Disclaimer: this is how I spent my Saturday / Sunday, which I'm sure is different to your view of the night.
I've been looking forward this night for a while now, and not wanting to miss a single minute, I probably walked into Stereo a little bit after 2:00am. Have you noticed that lately the security guys have been checking really careful each person that gets into the building? Nevertheless, not sure how those private cameras keep making it to the dance floor.
Great decoration of the place, the Christmas decor was replaced by this birthday theme ambiance, full of balloons of different sizes, and streamers of different colours hanging all over the place, specially around the disco ball. The place looked festive for the occasion.
Slowly people started to arrived at the temple, and it didn't get fully packed until probably after 4:00am, I might be wrong on this one. This was my first time hearing Malick, and I was curious to see what kind of music he was going to bring down to the house. When I got there, the music was soft with good tunes to get the party started. The more people arrive, the more the beats kept getting stronger, and the volume louder.
Malick then moved on to a more electro, proggy, hard mix, perhaps more suitable for a Friday than a Saturday night at Stereo, then returning to some house tunes with some vocals. Overall, Malick did warm up the crowd, he seemed to enjoy his time up there, and the crowd responded to his style by clapping and making some noise.
Talking about the crowd, may I dare to say it was different. The more I looked at the dance floor, the more I didn't recognize it. I couldn't feel the vibe of the crowd, which had this strange kind of energy. It was more heterosexual, lots of women, some cute boys, and lots of dancers that were facing only towards the DJ booth area. It felts as if the magic energy that is created as Stereo was missing - don't know what it was, but I was worried.
Malick probably delivered a super good set, but I couldn't enjoy it because there was something missing in the dance floor. In order not to bring others down with my energy, I moved myself to the back of the room, and for a while I only observed the party. The more I looked, the less I felt the energy, finally I decided to ignore whatever was going on in the dance floor, maybe it was me, and decided to do what I do best: to dance like maniac and smile because dancing make me happy.
In the back I could hear the proggy sounds, hard beats, getting darker and darker with the minutes - at the same time I had to pay attention when dancing this type of music, my moves become more aggressive and harder. Finally I spotted Danny Torrence with his white T-shirt and cap hat in the booth. Someone asked me if I knew at what time he was going to come on, and I told him that probably by 4:30am because he has been looking forward this evening for a while now.
Someone looked at me and questioned me about what was going on, and I just answered back with: "I hope Torrence is able to create the magic with this crowd". Don't take me wrong, the music was good, but Stereo is not just the music, it is also the crowd. Not sure if it is my impression, but perhaps there were lots of newcomers to the temple, and if I was right, it was only a question of time until this crowd would start feeling the music, the people, the magic, the vibe, the smiles, and everything that makes this place such an incredible house of music.
Finally a big smile in my face, spot lights in the booth, and there he was, Torrence concentrated in his work, beginning what would be a long night of dancing. He came hard and dark at the beginning - very hard beats followed by a kind of industrial tribal proggy sounds. 45 minutes in the set, and I was still not feeling the crowd, but slowly the process of "stereolization" of the crowd started to be felt. I could feel some energy flowing among the dancers. The music became darker and darker, different style chosen by Torrence for the evening.
It finally hit me, Torrence was not spinning music, instead he was talking to the dancers with sounds, and I was not listening because this was a different style that I'm not used to hear from him. You could see the emotions flowing out of his body, his energy was incredible, and each touch with his fingers were making bodies vibrate all over the place. By this time I could finally feel the energy of the dance floor, it was as if the crowd had been "stereolized" by the exchange of energy between the DJ and the people dancing a deck below.
One of my friends looked at me and told to stop smiling so much, because it was too sick and contagious. She just gave me this hug, and come on, how couldn't I be happy if I was dancing to the tunes of one of my favourites DJs from Montreal, and dancing with one of the sexiest girls in the dance floor? On top of that, one of the hottest guys joined us in the dance - not sure about you girls .. and some boys, but I think you would had enjoyed being in the middle as well.
The trip that had began with a turbulence, had finally achieved cruising altitude, and not only the seat belts were unfastened, but tribal beats were making a turbulence in its own, and not the one that people are scared of, but the only we look forward to experience. The music was being played not just because had to be played, but each tune came with its own meaning, its own emotion, with an unique feeling that was impossible for almost anyone to resist. If there were two types of crowds at the beginning of the night, Torrence has accomplished an incredible task, to join the forces of two different energies, and make it into
one and only one.
Danny kept talking and talking, and the more he spoke to the crowd with his sounds, the easiest it became to move along with him during this journey to somewhere. He showed us once again he is a super versatile type of DJs, capable not only of playing this or that type of sound, but able to putt them all together, tailored to whoever is dancing along.
Finally, those voices began to echoed around the room - and it is not a secret that house music with vocals is my delirium. Some familiar voices, but most of them unfamiliar beats that drove me nuts in the dance floor. Some classics were also played, and by this time I had to take a rest because I was exhausted from so much dancing.
I moved along to the chill out area located to the right of the DJ booth area, and I hadn't been there in a while. I discovered that the round table had been replaced by a bunch of sofas, hiding by this curtain located right at the entrance of the room.
Couldn't stay much longer sitting down because the tribal drums were calling me to the dance floor, and as I disappeared, I returned re-energized by the power rest well deserved by my body. House vocals, tribal, proggy, electro, and I'm not sure what else Danny Torrence brought out during the whole evening, but everything was used to talk to us, to tell us a story. The story of one of my favourites DJ from Montreal, which showed us during an extended set one of the climax of his career, by using the progression of the different music styles.
Around noon Danny gave us a speech in which he thanked everyone that has been involved in his life, and told us he wouldn't stop until he got kicked him out of place. I probably spotted him 3 times in the dance floor during the whole evening, and in each time he had this big smile in his face.
Finally my body gave in and I had to leave - left but was trapped by the sounds of Patrick Guay, which meant at least another hour of dancing. There is only one thing that I noticed this time around, when talking to people in the bar downstairs, I could not hear them very well - I guess ears plugs will have to become part of my accessories when going to Stereo.
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