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So I gave up waiting for Papa Sven to come to Toronto, and made my pilgrimage to Germany to see him this summer. Words cannot do justice to how good a DJ this man is.
He did have some of his antics in tow, but his set was much more than that. Sure his cooky dancing, and fan interaction was fun to watch, but honestly, I didn't even need to watch the stage most of the time.
The event was Greenfields in Munich, the 10th anniversary. The line up was STACKED: Sven, Marco Carola, Fanciulli..and more. I got there a bit late, and came into Carola just destroying the smaller stage. The guy has so much control, and definitely knows his music. But, we got word that Sven had already started on the big stage, and with it being 6pm, I was happy to hear that, because I knew he would be closing it out at 10pm.
Sven's biggest gift is track selection, as is the case with a lot of the older DJs. The art of mixing wasn't big when he started out, and you can tell; he is a dodgy mixer sometimes, but you just don't care mostly. He had a great knack for picking songs that you get lost in; but not only picking songs, but stringing them together. (imagine that!)
He took a lot of washroom breaks, for what reason I don't know but he really didn't spend a lot of time actually on stage. Did the set suffer? Not one bit. Most of the time the song he left on, while he disappeared was killer, and you didn't even notice.
It was raining almost the entire night, and just pouring for the last two hours, but nobody was moving, including myself. He had an incredible build, which showed a lot of patience. My gripe with a lot of DJs today, is that they don't build to the end. They build for a while, you go crazy, then they just loose direction. With Sven, it was clear that he was driving you home.
Over all the sounds of the set were varied, with techno undertones at all times. Lots of melody, some clicks and clacks, but just good groovy tunes for the whole time. Honestly, I love his sound because is the perfect mix of trance and techno. It has the melody/rhythms of trance from the late 90s, but the polished feel of modern techno. Needless to say, the 4 hours were too short.
I have never enjoyed really long sets, and I think 2 hours is best for most DJ's. This was probably one of the best sets, I have ever heard in my life, no joke, and that is over the course of 10 years of partying. Go figure, it took me 10 years to see this guy, and I'm just mad I cannot see him more often. Germany sure is lucky.
This event was the highlight of my entire trip to Europe, and I will never forget partying in the rain, at a golf/polo club, with fireworks going off, and stomping around in the mud. The crowd was amazing, the sound was amazing, and the music was hypnotic.
Go see Papa Sven.
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Random things from the festival:
1) As I was walking in, they were throwing out a giant german man, dressed head to toe in leather. He was probably 45, 280 pounds and 6 foot three. He was crying like a little girl in German. Hilarious.
2) I went to go to the washroom, and took my ear plugs out to ask the security guard where the washroom was. After I take a leak, I am surrounded by 6 police officers who are accusing me of having drugs. Apperently the first guy mistook my ear plugs as drugs and radioed ahead to the others.
As I was getting searched I put my arms up, in typical pat down fashion, and the cop says: | quote: | | Sir, put down your arms, this is not America. |
I apologize, and he continued. Again I put my arms up: | quote: | | SIR, PUT YOUR AMRS DOWN, THIS IS NOT AMERICA |
The cop was super professional, and nice. Once he realised I was just there to listen to music, he let me go. Very impressed.
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