The whole weekend just played out perfectly. I left work around
3 pm to catch the 5 pm flight from Frankfurt to New York, and Lufthansa was
kind enough to get me into JFK half an hour early at 7 pm NY time. Ruben (translucent)
and Olga were even kinder, picking me up at the airport and taking me into the
city. We went to my friends' apartment where I was going to stay, I took a shower,
changed and we set off to Filter to meet Greg (Lust-E) and his girlfriend. From
there straight to Roxy around 10 pm where a moderate line was waiting for us.
The doors hadn't even opened yet but when they did 15 mins or so later we were
inside in no time.
For the first 2 hours or so we were mostly just chilling in
one of those couch booths at the front end of the dance floor, gathering more
Dreamers (Raven, of course, nycx, Matrim, miss nikki, teraflops, Highmay and
more that I can't remember right now). The opening DJ, Luis Diaz, absolutely
sucked for most of the time. He opened slow, which was ok, but then got into
breaks for like over an hour. Nobody at all was dancing, more or less just standing
on the dance floor wondering what this shit was. Nothing against some breaks
intelligently interspersed into a set, but a full hour of nothing but? I don't
think so and neither did anybody else. Fortunately, after 1 am he got pretty
good so as to work things up for PvD. At 1 am we had our official EZD meet up
by the back bar. I think well over 20 people showed up, which was probably less
than half of the total EZD turn out that night. As transpired later, EZD's were
all over the place, some of which simply weren't able to make it to the meet
up in time due to the line. Well, 1 am comes and goes, and at 2 am - German
punctuality - cheers erupt, marking the arrival of the man himself.
As I had hoped, he started it hard right away and pretty much
kept it up throughout. He completely tore the place apart, people went nuts
all around saying things like "tonite PvD redeems himself" or "best
PvD ever". Certainly no overstatements. He delivered a set that was absolutely
flawless in its track selection, programming, mixing. He had it all, house,
tech-house, techno (couldn't believe when he dropped Umek - Gatex late in the
night), some breaks (intelligently placed, mind you ), and of course magic PvD
trance. Quote from Raven :"The set was amazing.........it was as definitive
and complete as can be, and the mixing was devilishly good. Flawless interweaving
of every genre of electronica with a smooth flow and progression that was nothing
short of perfect. The set flew by and as I was leaving I just kept hearing everyone
comment on how amazing it was."
By the time PvD started Roxy was packed and the a/c appeared
to be unable to handle it - the place was a furnace. Apparently, they realized
that b/c it got noticeably cooler after an hour or two. Apart from that little
glitch the club was in perfect shape for the night: the huge dance floor leaving
room to dance even at peak time (lol!); the decoration with what looked like
white, translucent (no pun intended...) canvas sails above and around the dance
floor, some of which doubled as screens for cool video projections; the amazing
laser show, mesmerizing just about everyone; the Phazon for the most part living
up to its reputation and the high expectations of Twilo-spoiled ears; and, importantly,
a vibe some people felt compelled to compare to the Twilo days. Maybe it wasn't
quite the Twilo vibe with the occasional meat head but it was as close as one
could expect it to get. Roxy with the new Phazon is only now starting to seriously
focus on the music and to line up top-notch DJs. In time, this will draw the
right crowd as it did for the most part on this awesome PvD night.
Unfortunately, time flew and it was over at 8:30 am. Walking
out, everybody was still raving about the experience which left a deep impression
and, needless to say, a desire for more which in fact should be forthcoming
sooner than anyone could have hoped for. Well, we gathered our various cars
and drove up to Ruben & Olga's place for a bit of an afterparty which we
spent chilling, watching Ricky Ho, laughing (a lot) and finally sleeping some.
It was the perfect wind down.
As early as Saturday afternoon rumours surfaced saying to everybody's
disbelief PvD would play again Monday night. As it turned out it was true and
PvD indeed did a second New York gig on Monday at Arc with admission being a
bargain $10, to be donated for charity. The four hour set was to be from 10
pm to 2 am. Needless to say, everyone who could possibly make it showed up.
Being all psyched all Monday long, I even got to the club as early as 8:30 pm
at which time there were only two guys forming the "line". But of
course it grew quickly and supposedly wrapped around the block later. Most of
us got in before 10 pm, so as to not miss a single beat of PvD's making. Before
he started everyone was just hanging out, talking, waiting. Some DJ played mellow
house, more like background music than a real opening act which was just right.
The icing on this night's cake to me was the unexpected arrival of Mat (Mateo),
who regrettably had been unable to make it to Fridays show. This extra gig gave
him the opportunity, as he put it, to redeem himself and me to see him for the
first time in a year. And we sure enjoyed the night with PvD! He arrived just
after 10 pm and, given that there was no opening DJ really, opened rather slow,
housey. A bit like at the Vandit nights in Berlin he slowly increased his pace
and by 11 pm the party was on full speed. The way it was going it was hard to
believe it was not even midnight on a Monday. The vibe this time was in fact
Twilo-like, owing to the smaller room, the Phazon, and most of all a crowd that
was 100% dedicated, 100% connected to the music and the DJ, chanting his name,
going nuts with arms in the air. With no promotion to speak of the club was
still packed wall to wall with true PvD connoisseurs, a total of 1,600 people.
Everybody was loving every single minute, and so did PvD himself being unusually
animated behind the decks, really celebrating the party with the crowd. The
set evolved to a true PvD trance set, not as banging as the Roxy one, but magical
nonetheless. There was a lot of debate which set was better, but that's very
much in the eye of the beholder. I personally thought the Roxy set was better,
but the party experience at Arc as a whole clearly surpassed the already incredible
Roxy.
I couldn't believe my luck, having flown in for the Roxy gig
and then being treated to this - I was in heaven and the whole experience was
so lasting that I was smiling for most of the remaining week at my relaxing
4-day Florida vacation with no desire whatsoever to go out there.
This was a truly unforgettable weekend, clearly standing out
from the the many parties I went to this year, not least because I could celebrate
it with the best people - thanks to all EZD's. And big thanks to PvD!
Now the jury is out on the question which club to make Paul's residency in NYC.
The EZD
poll resulted in a clear vote for Roxy. PvD's own poll results have not
been released as yet. Let's keep our fingers crossed he'll sign up soon!