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*** ---> Official Review - CREAM Weekend <--- *** (pg. 2)
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| Skipper |
well I did not go to cream, but I was in Mtl this weekend....the only party I went to was on the island, and it was nice to see FLOORWHORE getting back to his techno addict roots! Leave it to Miss B to get ya movin again ;)
I had a great weekend in Mtl, absolutely fantastic. On Sunday I went to sleep realizing all I had consumed all day was birthday cake, leftover poutine, and about 6 beer. I heard Barbara spin for 6 hours on an island, outside, with a terrific view of the city. *this party kicked cherry beach's ass 10 times over!* I went to three strip joints in one night. I ate in some fantastic restaurants. I came home with 10 new records.
Perfect end of summer weekend away! :D |
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| Pixiechick |
| quote: | Originally posted by Swamper
I'll write something up tomorrow as well.. but.. for a quick summary.. WOW |
What he said ;)
Soooo tired and have to be in class in about 1 1/2 hours, so all I'll say for now is that it was wicked to see Toronto peeps here in Montreal, and I had a fantabulous weekend! :cool: |
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| crazedcanuck |
I have a bunch of meetings before my shift tonight... but all I can say is..
THANK YOU to Montreal!! Such a fantastic and unique place to be, from the people to the music.
And as much as I never cared for Deep Dish from what I've seen of them @ Guv.. they played a in BREAKS set for nearly the last 3/4 of it after opening a bit slow.. they absolutely kicked my ass, and kept me and Jeff there until 12:30pm Monday or so...
Entire weekend replay tonight kids.
I feel owie |
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| ShAwZy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sly_Guy
before I write a review tomorrow I first wanna thank you FunKenLouis, and Malek for taking such good care of us this weekend, next time either one of you guys are in town let us know and I'm sure we'll take you out for drinks. |
No , I owe these two guys many thanks for the help they've given over the past couple years. Second to none.
So hello...... this is the party I really wanted to hear about, where are these reviews (and pics)!!! |
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| Sly_Guy |
Aight, for the first long review where I'll do my best to tell everything.
As most of you know, dave clarke cancelled on us. Dave clarke notwithstanding, we decided to go to Aria anyway, and after checking out a sweet little pub a short walk away from the club [thank you Malek, that place was sweet. Perfect patio, and chillin place for a few BEvERageS before heading out], we decided to go in for our night at aria on an extremely discounted price for a night of local techno with DJ Preach. Since this was my first night of hearing a purely techno set in about 5 years, I had almost forgotten how much of a toll it takes on your body. The beat never drops, ceaseless pounding, driving beats, to which my body was shaking to for almost the entire night. 7am rolls around and some of the group has left, Preach is just on the decks, and myself, aaron, jeff, rob, find ourselves partying with a group of maritimers who are also in town for CREAM. Myself, Jeff and Aaron close the club down at 11am, and the one thing of note about montreal party-goers, is that they always stay late. Even in the late hours of the morning the club was mostly full to see a local DJ kick his set. Such a great party atmosphere.
Saturday was a write off, I woke up sometime around 6pm, I think I got some food, came back and crashed a little bit longer. Everyone seemed to go out saturday night for a little drinking, but knowing that I wanted to go hardcore the next day, I personally stayed in.
Sunday, We headed out to see misstress barbara at a park on a nearby island with a fantastic view of the city. I must say this was the coolest idea for an outdoor party and the perfect warm-up for CREAM. Picnic electronik as it was called was basically a party during the afternoon where for $5, you could dance the afternoon away with one of the best vibes I've experienced in a long time. Misstress barbara came on, and immeditely started kicking it with some good ol' fashioned house music. It was long before I scrapped the idea of taking it easy at the park and found myself getting my groove on on the dancefloor for a many a hours. Somehow, I think Jeff was feeling the same groove I was as he seemed to be busting it just as hard as I was. As the sun was going down and the other TA's decided to get back to the hotel chill and get ready for CREAM, I found it hard to leave the 2 montreal natives that seemed to not want to leave either the party or by my side as we were dancing. Jeff and I stayed until about 8:15, figuring misstress barbara must have been winding down and food was a good idea before hitting up another marathon in the name of CREAM. So jeff said his goodbyes to misstress B, and I waved an goodbye as well, as we felt she had done a great job at the party.
Get back to the hotel, have just enough time to eat and shower, and then head off to CREAM. Get into the place at [hell I'm not even so sure] but just past 11-ish, and after a fairly short line we see the setup to which would be the best large scale party I've ever been to. The lower level stands were all open for lots of chilling space, the speakers were pumping out some serious decibels, the speaker stacks must have been about 15 feet tall each, and although the sound slightly echoed toward the back of the floor, anytime you got above the floor, and for a small section toward the precise middle, I thought they did a fantastic job bringing the sound to the masses given that it was a hockey arena. The place filled up quickly, and in what seemed like an instant, the whole floor of the arena was FULL of people going nuts to the sounds of Desyn. Hard pounding tribal was the start, right up my alley for getting my groove on. Although the dancefloor was full, it was never so full you found yourself continually slamming into other back and arms. Digweed followed, and I can understand why some people may not have liked his set, but I find it hard to review a digweed set immediately after listening to it. I have to chill, let it sit in my head a while, and allow all the tracks he plays to eventually be released before I can actually say 'wow what a cool job he did'. To me, John did a good job and never let me down. During this portion of the night, I found a lot of the TAs running to and from the dancefloor and me, being the maniac that I am, refused to elave and just ended up chillin out and grooving with erika and her friends. Thank you erika for chillin out with me during this time of the night, and you guys are truely party goers. And whoever the NYTA was there with us [sorry I don't remember your name], but you were cool as well, hope you come out to more of our events in future. Towards the end I went to grab more water in the bathroom [which were only dispensing warm water which was terrible] ran into jeff and we booked it to the front of the floor right in front of the booth where we found teh sound was the best in time for sander to come on. What can I say about sander....For me, the best set of the night, easily. Killing it with massive tracks, heavy basslines, and crazy remixes. I don't know what to say, other than sander plays VERY differently when he's in montreal than when he's in toronto, for some reason, he just seems to destroy montreal dancefloors, and tonight was no exception. He kept me going the entire time, without even so much as a hitch in exaustion up until ferry came on. Ferry's first couple of tracks were really hard, and a good cool down from the madnes that was sander k, and after the first little bit jeff and I took a little walk to the back got some more water, ran into graham and aaron and decided to take a little time to chill out in the stands. Chilled out for the almost the entire set of ferry's to save some steam for the dish. After the first little bit of the dish or so, graham aaron and I went back to the fron of the floor, and started grooving again, however for me, the weight of the weekend was beginning to hit me and I decided to go chill in the stands for a bit by myself, and almost found myself pasing out. Fortunately there was a girl dancing in the stairway a couple rows down from me with the sexiest little wiggle in the way she moved and I kept awake by watching her for a little bit. I know it might have seemed like I disappeared for the deep dish set but the rest of that story is not for TranceAddict, but anyone wanting to know the rest I'll fill you in a next time I see you. As far as I could tell, I felt Ali's part of the deep dish set was not my style, and they would have done far better to throw Sharam on first as he was throwing down much harder, driving sexy-cool tracks I know and love the deep dish for. Anyway, noon passes, the party begins to wind down and I find myself observing montreal's party atmosphere once again. It's the end of the party, and the place is still pretty much full. The afterhours party is being advertised, and I'm thinking this town is destroy me. We leave the party just in time for the start of another picnic electronik, but unfortunately I didn't go as my ride was leaving right away.
So thanks again for everyone who came out with me, big thanks to malek and louis, those maritimers, the DJs, and anyone else I met that weekend. Big thumbs up for sure.
BeB anyone? |
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| infinity HiGH |
^^^
that was a short review! |
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| DigiNut |
Friday: died and went to techno heaven (Dave who!?) after knocking a few back on the coolest patio ever and eating some wicked poutine.
Saturday: spent most of the day recovering from the self-inflicted bodily abuse, then smoked meat and chilled at two "lookout points" that had almost as good a view of Montreal as the CN tower does of Toronto. Woke up to the best croissant I ever tasted.
Sunday Afternoon: supremely funky outdoor techno/house party with Mistress Barbara on a beautiful island with the sun shining and a crowd of at least 1000+ all going off, and watched some of their 6-year-old kids break to the beats! :eyes: Try to find THAT in Toronto!
Sunday Night: OUT OF THIS ING WORLD experience that was at least as good as anything I've heard about the 1999 raves. Music was bang-on and beyond excellent with trippy visuals and/or pyro everywhere, body surfing, heart-thumping but surprisingly painless bass, going up to the stands and watching more than 10,000 people flipping out and giving one of the biggest collective light shows I've ever seen, beautiful French girls covering every foot of the dance floor, all accompanied by the best group I have ever been so fortunate to party so hard with.
In summary: this weekend was everything it was hyped up to be and a bag of potato chips. Aside from my cranky sleep-deprived stupor on the drive home, I can remember nothing but sheer joy from the entire trip. I only wish that sleep was not such a harsh mistress and that we could have spent more time running around the city.
I have to add that none of this would have been possible without the totally awesome group that I made the trip with, as well as our own Montreal accomplices (Malek, Louis, and Erika) who helped us to stay out of trouble - or get into trouble, however you want to look at it! ;) I cannot think of a more perfect party crew - thank you all for the most surreally fantastic long weekend.
BLOWN AWAY and signing off,
Aaron (Captain Curly)
P.S. BIG UP THE TRAFFIC LIGHT CREW!
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| Chinaman |
Alright, I've recovered enough to write a review:
What can I say? What an amazing weekend! This has definetly been the highlight of my summer. There's no better way to end the season partying in one of the coolest cities in North America.
Even though Dave Clarke bailed on his Canadian tour, that didn't stop us from going to Aria on Friday night. But before that, just walking down Ste. Catherines and seeing how busy and hectic it was, that was a nice way to check out the city.
The pub at Ste. Elisabeth & Ste. Catherine was a great choice by Malek and Louis. Even though it looked like it was in the seediest spot in the city, that patio in the back was awesome. Too bad I didn't bring the camera out on that! Just imagine 3 towering walls covered in ivy and a few lights on the wall pointing upward. It was like you were boozin' in the Dark Ages! :D
Next on the agenda, Sambuca shots from Malek's trunk!! Nothing compares to drinking liqour from within a plastic bag from somebody's trunk. Good times, indeed! :cool:
So then, on to Aria. Again, Louis and Malek did a wicked job by hooking us TOTAs up and basically getting us all into the club for $8.50 / person! Though the arrival of Jeff and myself was delayed by a mistake on guestlist. This lead to the people inside sending me a text message asking, "Where r u". I was with Jeff, Malek, Alex & Andy at the local Shawarma shop and responded with, "I got busted." This would later lead to everyone getting revenge on me on Saturday night.. :clown:
After finishing their meals, the 5 of us went into Aria at about 3:30am. I haven't been there since this past January and I forgot how small of a club it was. In any case, DJ Mini was busting out some good techno until Yaz came on. He definetly cranked it up a notch and the place was going nuts! :toothless
Also during Yaz's set, we ended up meeting a crew of people from Halifax who were also in town for Cream. I broke the news to them that Dave Clarke cancelled and they didn't believe me at first! But they were an awesome bunch, hardcore partiers indeed! ;) And Malek, thanks again for letting me in the booth, it was pretty cool to see the floor go wild from that perspective! :p
Oh well, Graham, Erika and I left at about 7am, moments before Preach stepped up to the decks. So unfortunately I can't comment on how good Preach was but I've heard some rave reviews!
On Saturday, I did a bit of exploring, took a bunch of pics of Old Montréal and stuff. But as Sly_Guy said, Saturday was pretty much a write off for everyone, especially Jeff, Aaron & Andy since they stayed until 11:00am, when Aria closed! :eek:
On Saturday night, Malek made the suggestion to take pics from Mont Royal and so we did. Huge thanks to Erika for driving us there, Bellevue is an amazing spot to overlook downtown!
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday... Well, Piknic Electronik was the pre-party from 1pm - 8pm and then the big event: Cream, 10pm - 12pm! I must say, the party at Parc Jean-Drapeau on île Ste. Hélène is the perfect spot to have an outdoor event. Not only do you have an amazing view of the downtown core, there are so many people out! I'd kill to have something like this EVERY Sunday afternoon! The pictures tell the story the best but what I thought was really neat about this weekly event was that people bring their children (2 yrs and older), it's $5 to get in and everybody is smoking weed! :D
I think Yaz was on when we arrived at about 2:30 and he was pumping out some good beats. Misstress Barbara came on at about 3:30 - 4:00 and started off with some house. She later progressed to more techno later on. Whenever she's in town next, I'm definetly going to see her. The dancefloor was groovin', Misstress B was definetly feeding off the crowd! :toocool: Once again, the Halifax crew made it down too, it was great to see them out again! :)
So, most of us left at 7:00 to grab some food and shower before Cream. I'd say we left our hotel at 10:30 and were in the Bell Centre at 11:00. I wish I brought my damn camera but I was told they'd give you a hard time during the search with it so it was better not to bring it. I'm hoping Malek or another MTLTA was able to snap a few pics of the Bell Centre.
The setup was AMAZING!!! It was absolutely massive inside. As Andy said, you could sit in the stands in the lower bowl, that was pretty cool. The sound was flawed at the back due to the echo so if you were there, it'd sound like a trainwreck all the time. :nervous:
If you can imagine, 8000+ people in the stands but mostly on the dancefloor which by 11:30 was packed, it is definetly something you have to see in person to believe! :eyespop:
Musically speaking, Sander Kleinenberg came out as the best act there, hands down! Desyn and Diggers were okay but Sander took it to the next level. I remember him playing Daft Punk's - Revolution 909 and a dance remix of Blur's - Song 2 <-- :D That got the crowd into a frenzy!!!
As for my hero, Ferry Corsten, he played a very hard set in comparison to what he's been spinning for the past 8 months. Though his second hour was more on par with his recent sets, by that I mean he played a lot of his tracks, the first hour was pounding. I guess with a MTL crowd, you have to play harder! :haha:
And yes, that NYTA that was with Erika's friend, you are the man. We both started going nuts when Ferry's remix of Force of Gravity was dropped. SICK CHOON! :D I remember Ferry also played a Binary Finary track, "Synaethesia", "It's Time", "Sweet Sorrow", "Punk", "Rock Your Body, Rock", "Right of Way" and a few others. He was off the decks at 8:30 when Deep Dish took over.
By that time I was dead. Oh yeah, we ran into the Halifax crew once again!
In any case, I left the Bell Centre at 12:00pm when Deep Dish threw on the classic, "Nothing (93 Returning Mix)". I was just too tired to go on... :eyes:
So yeah, after being awake from 10am Sunday morning and leaving MTL 1 hour after Cream and arriving back in Toronto at 7pm and finally going to bed at 10pm Monday night, it was a pretty insane 36 hours! :eek:
As for shout-outs and thank yous:
Malek - thanks for taking the time to show us around and party with us. Also, those posters and flyers from Aria are awesome, they're going up in my room!
Louis - you definetly helped us TOTAs out in a big way and in the past. it was great to have finally met you and put a face to a name.
Erika - great to see you again! The weekend wouldn't have been the same without you. Thanks for the hugs too! :)
Halifax Crew (Erin, Brendan, Brent & Jen) - you guys are hardcore closing out Aria, Picnik Electronik & Cream!!! Not to mention the 12 hour drive from Halifax... I thought 6 was bad enough!!! Email me so I can send you the pics.
TOTA crew - we definetly had a solid crew. I'm really happy that everything went well and it was cool to get to know you all a little better!
I'm totally coming out to Bal en Blanc and hopefully I'll have a chance to come to Montréal a few more times before Easter rolls around! ;)
...Sorry about the novel :stongue:
***Pics in the next post***
EDIT - I almost forgot: I finally met Del (Swamper) and Sarah (Skipper) :D |
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| Chinaman |
Here are some pictures:
Jeff's shirt the night after Aria:
Andy after Aria:
"If you guys like it hard, check out Motorcycle at Dome on Saturday!" - That sketch promoter outside of the SAQ
You can't go to MTL without having Smoked Meat:
[L to R] Dina, Aaron, Erika, Graham & Rob at Bellevue:
A shot of downtown MTL from Bellevue, Mont Royal:
Old Montréal, some massive market:
Notre-Dame Basilica:
Directly across Notre-Dame:
Picnik Electronik at Parc Jean-Drapeau, île Ste. Hélène:
The crew:
Yaz on the decks:
Yaz again but Misstress B is in the back:
The dancefloor at the Picnic:
Misstress Barbara at the wheel:
Partygoers:
Another shot of the dancefloor:
The view from île Ste. Hélène:
More crowd shots, you can see Sarah in the red shirt on the left, Graham too:
Here's a better picture with Sarah, Rob & Andy:
DigiNut & Sly_Guy:
DJ Mini & Rob:
Erika!!!
Myself & Graham:
Part of the Halifax Crew (Jen, Brent & Erin):
Andy & Erin:
Another part of the Halifax Crew (Erin, Rob, Me, Brendan & Jen):
I'll post my video of Misstress B once I figure out a way to host it! |
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| Floorwhore |
This weekend was the most hyped up weekend ive ever been a part of. Not only because of Cream, but also because it was my first time in the city. You could also say Misstress Barbara at Piknic Electronik and Aria had something to do with it as well. Then another factor was i was a fraction of an inch from not going at all, with my sister getting in a serious accident. All of these factors made this weekend an unforgetable experience.
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Friday night we arrive to Montreal, check into our small yet efficient hotel. Took a little nap, then hit the town. First thing you notice in this city is the ladies. My god. I felt like such a dirty but i couldnt help but look. We hit a little pub, scarfed down some fish n' chips and beer. We then hit Saint Catherine street and walked for quite a bit. Lots of action all over the place, even the Montreal Film Festival was going on. Probebly the most surreal environment ive ever witnessed as our group walked in front of a big screen showing a spanish ballroom dance movie with THOUSANDS of frenchies just sitting there in awe. So wierd. Went back to the hotel where we met Erika and Malek. We hit the town again, this time our destination was a little pub style place. We were meeting Louis there, and at first glance, this place was beyond ghetto. We head straight to the patio - and what a setting it was. The walls of the building surrounding us were around 50 feet high, completely covered in vines. The lighting was dim, and there were little trees amongst the tables we sat. So nice. Got pretty faced there, and after some "trunk sambuca" we head over to Aria.
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We arrive to Aria. From the outside, this place looks like an abanded building. But after entering we witnessed what an established after hours scene is supposed to look like. Very dark, underground feel to this place. Great sound (although its not as good as Boa), and an excellent setup. The people really go hard. The music, even though it was all local - was top notch. Mini started out things perfectly with a nicely crafted tech-electro set that got our whole crew rocking out from the get go. It was about this time where i met a girl from Halifax (Erin) with her crew. Once introduced to our whole TOTA group, the connection was made, and the journey began. We danced our asses silly, to the point where i started to think i may need surgury to repair my left foot. Mini finished off her wonderful set, and Yaz followed where she began, but took us to the dark side. Still with electro influenced sounds, but more on the techno side of things. With the exception of one VERY LARGE trainwreck, he spun a gem of a set and it was a perfect intro to the main event....Preach. This guy is a superstar in his own right. The second he took to the decks, you felt his presence. His style was so unique, and track selection was flawless. Probebly the best techno set i have ever heard. We rocked it out right until close (11:00am). So much for taking it easy. Crashed by noon, and was a write off for all of Saturday and that evening.
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Sunday i woke up from my deep slumber completely out of it and still aching from Friday. Went to Mister Steer for two medium rare burgers, then proceeded to the Subway to hit Piknic Electronik. What a concept!! I cant tell you how refreshing this was. To be able to soak in the sun, relax with friends in a relaxing environment, and listen to great music was something i have never experienced before to this degree. The diversity of the crowd was too cool, especially seeing young parents out with their little kids dancing their little butts off! With all this being said, lets get to the music.......
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Dj Yaz started things off around 1:00pm, a lot more chill than he was for his previous set at Aria (on Friday night). Electro influenced house, with a hint of funk. Very appropriate track selection, not only to warmup Barbara, but to start the day off in the sun proper! I recognized a few tracks, cant id any of them - but i definately recall him playing two tracks off of Coleridge's march mix (disc one). He spun a little longer than expected and MB*BB hits the decks around 4:30.
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Immediately Barbara's impact is felt as the whole crowd goes complete ape!!! By this time the whole P.E. area is packed, people pounding back the wine, and puffin on doobs as if they were cigarettes. I swore to myself i wouldnt spend too much energy on this day (with Cream happening immediately after), but i should've known better. Absolutely smokin set by Barbara. The softest set ive ever heard of hers, but by soft i dont mean light n fluffy. It was just funky-ass-shakin, fun, house music. Her signature latin sounds were felt througout, but she also tossed in a little electro and techno as well. I think the best reaction to a track from the crowd had to be the Scumfrog track mixed with Kelis' Milkshake vocals. Man that was a fun track!! As the set progressed, i couldnt help but notice....the crowds energy was not letting up!!??? It's now close to 8pm, the place is still rammed, and now Barbara is taking us on a bit of a techno trip (much to the likings of Sarah). I stayed til about 9 o'clock, but wouldve stayed right til the end if it wasnt for my Montreal pizza craving and the fact that Cream started in less than an hour. Oh well, so much for saving energy. Nice seeing Skipper, and Rude124_7 bustin it out all day. Looks like ill be back in Montreal for Labour Day weekend for part two of MB*BB @ P.E. next year.
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Now come the jitters. Not too sure if it was the fact i'd been partying all day, or if it was just excitement from Cream being just a half hour away. Threw down a couple pieces of Pizza, then head over to the Bell Centre. Enter the building quite quickly and was in complete awe of the massive dance floor below us. As soon as we hit the floor, i immediate noticed how strong the bass was. Almost took your breath away when you stood close enough to the speakers. Alan Vinet was a good warmup, but really was blown away by Mr. Masiello. Jesus this guy can rock a crowd. He came on at 11:30, and by judging the reaction to the crowd you wouldve thought it was 3:00 at the peak of the party. Dirty, chuggy, prog house that just set me off. Even though his set was kinda short, definately one of my favs of the night. Digweed came on, and at this point the place is livid. So bumpin and full of energy, and EVERYONE was dancing. Something you never see in Toronto. And when its 10,000+ people dancing at the same time, its something that cannot be described in words, but must be witnessed. Digweed got quite dark at times, and his basslines killed me. Then came Sander. For about an hour, i was kind of just feelin him out, not really going full out. But after a little toot on the doobie, Mr. Floorwhore hit the floor and completely went off. I was joined by Andy (Slyguy), and we took to the front stage. It was like an electronic soultrain, people facing off in friendly dance battles trading smiles and gestures and just letting off the best vibe ive ever been a part of. After Sander finished, Ferry came on. I was still going pretty hard at this point, and for the first 3 tracks i was still tearing it up. But realized i would have to save a little bit of energy for Deep Dish, as they were slotted to play for four hours. We sat in the stands, for almost his whole set - i then took to the floor to psych myself up for the journey Deep Dish was about to take me on. Un-ing-Believable. Sleep Dish they were not. So upbeat, lacing us with their patented out of the blue basslines, the boys from DC were in top notch form. Dirty progressive house at its finest, with a hint of tribal, trance, and even breaks (much to Rob's liking). Proceeded to spend every single ounce of energy i possessed, and then some. Stayed right until the lights came on (12:15pm), and Rob and i, the only survivers from our crew, made our way to the exits.
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This party wouldnt have been half as good if it wasnt for the great people in our crew. Graham, Rob, Aaron, Andy, Perrin, Alex, Dee, Erika, Malek, Louis, and the Foursome from Halifax (Brendon, Brent, Jen & Erin). This was truly a wonderful experience, and though ive typed alot, word cannot fully describe how good this weekend really was. Til next time Montreal - Keep it rockin, and keep the dancefloor wet for me.....ill be back sooner than later. |
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| bluE_Neon |
| Wicked reviews everybody, I religiously envy parties @ Montreal now :whip: |
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| Sly_Guy |
^^^
Hey jeff, I was there when the lights came on as well dude!!
I was just didn't want to be found! |
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