catch Ferry who was my favorite Trance DJ at the time. I was in love with his Mixed Live CD. I was completely exhausted by 4am and almost left because I had no energy. I finally caved and ordered up my first..then my second Vodka Redbull (I was vehemently opposed to the idea of an upper and a downer so avoided these prior to that night). Once the caffeine kicked in, I climbed into the cage and just danced while beaming at every person I came in eye contact with. My friend found me a few hours later and we climbed up on to the speakers, then made it behind the booth for the end of the set. That was my first major trance event.
3 – Victor Calderone @ Stereo 8/2004. All-in-all the weekend had been the twilight zone. I felt like I was having a bad dream with French subtitles. This is where it turned. I had gone to Montreal to see Victor Calderone at Stereo. Calderone blew me away. I spent 6 hours (5 - 11am) dancing in full anticipation of the next track, which kept pulling me back from complete fatigue. It was unbelievable...I was sober but felt like I was in a surreal world...probably attributed to sleep and food deprivation, but partially to the magnitude of the experience. Great deep vocal melodies, which he never fully unloaded on us, but would loop them between deeper and heavier bass lines. He teased me for 5 hours with the loop from Dreams, which gives me goose bumps and makes me melt. Finally dropped it around 9:30 and I nearly fell to my knees in pure bliss.
4 – Cream w/ Tiesto @ Amnesia 9/2004. In Ibiza with a large group of friends who were all intent on going to Yoshitoshi’s closing party w/ Deep Dish at Pacha. I had been dreaming of seeing Tiesto at Amnesia since I booked my trip and was planning on going with my friend while the others headed to Pacha. She got in a massive fight with her boyfriend over it, but eventually I dragged her off with me. It was a 15 minute drive from the port so we both dropped half a pill before getting in the car. Well, I took the wrong turn, and ended up having to loop through San Josep. Once I got us onto the correct road, we were the first car stopped in front of a massive accident…just as our pills kicked in. My friend and I sat in the car, anxious to get to Cream, listening to Global Radio while we watched the police clearing this major accident. When the car was towed off, we saw a guy lying on the pavement, surrounded by medical personnel giving him CPR. The sirens/lights on the dozen medical and police cars were on beat with the mix on the radio, which made us roll even harder. We eventually watched this boy pass away, and then were guided past the wreck by the police. Neither of us said a word. We parked the car, walked into the club, turned right into the main room, and were hit with the massive sounds of epic trance...very angelic at the time. I looked up and saw the stars through the glass ceiling, turned to look at the DJ booth that was the source point for these massive green lasers that were traveling through the room. I dropped my mouth, and said “WOW”, and the girl in front of me turned around and said, “wow is right.” My friend and I walked over to the side, and I stood there for an hour with tears running down my face, swaying to the music, smiling harder than I ever had before, while I truly understood and was in awe the enormous potential of my life. Eventually when I shed my last tear, she took me into the bathroom to wash my face, and then we returned and danced our asses off. That experience changed the way I looked at life and death, and is the #1 reason that I’m living in Ibiza right now.
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