Sorry it took me so long to write this review, but it takes a while for your brain to process an event like this.

For some reason, I wasn’t excited for this party at all. I think this was a good thing though, because unlike Bal en Blanc, there was no hype surrounding the party, and I didn’t have any expectations at all.

Day 1

I drove up Saturday morning with RJ, Margaret and Andy. The drive up was very pleasant. The drive up involved 2 stops for breakfast, lots of snacks (thanks Margaret), too many chocolate covered coffee beans, and lots of laughs. We finally arrived at Montréal around 3pm. I was very upset at the fact that it was raining and a bit chilly. I was even more upset when I looked at the weather forcast and saw that there was a chance of thunderstorms on Sunday. Upon getting to the party though, I quickly realized that this was going to be an event to remember regardless of the weather…

We entered Beach Club after waiting in line for less than 30 seconds. Before I started listening to tunes, I decided to take a look around. What a beautiful venue! We really need something like this in Toronto (and no, The Docks doesn’t even come close). There is a very cool mist patio/dance floor where the normal DJ booth is, right on the beach. It’s only a few steps to the shore. On the beach, there are chairs to lounge on and hammocks. Beach Club also includes a pool, a cafeteria, a water trampoline, water slides, kayaks, paddle boats, and much more. Beach Club is much more than just a club on a beach.

After doing a little bit of exploring, I decided that it was time to pay the dance floor a little visit. Mylo was dropping good tracks in no particular order, with pretty shoddy or non-existant mixes in between. I then went to go check out the tent to see Mistress Barbara. I found it a little bit difficult to dance in the sand at first, but once I got used to it, I realized how much fun it was. Dancing on sand > dancing on a dance floor any day. In the first half of her set, she played some pretty good techno tracks and surprisingly quite a few mainstream tracks. She kind of lost me after the half way point of her set. During Mistress Barbara’s set, the tent started to fill up. Even though it was raining, people were in full party spirits.

The crowd was awesome. It had a very rave-y feel. This type of crowd I’ve only seen once (Cream 2004 in Montréal), so I’m not very used to it. It was a refreshing change though! Everyone was really friendly and there were lots of cute girls around. I could tell that it was going to be a good night.

9pm hit, and it was time for Victor Calderone. I was very excited for this portion of the party as I’ve been a Victor Calderone fan for years and this was my first time seeing him. There were some pretty major technical difficulties at the beginning of his set. This scared me because there was hardly any bass at all. I thought that my first Calderone experience was going to be tainted. They fixed the problem though, and Calderone’s set got into full swing. Calderone did not disappoint at all. From start to finish, he played a very banging, dancey tribal set. We are in for quite the treat at Sonic at the end of August. It was very dark in the tent, with lots of red lights for the duration of Calderone’s set. I was impressed with the lighting. Calderone’s set was the second best of the weekend. The music was shut down at 11:40pm. I pretty much bounced back to the hotel room in anticipation of the next day.

Day 2

Even though the weather forcast had said that there would be thunderstorms, Sunday was filled with blue skies and sunshine. I started the day listening to Nathan Barato and Simon Jain while eating burgers and fruit kebobs for breakfast. I then lay on the hammock for about an hour, watching the beautiful French girls in their bikinis pour in, while drinking sangria, chatting with new people around me, while listening to Sean Miller. It was at this point that I felt like I was in a completely different country. I had not experienced an atmosphere like this before.

I spent the morning and early afternoon talking, drinking and lounging on the beach. I didn’t start dancing really until about half an hour into Lawler’s set when he dropped that King Unique track (I can’t remember the name) from his Wasted CD. From this point on, Lawler played one of the best sets I’ve ever heard him play. After the Guv/Skybar and the Halloween party, I had kind of lost a bit of faith in Lawler, but on Sunday, he showed me once again why he’s the fucking man. He built his set perfectly from start to finish. He started with his new dark and druggy sound (ala Wasted) and slowly progressed into banging, driving, hands in the air electro. He had the crowd completely by the balls. The dance floor was absolute pandemonium. I was in the middle of the dance floor when he dropped Pete Heller – Simpler. When the song came to a climax, he had the whole crowd jumping up and down with their hands in the air, screaming at the top of their lungs. There were nozzles above the crowd, and water started spraying down on everyone. This was one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever had in my 4 years of clubbing. I won’t forget it any time soon. For the last hour of Lawler’s set, the crowd reacted in this way to almost everyone of Lawler’s tunes. I’m getting goosebumps right now just writing this review. This is a type of vibe that you don’t see very often. Lawler kept hammering out the tunes until a little bit after 7pm.

Danny T hit the decks after Lawler finished, and completely slowed down the pace. He played plodding proggy stuff for the first 2.5-3 hours. This stuff would have been enjoyable if it wasn’t directly after Lawler’s explosive 3 hours of madness. After about 3 hours though, Danny started hammering out his tribal, tech-house and techno tunes that he’s known for. I spent the entire duration of his final 2 hours on the dance floor. Danny’s set as a whole was a little disappointing. Even though his final two hours were good, it was probably the least impressive set I’ve heard him play. It was still by no means bad though. During Danny’s set, Godskitchen had some entertainment such as people walking around on stilts with mini lights, fire poi and fire staff. It was very nice touch.

Overall, I can easily say that this is one of the best events I’ve ever attended. Impeccable organization (I didn’t wait in any line for over 2 minutes), very friendly staff, great crowd, hot girls, banging tunes, amazing vibe… the only thing I would have changed was the weather on Saturday. I will definitely attend this event next year, and possibly even Godkitchen’s event at the end of the summer.

The ride back was a little bit long, but it was made more enjoyable by the company of Jay, Mark and Colin. Thanks for the hospitality afterward and the drive back. P.S. that was the best smoothie I've ever had! I definately have to go back there again.