I don’t know what to begin with. The fact that I’m still in an extended recovery mode makes me realize that indeed, that was a truly monumental rave. Yes, ‘rave’! Everyone had been anticipating the night as one wholly progressive house treat. Yet it wasn’t only about genuine proggy music, but it also consisted of a striking mixture of various electronic music sounds that left most of us utterly flabbergasted.
Kicking off with our locals Diamond Setter & Jade, both DJs offered a high-pitched warm-up set introducing minor deep house elements mixed with heavy techy bass lines throughout their performance. Diamond Setter’s few opening tracks featured oriental sounds, which was followed by enchanting melodies dropped by Jade. They played few tracks with acapellas/vocals that kept the crowd dancing in the early hours. Not my favorite warmup though.
Nicksy (English presenter from NRJ) introduced Nick Warren as soon as the DJ took over decks. Nick Warren’s set was sheer mint, started off with a moderate standard of beats per minutefor the first thirty minutes and couldn’t last any longer until he dropped some techno beats with massive progressive house tracks in a successive manner. A particular track, with quite solid dark and swift beats reminded me of my best rave ever, the one where Nick Warren performed at alongside Juan Carbon in 2006 at the Old Train Station; that reminder offered a grand feeling and I benefited from every single minute of his set. He dropped some of Way Out West’s notorious productions, and of course his skillful Djing techniques made it sound as if tracks were re-produced or actually re-worked. Nick Warren closed his set with a stunning Electronica track which touched the crowd, and eventually paved the road for yet another journey with Hernan Cattaneo. Well done!
We were blessed to witness the Argentinean artist going back to his Latin–American roots and transporting Buenos Aires’ vivid spirit quite easily to Beirut city. It was fresh, sexy, danceable and most of all he presented a musical set of high caliber. Hernan Cattaneo released a moving intro as soon as he put his headphones on. You could feel the immense energy circulating around and lastly completing an elegant sequence of some charming affection shared and cherished by the crowd. It was mostly about progressive house music (his productions too ... some incorporated melodies, ear-catching loops) except for a couple astonishing interventions mid-way his mix. Again, Cattaneo has never ceased to impress me as a live Dj, thus I seriously got pleasure of every moment of his musical delicacy. I couldn’t fully listen to Hernan Cattaneo’s set since I had to leave, however I have a strong feeling that people ended up leaving the venue on wheel chairs.
As for Ali Ajami, I’d really appreciate if any of those who lasted longer and listened to the afterhours to give us a constructive feedback about Ali’s performance. The guy is talented and I love his music ever since he used to hold a residency in Boston. So yes, any comment about the closing set would be highly appreciated.
Lights were off the hook. Seriously I could stand on my terrace far away and watch the gorgeous purple-blue lights, and 4 gigantic spotlights directed towards the sky.
Lasers were incredibly wicked with their special effects.
The Dj-booth is just as trippy as an alien spaceship. Two separated LED cube-shaped material revealing crazy visuals synchronized with two projecting screens situated to the sides.
Sound system was great, it was also very clear in the V/VIP area.
Bars were easily accessible due to a good service. The security men were fair and polite.
The huge tent is just another rave-feeling material.
Crowd was hmm … good. Not at its best, not at its worse, just good.
Honestly, the only drawback I can come up with is that it was really crowded in both V/VIP sections.
Thank you Poliakov for such a mesmerizing gig, having listened to two of my favorite DJs on one single night is such a privilege.
happy crowd, almost no wazawiz, not a single fight. It reminded me of the A&B 2009 crowd. check the pix 
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Victoria Sylvestd was one of them, no? 
