08.25
Definitely written a tad late due to business but I figure better late then never. Here comes my review of Dusk Till Doorn at Avalon, Hollywood on August 21st, 2010.
Dusk Till Doorn @ Avalon
First I must preface my review by saying that I won the TranceFamily competition to have dinner with Sander before the show and then go in the VIP section during the whole thing. This may or may not bias my review. And what I just said may or may not be a complete lie. It will definitely bias my review.
We started out with a dinner at Beso, a restaurant owned by Eva Longoria who unfortunately was not there to greet me and serve me drinks. They should really work on that. The restaurant is very nice and about a block away from Avalon (might be a good place to catch DJs before they play at the club). The inside looked like a small train station – very high ceilings, and kind of an industrial/warehouse feel with just an open dining room with some VIP table areas in the back upstairs. The food was delicious and so were the drinks, however the drinks were $13 a pop so not the best place to pre-drink before you hit the club. I recommend going to Dillon’s across Vine instead – you can get 5$ beers and 5$ shots no problem. Sander was generous enough to buy us dinner and drinks and along with the other 3 competition winners we had a very interesting discussion.
Main topics included producing, the life of a DJ, and Sander’s career. I won’t go into details (although you can ask me in the comments if you wish to know anything in particular) but I will say that for a man who sleeps a few hours a night and who was about to play a 5 hour set for his album release party, Sander van Doorn was just about the nicest and most laid back person I could have expected. He was extremely friendly, joked around, and answered all of our questions politely. We could tell he was mentally preparing for the night and he took off early to finish preparations for his set, but all of us at the table were very grateful for the opportunity to meet and dine with him and we were not disappointed.
Sander with Trance Family Competition Winners
After dinner we headed to the club. We got to go through the comps entrance which had zero line (however the whole club in general didn’t really have a line. People don’t show up there until around 1 it seems. It did eventually get very packed inside.). We walked in to see a very interesting sight at Avalon. The main stage was covered by a curtain, and the opening DJ was set up on the balcony to the right of the main floor. I am really beginning to dig the residents at Avalon – the openers always play a nice mix of chill house that never gets too intense but also gets you feet moving. Hats off to those guys – being an opening DJ is often difficult because you have to show restraint and not go for the big dancefloor killers.
A little after midnight the curtain dropped and Sander came out, smiling from ear to ear (which he never really stopped doing the whole night), and an epic intro track began playing. I am not sure of the name of the track but if anyone can ID it, that would be awesome. By the way, now that I have started an labeatco youtube channel, I am going to buy a new camera that has better sound because the slight tingle of bass makes my current camera completely fudge the sound. Nonetheless, I think you will get the idea.
After the first track, Sander turned up the heat and never backed down. He played an excellent mix that started out with a couple hours of house music, then built up into more trancey sounds, and then during the last hour or so played a few classics. I was happy that Sander sprinkled the set with his tracks instead of playing them all at once a-la-tiesto-powermix. All the good ones were there – Renegade, Hymn 2.0, Bastillion, Daddy Rock, Bliksem, remix of Spaceman, etc. I made a couple of requests at the dinner table – Control Freak and Kind of My Castle and I’m happy to say both of those were played. Hearing Bliksem and King of My Castle live at a club through massive speakers were definitely the highlights of my night. Sander played a lot of tracks from his new compilation album titled Dusk Till Doorn (this was, after all, the release party). My favorites included Teenage Crime, Moment (by Stoneface & Terminal), and Ummet Ozcan’s Arcadia. Other tracks I really enjoyed hearing through those big speakers would have to be Markus Schulz’s Perception, Michael Woods – Tomorrow, and Tiesto & Diplo – C’mon.
The Crowd at Avalon, Hollywood
Overall, I certainly enjoyed Sander’s set. At times he tranced out for a bit and played some epic stuff and just when I would get bored, he would bring it back down to that hard, grimy techy sound that I am enjoying the most lately. At times he would be playing really hard intense stuff and just when it’s too much he would bring in an uplifting, melodic track to keep things cool.
The club production that night was exceptional. Compared to Dirty South and Markus Schulz who just had their names scrolling in the background, Sander had a lot of cool visuals as well as all kinds of lights and lasers. There was also a light fixture above the dancefloor hanging from the ceiling which had a whole bunch of lights, combined with fog blasts from both sides and confetti blasts from the stage. Top that with 4 go-go dancers and you’ve got yourself a Dusk Till Doorn night! The setup was simply epic and certainly made the whole night more enjoyable.
The only downside to the night was the same problem I have been having with EDM events lately – a lot of irresponsible behavior. People are more and more treating these events as changes to get inebriated in whatever way possible and dance wherever and however they want, rather than enjoy the music and respect the DJs. We are quite spoiled at Avalon to have a world-class DJ come through every night and some people seem unphased by who is up there which makes for a vibe that could be better. Some people knew some tracks but it seemed like a lot of people didn’t and this is no different from when Dirty South played 2 weeks ago or anyone else I’ve seen. I must again call out to the LA dance community and ask you to be more respectful, and make these events less about you and more about the music and togetherness. Feel the love and enjoy everyone else, instead of getting out of control and pushing into other people. I was lucky enough to go in the VIP section behind the stage for the most of the night, which allowed me to avoid all of the sweaty men on the dancefloor, but I feel bad for those who are there to catch a good show and not necessarily go nuts. I’m down to go nuts in the sense of enjoying the music, but that shouldn’t mean interfering with other people’s enjoyment.
And that is all I have to say about that.
A minor criticism for an awesome night. Thanks to Sander as well as his PR agent Sara Cooper and his manager Malik for hosting us at the dinner and the club. They were nothing short of courteous and very friendly. Nice to see people involved in the scene who truly love it. Hopefully we can do it again sometime!!!
If you want to see the tracklist and/or download the set, the friendly users of TranceAddict have made both available so check it out here. I’m finding myself posting more and more there and you should too!
© 2010, M Silin. All rights reserved.
