I got to BIEL really early, around 11.30 or so, I was looking forward to hearing madjam. He had kicked off his set on a deep house note, it didnt take him long before he shifted to the melodic and groovy techno cuts. He played some proggie too (which I didnt really think fitted well), and alot of tech house, which the dominant genre in his set. The tracks that I can remember are : "Alex Tepper - Grains (TG remix)", "Timo Mass - Kensei" and I think he played "Eelke Kleign - Dopamine Theory (Dub)" and maybe "Einmusik - Magdalena", and "Mark Knight - From The Speaker", there were alot of tracks that i recognized but I cant remember the names.
Sander came on. He couldnt start with a more cliche, "Ladies and Gentlemen ... im your dj ... were gonna kick things off with a kick ...". For a while he played pure house cuts, reminiscent of the pure chicago house vibe. The happy house, with happy vocals and cheerful melodies. It took me back, and I was loving it, despite the fact that it got quite commercial at points. Sander kept shifting genres, he went over all the spectrum of house music, from the funky to the pure house, to proggie, all while covering tribal, tech, techno and some electro (nothing cheesy though). All the vocals were displayed on the gaint screens, but the VJ didnt do anything out of the world, in fact for most of the set he was just walking around the booth drinkin and jokin with sander and others. But what I found amazing is how the vocals and lyrics were displayed in sync, but there was no apparent connection between the decks and the VJ's laptop. Here some of the tracks I remember:
"Chris Moody, Relight Orchestra - Work It To The Bone (Masi & Mello Rework Mix)"
"Satoshie Tommie - Youve Got to Believe (ID Mix)" - It might not even be Satoshie Tommie's version but the accapella probably.
"Cevin Fisher & Paul Harris - Deliver Me (ID Remix)"
"Sebastian Ingrosso feat. Laidback Luke - Chaa Chaa (Original Mix)"
"Arno Cost Vs. Shakedown - Night Apocalypse (Memento Sandro-B.Re-Work)"
"Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up (D-Nox vs Beckers Remix)"
"Ladytron - Destroy everything you touch (invol2ver remix)"
"Dirty South - The End"
Very commercial when you read it again, but he blended it well, id give sander a 7/10.
Gunther and stamina where amazing. They played "Ladytron - DET (Invol2ver)" again, and I think gunther played "KAN-Rat in The Hole", and I think he also dropped "Tatto - Bony". By that time I couldnt even think, but their set was out of this world. A full on techno/prog tribal track. Gunther even went on a dreamy crazy of melodic techno that got everyone flyin, what a set!
The setup was awful for me. MixFm did not go out of there way to deliver anythin special here (apart from the 2 gaint LEDs and tens of old skool world war I TVs!). Instead of the normal BIEL indoor venue, they went for the tent outside. Ive been to a couple of gigs in this tent, but it always has the same problem, sound echoing! It was terrible in the beginning of the gig when there was no one, got better as the crowd filled up, but it remained in the back and sides. I managed to grab a hold of one of the sound guys, I was like mate the sound is echoing, he was like if you face the speaker you wont hear it and then he just walked away, what a proon! The security guys were even more knobish, they delibratly tried to start a fight with one of the guys in the front. The crowd were not bad, better than normal, but it was like 80-85% guys, i felt like it was gaypride Beirut to be honest. Not as many emos as there noramlly is though.
I left there around 6.30 am, G&S were still going! It was a pretty good night, not one of the more memorable ones, but for all the house purists who understand the start of the chicago house movement of the 70s and 80s and the house in its purest and rawest forms, they can appreciate Sander's set. Id give the night as a whole a 6/10.
Here's some photos that I took:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... =127101236