Review: Cosmic Gate and John 00 Fleming at FDB (13-03-2010)

[A-Cube]

Saturday night, Lebanon's clubbers were set to witness two milestones in the Trance music industry. Two names that had yet to be given the deserved exposure in a country that has seen over a hundred names paying it a visit.

I arrived at the venue at 12h30, Jade and Diamond Setter were delivering a pumping set that was obviously getting the crowd going. I just got to hear their ending, but judging from the reaction, the guys were doing a good job. First thing I noticed about the venue was the simple but efficient lighting, nothing too fancy, but enough to put on a good show. As for the sound system, I found the distribution to be satisfying since you could hear clearly whatever your position is on the dance floor (then again, I speak from a personal point of view since I am no expert in the field). I enjoyed the overall setup which obviously was looking to put more emphasis on the music that was being played.

At 12h45, the time had come for Cosmic Gate to make their entrance. Having not been in touch with the trance sound for quite a while now, I couldn't ID any track that was played by the duo. The first hour or so was not exactly my cup of tea with a lot of vocal trance and mellow breakdowns, but the crowd was obviously having a blast while singing along every track. The 2nd hour was much more ear-pleasing for me, with more edgy material being pumped. In their set, Nic and Bossi managed to satisfy the crowd's various needs. A job well done by the duo even if I was hoping that they play a couple of their classics.

All of that was really nice and cute. But for me and a lot of others, the night was all about a bald-headed legend that was finally handed a decent time-table to deliver one of his trademark sets. And what a set that was. All I ever heard about John was nothing but rave reviews (mainly from the horniest 00 fan in here: Gen), and all I can say is that this guy more than delivered. I have honestly never seen a more fluid set. The only DJ who wowed me from this perspective was Ferry, but now there is a new name in town. From the beginning to the very end, John 00 Fleming kept the crowd on their feet dancing as if there were no tomorrow. I thought I had seen it all before last night. The legend lived up to its reputation. His music, his interaction with the crowd, everything was perfect. John made a great night even greater. I could not ID more than one track sadly (Sub 6 - Down 'n' Out). Unfortunately I could not stay for Dio's set because my feet could not carry anymore. But knowing our guy, I have no doubts he delivered a terrific set and made the after-hours experience a memorable one yet again.

All in all, it had been a while since I last attended a gig, but last night was definitely worth the wait. Poliakov and NRJ are definitely forging a solid reputation alongside the big guns of the industry. And with a double-header Warren/Cattaneo lurking around the corner. It can only get better.

Pros:
-Cosy set up
-Great music
-A full venue at peak time
-Very good organization
-Psychedelic finally making an appearance as a main set in a large-scale event

Cons:
-Whenever the DJs came up on stage, they were not announced by an MC or something
-The crowd started fleeing midway through John's set. Not everyone can absorb the music I guess.

Finally thanks to everyone especially the organizers, Shy--Ism, Dion, Rima, TranceFusion, Robert, TRANCED, Serj, and anyone I stumbled upon during that night that I failed to remember here.

Until the next one.

[TranceFusion]

Gen, sorry for not giving a more detailed review, but i have one word and one word only that might be enough to convince you how fantastic our legend was last night:





I took around 12 videos of JOOF's 2h set, they will be uploaded between today and tomorrow!

[ziz00_909]

Finally..the much awaited night have arrived.. i still can't believe what been going on yesterday..!!

I arrived at the Venue at around 12.. Jade & Diamond Setter were kicking it with some Groovy Tech-House and Techno Tracks.. and really knew how to work out the crowd during the warmup.. as thousands were arriving.. Their Performance were Great.. did their part really Good..

at 12:45 the Trance Duo arrived.. entered the stage.. taking over Jade's Last Track.. and after a small pause.. they Started Banging Those Trance Tracks.. 1st Hour was All Vocals i guess.. to get the Crowd starting. Everyone was singing along. The atmosphere was great.. 2nd hour was less about the Vocals and more about those Tech-Trance Tracks.. the powerful flow was still there..keeping everyone on their feet.. tho i hoped they'd play "Exploration of Space" or "Analog Feel"..
some tracks played.. to mention :

Cosmic Gate Feat Kyler England - Flatline (Kyau Vs Albert Remix)
Fabio Xb & Ronnie Play ft Gabriel Cage - Inside Of You (Cosmic Gate Remix)
James Horner feat Leona Lewis - I See You (Cosmic Gate Club Mix)
Marcus Schossow and Reeves feat. Emma Hewitt - Lights (Mike Shiver’s Garden State Mix)
Nic Chagall - This Moment (Prog. Mix)
Cosmic Gate feat Aruna - Under Your Spell
Cosmic Gate feat Emma Hewitt - Not Enough Time
Cosmic Gate vs. Armin van Buuren - F.A.V. Rain (Armin van Buuren Mashup)
Jes - Love Song (? Remix)
John OCallaghan feat Sarah Howells - Find Yourself (Original Mix)


And Then Came The Moment I was Waiting For.. the Reason i Attended this Gig.. here he is: Mr. JOHN 'OO' FLEMING!!!!
and i have to say OMFG what a Set That Was..!!!!
Even know i didn't know Much About this Guy.. and i only had a slim image of his music.. threw the Sets I have and some of his releases..
But After witnessing what happened this very early morning.. from about 3:45 till 6 or so.. i can Safely Say that that was probably The BEST Live Set Performance I Listened to in my modest Clubbing Experience..
From Minute One till the Last One.. i never Danced that hard in any Rave..even know i was Dead Tired and so did all the others.. the Music was Amazing.. not the usual Electronics that we're used to.. but Something New.. and that was the holiness of It..

The Guy just Doesn't Stop.. whenever u reach that moment were you think he can't go any higher than this..then BANG.. More to Come.. much more powerful and much more appreciated by the crowd..
Small Image about the set..: Mr. Fleming started with a slow 2minute intro.. and then he went All Progressive.. for about 45mins.. at that time.. IDing a Track was out of the question.. And Then.. there it was the Track that marked the start of the Psy Phase..: "Astral Projection - Mahadeva" ..and the Psy just kept coming and coming.. and like Cube said Mr. Fleming also droped "Sub6 - Down n Out" .. and there's that Track with Gregorian Chant was out of this world..
Amazing Music.. Everyone that missed the opportunity to See this Guy.. will Regret it For Sure..



Positive Stuff:
Finally Got the Chance to Witness such performance from a Legend on a big Scale..
Music was very well Distributed..every part of the venue had a fair sound..
A Descent Organisation
Negative Stuff:
The Crowd had some annoying elements.
A lil to many Fights and Arguments went during the nights (but ntg the Security Crew Didn't Handle - even know some of them were caused by the Security Crew)


Thanks Poliakov for A Great Night.. and a Great Lineup..
Until the Next One..


Videos to be uploaded soon..

[Shy--Ism]

I left the venue at 4:45 AM with my brain torn in literally two hemispheres. I couldn’t sleep when I came back home because of like 3 big projects to finalize, and I just woke up from a super-weird 5 hour afternoon nap. Thanks Cube for the review.

Hence briefly, yesterday night was absolutely brutal and loud. I listened to Jade & Diamond Setter’s set for an approximate hour, I found them really good except that some of the tracks they dropped weren’t my cup of tea especially that it was still midway through a considered warm up session. The way they both ended their set was pretty good, the crowd was ready to get started with a higher range of beats per minute with the German duo.

Cosmic Gate took over decks and kicked off with a vocal trance track which set the dance-floor on fire. I remember people singing non-stop and Cosmic Gate’s interaction with that revealed a sublime amount of energy stashed and saved for this highly anticipated night.
Cosmic gate’s first hour as most of others have mentioned consisted of vocals mainly, long melodic breakdowns, and pleasant bass-lines which kept most of people rising up their hands in good spirits. I have to be honest; the first hour didn’t quite appeal to my audible senses however this is just based upon my personal taste in music. The following next hour was way much better in my opinion, loved the short edgy breaks and crazy loops of successive Proggy beats and eventually a buildup of quality Tech Trance throughout the entire set. It was fabulous!

As for the 00 man, he succeeded in tearing my head in two pieces as I previously said. That dreamy intro with chants was heaven on Earth. Dark-Prog material followed the way and people around me were going utterly nuts (I was surprised to tell you the truth). From his techniques to his Fleming manner of fusing Psy/Prog elements made me dance as if there’s no tomorrow. I remember telling Dio: “Die Genesis … Dieee”, but then I realized that we were on the edge of losing control while Genesis is probably in some peaceful Irish village breeding sheep instead.
Nevertheless, my feet couldn’t hold my body anymore and I had to go back home in order to get ready for a long busy Sunday. I can now safely say that John 00 Fleming is all about quality Psy-Madness.

- The setup was beautiful in my opinion, cozy and fairly fits in the concept. Nice visuals on two circular side-screens and a big rectangular LED screen right below the DJ-booth.
- Lightings were great except that it got a bit brighter than it should be for some while, however overall the combination of lights and lasers was pretty awesome.
- The sound in the VVIP/VIP sections was great, some might say that it should have been stronger in the VIP section but I honestly think that it was well distributed.
- Crowd wise, the regular section is a common fact for all gigs nowadays, nothing either new or extreme to focus on.
- Loved the human-robots making their own way in the crowd.
- Poor ventilation.
- Very good organization, from bar/table service to security management.

Well done Poliakov!! Also looking forward for a flourishing work on Cattaneo & Warren’s night, now that’s a party to be excited about!

[Genesis]

[TRANCED]

^He says hi
I told him about u!

[lyonx]

[ziz00_909]

^ you know i hardly listened to Trance This year...and i was surprised i managed to ID so many tracks..
Under You Spell.. didn't mention what remix cz i honestly don't know ..Same goes for Love Song that's why l "?"..
And You're right abt the Find Yourself Remix.. sorry

And Don't Know..but i think The Marcus Schossow track was played.. maybe i'm wrong.. and it's the other track u mentioned..with the same vocalist: Emma

Yet Again after JOOF.. it's very good that i managed to remember those..lol

Man on the Run and Sirens of the Sea were Great..

[ziz00_909]

Video1: Some Track JOOF Played.. with some "Gregorian Vocals" i guess..duno.. :




EDIT :Video2



Video3


Video4

[DonSerj]

wen shefet "lil to many fights" bi sharafak Ziz09 ?

J00F made my night.

[TranceFusion]

Ok now seriously, the pros and cons:

Pros:
- JOOF.
- JOOF.
- JOOF.
- JOOF.
- JOOF.
- Sound system was perfect everywhere in the regular and the vip section.
- Great lighting!
- Not overcrowded, even during the peak time of CG there was enough space in the front. It doesn't mean though that it was undercrowded

Cons:
- Ventilation was horrible, although i was literally hypnotized by JOOF's music the smoke got my attention literally every couple of minutes because of heavy inhalation. If some day in the future smoking will be banned forever from the market (and therefore no more present in events) i'll be the happiest person on Earth. But that's rather a utopic dream
- The security at the entrance didn't check if i had a knife or whatever, i came in at 1am exactly so i dunno if others before me were checked. Can't say if it's really a con since i don't have proof.
- For my musical taste: CG, CG, CG, CG, CG. Third time i saw them, third time i'm disappointed. If not JOOF i'd have gone home in the middle of their set.
- The lebanese darak. Burn in hell mutha fuckaz with your political bullshit.

[DiabloK]

[samer]

[DIONYSOS]

Party people!

I won't go for a full blown review since "my degree is wounded" (translate to Arabic) but all I have to say is that the night was MONSTROUS! Everything was in its right place, from the local and int'l DJs, to the sound, lights, organization, vibes, crowd... It just felt so refreshing to be back in the middle of a Beirut rave after my long absence abroad! There's truly nothing like it!

* The opening by Jade & Diamond Setter was a real breath of fresh air that the local scene badly needed, it was great seeing the two guys shining outside of Basement for a change!
* Cosmic Gate delivered a pretty solid Trance set that surely locked all Trance fans in - well maybe except for Kamil!
* As for J00F, I can't even begin to describe his performance. It was just EPIC. He really made me rethink my perception of Trance altogether. I'm still under the influence so don't hold me to my word just yet, but he may have just become my top Trance jock!

We at Poliakov & NRJ worked extra hard to go the extra mile in this and I believe we succeeded in achieving our vision. This is just the BEGINNING of 2010, we have a looot more in store for you starting with pure progressive bliss at Warren & Cattaneo and moving into an eventful summer, with a lot of other stuff in between and after! Stay tuned to NRJ!

Thank you all for making it happen! Onto the next one!!!

Cheers,
Dio

[Qulture]

Wow , sounds like a kick ass night ... so mad i missed it !! But since i am in a different country , i think its a solid excuse !

But ... all these replies and mini reviews are incomplete in my opinion .... as much as it was a delight hearing about J00Fs set , i would like to know alot about Saleem's set !!! What did he manage to play after J00F ?? Come on people ... no one stayed for his set ??? What a shame !!!

Saleem .. can you post a tracklist and what you personally thought of your set ?