Lebanon was eagerly waiting for this event and tickets were selling on the fly. I arrived around 11 PM and the place was already packing up with the masses. The security at the very beginning was very strict and this is a very positive sign of rules enforcement. Even if you look like my grandpa you MUST show your ID or you will be denied entrance. The organization of the place inside was unique. The VIP are at the outer layer (high elevation) then followed by the VVIP (medium elevation) and in the middle the Regular (ground). From a bird view it is a U-Shape which spreads all over Biel! This shape will show its magic later when Armin's imagine messages start to broadcast. I will come to this later. When I arrived my friend Amadeus was wrapping up his opening set for DJ Remy to start the warm up for the man of the night AvB. I didn't have the chance to hear much of the opening so I'll leave it for someone else to review it. As for the warm up I can safely say that DJ Remy did a great job as he slowly puts us in the mood for Armin to blow us away. At this time the place was PACKED as in maybe 15,000? I am not sure but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the official figure of the attendees announced by the organizer. As soon as Armin stepped on the booth our friend MadJam introduced him and everyone went crazy! Not only had the clubbers gone crazy but also BIEL. The lighting, fireworks, go-go dancers, lasers & visuals were determined to make this night a memorial one. The imagine messages added the AvB flavor and reminded me of his set in Los Angeles USA at New Year's Eve. I would like to thank the VJ deeply from my heart for his amazing work in synchronizing some tracks with its official video clip. Kudos you did a great job! Now I will return to the U-shape I mentioned previously and promised to get back to. There was a period I would like to flashback to so maybe you will visualize yourself in the moment we lived in. It goes like this:
Visual messages: Imagine a world with no light...
Visual messages: What would it be like? (At this point BIEL is completely DARK!)
Visual messages: Please put your hands in the air
Visual messages: Use the light of your cellular
and guess what? Everyone responded and the view was BREATH TAKING! The U-shaped made this moment a historic one. I only hope Mix FM took a video feed for this event because it can be easily made into a DVD and am sure many including myself will buy one. Another moment to tackle is the fireworks. I remember a youtube link my friend Mazen gave me for DJ Preach in Holland where at the very beginning of his set fireworks flew over the clubbers back & forth. Back then I wondered when we will have this in Lebanon. Last Saturday it came true. Fireworks missiles whistled above the regular area back & forth at different intervals. It was simply perfect! Overall Mix FM, BO 18 and everyone behind this event did a splendid job. The degree of professionalism & the obvious HARD work put into this event proved fruitful.
With all the positive aspects of this event there are some negative ones that are worth mentioning. First and most important is the sound coverage in the VIP area. Some areas of the VIP are out of range. I've also noticed (after 3 AM) few BO 18 staff getting tipsy/drunk and partying ignoring the VIP customer's requests. Last but not least, I was surprised with the fact that Armin did some technical errors. Although personally I don't care but a man of his caliber should be flawless.
Until next time stay cool, party hard & drive back home safe
in addition to the event's traditional points (music, organization, sound, etc...)
