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| quote: | Originally posted by skwallie
koroma, you played an awesome set and i don't care if you did play an anthem you mixed it up perfectly. you brought it down nicely right before marco v came on and you had the crowd going from start to finish. glad to be there to cheer you on!
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I'll sit here and agree with you that Koroma's set on its own was very good for the part I heard of it. I think tons of opener sets are awesome on their own. But as an opener, there is a job to do and there is a reason (and sometimes politics) to why there are things you do as an opener and things you don't do. And it goes for styles. I make a big deal about the BPM some openers edge up to, but in the end it's not about the BPM itself but the style the opener is playing along with the BPM. For example, if the headliner mainly plays melodic and/or vocal trance, the opener shouldn't dare get near 140bpm using that style of trance. Play a different style that in the aspect of the entire night goes well and the crowd enjoys, then I would say it's safe to edge to the mid-high 130s in the peak of your set (IE, 50-60 minutes before the headliner comes on) and then work on bringing it back down. A good example is when Taj and Dirtyheartz tag-teamed as an opener for Ferry months back at Ruby. They were playing good and hard, even playing Infected Mushroom - Becoming Insane, although it was played hella slow compared to its base 145bpm. Yeah, it was hard and fast but it was an rather different style than anything you'd hear from Ferry. And they played it like 45 minutes from the end of their set and they from that point brought it back down to a comfy setting for Ferry to continue off of. I remember Taj turning around and thinking I'd have a huge problem with it, but I never did. The style fit the moment of their set and they had PLENTY of time (a full 45+ minutes) to get hthings back down. I thought it was a good showcase of taking playing as an opener to edge, getting the crowd really into the night, and still setting Ferry up very well. I wouldn't trust many DJs to even try to do open nearly as powerful as they did and get things setup right int he end, but I thought their set that night was great. And even Spundae Founder, who will delay an headliners start time to get the opener to settle things down when necessary, thought they did a great job. OK, enough of that. Want to know what's ironic about this, I have seen Ferry arrive to the opener (not necessarily in SF) playing more housey and not nearly as fast, but just the banginess of the set caused a delay so the opener could ease things up. My point is that style has a lot to do with the quality of an opening set, not necessarily the BPM....damn, I'm getting way off track.
I've seen a couple instances where an opener was playing before their FAVORITE DJ but the opener thought they were playing too hard and just an improper style and that opener has not been allowed to open for that DJ since. And in both cases, I thought the opener's set on their own were AMAZING....but I do recall in one of the cases I was even telling someone that (even though it was a different style) they were playing a bit too hard and next thing I know the headliner shows up and then I see the promoter having to force the opener to slow things down causing the headliner to start about a half hour late and in the end cut his set time short by a half an hour. It sucked, but it was yet another sign of politics and how you simply need to make sure the headliner is happy.
But hey, at least up here in SF we aren't stuck with boring ass openers like I continuously see down in LA when I have seen trance acts there. ZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZ. Even with the downshift (iow: new crop) of openers in SF which are still working on getting experience and learning to adjust, still beats most of the crap I've down in SoCal as far as trance openers. No offense LATAs :0
Continuing, anthems are tracks that have the most powerful force in getting the crowd's attention. The opener's job is to get the crowd geared up for the headliner and set him in and not to necessarily play tracks in the attempt to be the star. In most cases, it's totally an innocent decision when deciding to play the track. I personally love the anthems, don't get me wrong, but when an opener plays it, it's a spotlight track and in my eyes (and note, all my opinions are mainly based off of just scouting crowd reactions, headliner reactions, etc, and not necessarily personal taste) shouldn't be played. I remember a discussion between Taj and I about something like this one and he pretty much said, "to me, the headliner should be able to outshine anything the opener plays." And I agree, but what people have to learn as that there are a LOT of politics when it comes to dealing with headliners. And if the headliner happens to catch a certain track the opener is playing that they aren't happy isn't being played, it could cause issues in the future. I've seen it happen on many instances in the past. In the end, the best openers out there play tracks they find on their own and play zero anthems.
Also, be sure to know what remixes the headliners have done and don't play some remix of the same track (ie. Feels like Home), nor play tracks the headliner is known to play. It's one thing to hear various remixes of a track at a massive, but it should never be heard twice in a club if at all possible. This isn't the end of the world (unless it's a remix of an anthem the headliner also has a remix of), but should be avoid when at all possible.
I think when you know when a opener has done an f'n amazing job is when the headliner comes up to them and asks them WTF is the track they are playing because the love it and don't know it themselves. It shows the openers really scouts and finds his tracks on his/her own. Or he or she produced something himself the headliner loves. Case in point, Ferry asking Dirtyhertz for his remix of is Orbtal - Halcyon ON ON ON ON ON ON . Dirtyhertz, GIMME. It wasn't even mastered yet and it was teh awesome. You said you'd hand it over once it was mastered, and that was months ago! I think, lol.
Anyhow, my point to this whole post is to 100% not take anything I say as criticism of the set by itself, but more of just notes about what an opener has done that effects the night or could have possibly effected the night. It might not have effect that night in particular, but unless they are told of the consequences of what they are playing could have, they will never know how to take preventative measure. I want anyone who has the opportunity to opener for a major act to succeed and about 90% of the shit I say is based off of what I've seen in the past and experiences I've been around. An opener may be able to play what he wants and get away with it for some time, but one or two incidents where it effects the promoters or headliners mood can really fuck up your placement as an opener for major acts in this scene.
People might not see it, but politics in the EDM world are scary sometimes.
Now only if I would stop being a wuss and accept an opening gig sometime. Yeah, I'm a wuss and afraid I'll have to eat my own words because I do think in some cases the opener gets caught up in the night and gets beyond even what he or she was intending to play...so scared of falling into that trap. 
Someone give me a recording device so I can record the sets I play out of Ableton via a mixer. So hard to get a macbook from work on the weekends these days and too poor to buy anything lol.
Last edited by DaveT on Oct-08-2007 at 05:18
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but apparently i was passed out in Timmy's car. I do remember getting to the club and asking the hot asian bar tender Lisa for a quick fuck (yes its a real drink!) but she didnt know how to make it or had a missing ingredient 
) rendering me undriveable. sounds like i missed a phenomenal show though 
NO blakhorse it wasn't me who got Gilbert drunk 
I like the mixture of house and trance you provided! EXCELLENT!!! 
definitely next time!
