My favorite clubbing nights (aka the nights I choose to remember):

Armin @ Spirit in March
PVD @ Crobar for my birthday
Vegas debauchery @ ICE
Sander K's summer residency @ Crobar
Infusion @ Rothko
amusing Diddy sightings @ Crobar (for AVB and Carl Cox)
backstage passes for PVD @ the Roxy... 6 hours of pure PVD goodness!

and...

my favorite night to end the year off was
DESYN @ BED
wish I could say Desyn in MY BED!

sucked. didn't club half as much as any other year. let's see who i've seen:

Darren Emerson (sucked. mixing was completely off. some tunes were good, but shit programming as well.)

Erick Morillo (2nd time i see him. 1st one owned. this one sucked. trainwrecked a few times. played a fucking DATED set. i'm talking tracks like Kinda New [Tiefschwarz Remix] and even some older shit. very disappointing.)

Frank Lorber (2nd time. justified his position as one of, if not my all time, favorite DJ. was being begged by promoters to PLEASE stop spinning, the party was only supposed to go on till 7AM and it was 8:30 and he said the people still wanted more, so more they got. his wife dancing next to him on stage all along. sharpest mixing i've ever heard. granted, the first time was crazier, but he owned it. seeing him on NYE again)

Pascal F.E.O.S. (best set i've heard this year. amazing selection, spot-on mix. great crowd pleasing. real cool guy too. the crowd kept yelling so he threw down an extra 25mins. they yelled more, so he threw down Motor - Sweatbox and sent everyone home.)

Jask (threw down yet again. i've seen him a few times already, but this was a personal, private type thing, even tho it was free entry to all, it was promo'd much either. great set, nice and deep. he mixes like the decks were part of his hands. used an oldschool Urei rotary, so it was cool to see as well.)

Patrick Bodmer of M.A.N.D.Y. (funny ass mofo with some of the best tracks i heard in a while. his programming was a bit off due to an unreadable crowd, but i just loved his selection)

Elliot Lazor (opened for Patrick. hes from Canada i believe. he owned it. SPOT FUCKING ON mixing all the time and great tunes. really knows how to make a set flow)

Luke Fair (nice housey set. 3rd time i seen him. housiest of all. great mixing. bits of electro in there too. no breaks whatsoever, so that did leave me a bit anxious.)

that's about it. my only local EDM club (read: only real EDM club in the fucking country) got closed down. wee. fun. i'm just hoping 2006 brings better times.

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check out my guest mix for OndaSonora Podcast (aug.2009)

Clubbing wise things have been pretty strong. The big nites have stayed big although the line ups in the UK have got slightly too predictable.

First nite i was impressed with was A&B making their debut at Inside Out in Glasgow in March. There was worry that their trancy trance sound wouldnt go down well with clubbers who prefer their music a lot harder. However they were fantastic and went on throughout the year to go from strength to strength as DJ's. IF you like your music uplifitng then they are one of the top drawers just now. Saw them again at Global and at IO last month where again they were top notch

Sander Van Doorn has been tremenedous seeing him at my friends nite Refresh in Glasgow was a bit pre-summer highlight. His sound suits a Scottish audience veyr much too. When i saw him on bigger line ups at the tail end of the year it confirmed his status as the biggest new talent in trance. Although most of us have known about him as a producer this year he really stepped up as a DJ

Markus Schultz deserves a mention. Hes been brilliant everytime ive seen him. His chunky progressive style sounds brilliant in clubs and surprised me when i expected pure fluff from him

The big DJ's all had solidish years. Armin got predictable though playing almost the same set everytime i saw him this year. Tiesto redeemed himself after shoddy sets at the HMH in Decemeber. The last 3 hours of that set he was more circa 2002 and i hope he continues in that vein. Lots of new tunes too which is a bonus. Paul Van Dyk i thought played set of the year at the Cream brithday party in Ibiza and in the end probably deserved the number 1 popularity contest for his second part of the year form

As for festivals & events Coloursfest in June was my first of the year. Was pretty much standard stuf and was more like a nite out than a big event. Global Gathering was also largely disappointing due to the set timings and the main arena set up. No one really stood out except Marco V on the day. Godskitchen in Newcastle was fantastic though. Jon O'Bir stole the show as he did many times this year.

The Ibiza season seemed as strong as ever when i was there. The Cream 10th birthday being the big highlight of my clubbing year. PVD played an aboslute blinder with a lot of tunes none of us had heard but have since became anthems in their own right.

My DJ of the year however must go to Jon O'Bir. Everywhere i saw him he stole the show from everyone. He has found the balance between euphoric/uplfiting and driving, darker, harder material. That is a mix of Armin and PVD. His residency show on Radio 1 has got him exposure commercially and i fully expect him to become bigger outside of the UK either next year or the year after. Imo he is the next big DJ.

Sets of the year
PVD @ Cream 10th Birthday Party Amnesia Ibiza
Jon O'Bir @ Inside Out June
Sander Van Doorn @ Refresh
Above & Beyond @ Inside Out Novemeber
Tiesto @ HMH December

The entire year has been a bit of a blur, but from what I can remember (with a bit of help from searching my posts in the Australian forum) in approximate chronological order:

• Tiga
  
• Miss Kittin
  
• Heiko Laux
  
• DJ T
  
• James Holden
  
• Michael Mayer
  
• James Zabiela (twice)
  
• Chris Fortier
  
• The Prodigy
  
• Dave Seaman
  
• Armand Van Helden
  
• Junior Sanchez
  
• Richie Hawtin
  
• Luke Chable (several times)
  
• Phil K (several times)
  
• Danny Howells
  
• Deep Dish
  
• Steve Porter
  
• Superpitcher
  
• Luke Fair
  
• Nick Warren
  
• Hybrid
  
• Tom Neville
  
• Above & Beyond
  
• Nic Fanciulli
  
• Sasha
  
• John Digweed

There's more than that, but that's the best I can do for now. The picks for me were Hawtin (even he probably though he didn't play as minimal as I would have liked), Howells (as fucking always), Fortier (didn't let up for the entire 4 hours) and Digweed (mindblowing).

EDIT: Just need to add that most of the best nights I've had this year were at smaller events with local DJs. I'm kinda over the bigger events (although the big names will still draw me to them) and do not think that anything, really, can beat a night spent at a decent club, with good friends and good music.

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Last edited by Renegade on Dec-27-2005 at 18:16

The ones I remember seeing are...

Erol Alkan
X-Press 2
Breakfastaz
Phil Hartnoll (from Orbital)
Jon Carter
Technasia
Annie Nightingale
Stanton Warriors
Nic Fanciulli
Steve Lawler
Danny Rampling
Carl Cox
Eric Prydz
James Zabiela
John Digweed
Sasha
John '00' Fleming
Tall Paul
Rob Tissera
Riley & Durrant
Matt Hardwick
Eddie Halliwell
Judge Jules
Ferry Corsten
Tiësto

Highlights were Sasha, especially when he finished his set with "The Killers - Mr. Brightside (Thin White Duke Mix)", Zabiela live was brilliant, seeing Danny Rampling before he retired, and Eddie Halliwell standing on the decks at Gatecrasher - I know he does that all the time now but it's still pretty legendary.

Hardwick, Ferry and Coxy were all great as well.

Andy Moor and Matt Darey at Bumpkin Pumpkin 2
Pulser and Kyau vs Albert at Bumpkin Pumpkin 1

LOVE PARADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Was absolutely amazing I danced my ass off for 15 hours straight, one of the most amazing experiences.


Quite a few others that I can't remember. All in all an amazing year, of music. I need to hurry up and turn 21 though.

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