Ola ola ... I was looking forward to this party from the day I bought my ticket for a couple reasons: first, another chance to see Hatiras after he kicked my ass at Time Warp V; secondly, I had some first-time partiers/first-time Liquid partiers in my crew that night.
I got there around 9:30, way early for the party, but after the lineup last time around, we wanted to make sure we had a full night of partying ahead of us. Surprisingly, even though the lineup was fairly long that early, it only took about 20-25 mins to get in (and no bouncers asking for $10 to get line bypass). Once getting to the front, two things happened to piss me off. First of all, why the fuck can't you give me a ticket stub already? It's called ripping the ticket in half, and giving me the bottom. I know that sounds petty, but it's nice to have. THEN, when I get to the guy that's searching me, he tells me that I have to either throw my camera out or throw the battery out. After pleading with the guy, he still wouldn't let me take my bloody camera in - all this after being reassured SEVERAL times by the Liquid people that cameras were allowed at the party, AND while seeing hundreds of other people bring their cameras in right beside me. Note to Liquid: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE talk to your security and make sure they know what's allowed/not allowed at the party. You pay them, they should be listening to that.
Once inside, there was the $3.50 coat check and $4 water charges that we've become accustom to. $3.50 for coat check? Pfft ... I don't wanna know how much they raked in on that. And if you're gonna sell pizza, try to sell something from this week ... it looked all dry and hard. Ewww.
I did a walk-around just to check out both rooms and see the setup - the house/techno/trance room was huge (the main room), and there was no way in hell it was getting filled. It was kinda nice that half the area was able to be used for chillout, because then you don't end up kicking people while you're dancing. The lighting wasn't very extensive in either room, but it did the trick. One word of advice for the main room though ... it was VERY annoying to have the lights right at eye level and rotating when it was on that cycle. And strobe-action right on that same level? Didn't they learn anything from what happened last week at ATM? I knew the jungle room was gonna be too small for the amount of people that were gonna show up for Nicky Blackmarket et al, and sure enough, if you tried to get in there around that time, you hit a heatwave and had one hell of a time weaving your way through. I didn't even bother, mostly cuz everything I wanted to see was in main.
Twitch & Satori - Decent set guys. You did the warm-up-the-crowd-job well. Nothing too pounding, but enough to get the feet moving.
Phantasm & Carlos V / OS/2 & Frank Phenomenon - Some nice beats, good ole trance styles. Really got me groovin' out there and set me up for what was to come.
Paranoid Jack & Steve Venom - I was told by Matlock that this was the first time these guys had gone at it on 4 decks, and they didn't disappoint! Excellent track selection and excellent mixing to boot! They had the front right speaker massive kickin' it large styles right off the bat! Was that a remix of "Oh Yeah" by Yello that they played, or the original? regardless of that fact, it was good to hear that classic dropped
. Later in the night they threw out copies of Steve Venom's CD into the crowd - I was lucky enough to catch one. Score! Thanks Steve!
Hatiras - This is definately the man that I came to see. The set of the night in my opinion! Yes, Bad Boy Bill was the "headliner", but personally I think Hatiras gets a crowd moving much better that BBB. He did NOT disappoint in the least! Build it up, tear it down, blow the roof off the place! One slammin' track after another, he had me jumpin' and bustin' it up large styles! My only complaint is that he didn't play a longer set.
... One funny thing that happened when Hatiras was on: a couple young girls were standing there and saying "Is that him? Is that him?" I had to turn around and tell them that NO, it was NOT Bad Boy Bill, it was Hatiras, and that BBB was on later. They're like "Oh, that sucks, I'm leaving." Oh ye lil' ones that don't know any better. Ah well, their loss. Hatiras proved to me once again why he's becoming my favourite DJ. Mebbe he should start playing some local venues regularly so we can see him more often?
Right at the end of his set, they came on and "did something a little different." Hatiras layed down a track and there was a guy playing live guitar and a girl name Valentina (I think?) providing the vocals. It was alright, but not really the way to end a set in my opinion.
Bad Boy Bill - After hearing him the last couple of times (at which I was extremely disappointed), I didn't know what to expect from BBB. I knew he was gonna have to put something fierce together after the ass-kicking that Hatiras just threw down. About five minutes before he was about to go on, the dancefloor was just rammed - especially at the front. It was pretty hard to dance, but I made room. Some new tracks that I hadn't heard before, some classics, and some traditional BBB tracks that he plays all the time. He also showed off some nice beat-juggling action about halfway through his set - very, very nice, the crowd was goin' nuts for it
. And I REALLY liked the accapella that he layered over Spaced Invader ... absolutely sick!. My only complaint is that BBB jacked the levels a little too high. Too much bass killed some of the tracks he was throwin' down. All in all, he ended up throwing down the best set that I've seen him play, but still nothing in comparison to Hatiras.
Jesse & Johan - The crowd thinned out quickly after BBB finished his set, and there were no complaints from me! I had some room to move now, and J&J layed the smackdown on my candy-ass! Kept the slammin' tracks goin', pumpin' the fists in the air ... it was all good
.
Mystik Mike & Goldfinger - Probably the only set I really didn't like on the night. They played 2 or 3 tracks that were played earlier in the evening (ok, ok, so Spaced Invader was played by everybody and their brother, but it really kicks ass), and I just didn't get the vibe from their set.
I had a *fabulous* time last night with the exception of the little camera incident, and it was great to see Joanna, Norm, and Naomi there. I know that Will, E-riot, and True-Blue were there too, but I didn't venture into the jungle room enough to say hello. Props to the front-right-speaker massive - we were kickin' it all night long, bustin' out tha large styles! It was great partying with yas. Speaking front right @ 1am, where were YOU Raspberry?
To the people I showed up with, Ashley, Brad, Matt, Em, Nai, et all, it was a great night, and to all the people I met, Krystal (cute wings!
), Natasha, Ashley, Matt, Neil, and everyone that I'm drawing a blank on, it was fun partying with you, and I'll see you next time out.
The perfect end to the night? Mmmm breakfast at my house! Homemade french toast with warm maple syrup! Yay!
See you all next time around!
Rating: 8/10
-- Jay aka Fut