01.06
First and foremost,
Happy New Year! If dance music has taught us anything, it’s to not dwell in the past, enjoy the moment, and relish the thought of the future. Let’s turn these words into actions and make 2010 a year to remember.
Now for a little review of Together As One 2009-2010, which was held at the LA Sports Arena + grounds. Overall, a rock solid event. Insomniac continues to outdo themselves from a production standpoint, with top notch lights, sound, and visuals on both stages. One of the most notable aspects of the night for me was the absolutely massive main stage, which was parked next to the street (as opposed to previous years, where the main headliners spun inside the Sports Arena) and spanned at least 2 football fields, with impressively arranged lights mounted on every rafter. The gargantuan main tent also served a more important purpose than the obvious sensory mindfuck: it spread everyone the hell out. TAO didn’t feel like an overcrowded clusterfuck like Electric Daisy Carnival. Rather, it was easy to a) get into the grounds (took us only about 20 minutes to get through the line, which seemed too good to be true at the time), b) find room to dance, and c) get into the sports arena (which is usually a NIGHTMARE, as you may know) for Dubfire. Having to navigate the treacherous (and often times downright scary) halls of the Sports Arena only a few times was a breath of fresh air. Let’s hope Insomniac/Go Ventures keep up the good space management for these massives. God knows how many people will be at EDC this year. Maybe they’ll finally take my advice and use both the Sports Arena AND the Coliseum.
The talent was above average. Not sensational like Hard Haunted Mansion 09, but still very good. John Digweed stole the damn show. I mean…wow. The man has been DJing for 30 years and, as a result, has mastered the art of both the energy build and the epic breakdown. He had the crowd eating from the palm of his hand for the entire set with his dark, quality progressive house and techno beats. Some of the tracks I remember him playing were Eric Prydz’ ‘On/Off’ (he played his own ridiculous edit of the track), Henry Saiz’s remix of Guy J’s ‘Lamur’ (one of the best progressive house tracks of 2009), Oxia’s ‘Whole Life’, and the incredible epic 11:45-midnight medley of the Soulwax remix of ‘Phantom Pt. II’ (it’s been played to death, but it still brings the house down, and the way Digweed mixed out of it was ever so clever) and Digweed’s claim to fame ‘Heaven Scent’ (setting the stage for a maximally euphoric New Years countdown). Digweed is the pro of pros, and his set broke my all-time top 5 (up there with Chemical Brothers Coachella 2009, Moby EDC 2008, Sasha + Digweed TAO 2007-2008, and Basement Jaxx HHM 2009). He should’ve gotten “Hello Los Angeles my name is” David Guetta’s timeslot, but alas, commercial appeal reigned supreme. Please come back to California soon, John!
John Digweed – Together as One 2010, the ultimate hypnotist
John Digweed – Together as One 2010, playing Cirez D’s On/Off
John Digweed – Together as One 2010, Phantom Pt. II into Heaven Scent
Coming in at a close second for the night was Dubfire, who had the entire Sports Arena straight funkin to his groovy, minimal techno. My only complaint was that he got a bit -too- minimal at times, but he apparently picked things up after I ducked out early to catch the beginning of Markus’ set. I would love to seem him spin again in a club setting at some point. Markus was, unfortunately, a little disappointing. As I pointed out in my review for the event, I expected him to push the envelope a little bit more for such a primetime set, and while he dropped some very dope tracks (like his own edits of Sebastian Ingrosso’s ‘Meich’ and Paul Van Dyk’s ‘Nothing But You’), his set was disappointingly cheesy. Starting things off with the Ferry Corsten remix of U2′s ‘New Years Day’ was the ultimate cliche, and instead of maintaining a strong energy, he kept laying it on too thick with long, drawn out trance buildups and played out trance anthems (sorry Misha!). I enjoyed his set, but I expected more from somebody who I consider to be the most innovative working trance DJ these days. He could’ve been worse though, he could’ve been David Guetta, who played “Apple Bottom Jeans” and that “Shots! Shots! Shots!” track. Really, David? Please stay away from LA for awhile. I’m glad I left his set before he (so I heard) played the Benny Benassi remix of ‘Otherside’. Can we please get a moratorium on that track? Thanks.
Overall, a great night! With the new year, expect more content on a more frequent basis. No more lamebrain holiday excuses from us. I’ll leave you with this track: a stunning new release from Gui Boratto.
Ada – Lovestoned (Gui Boratto remix)
-Rob
© 2010, Rob. All rights reserved.
