Disclaimer: this is how I spent my Saturday/Sunday, which I'm sure was different to what you experienced during the night.
Didn’t know until probably midnight if I was going or not to Stereo. Thanks to friends from NYC, I was “forced” to go out dancing, and those who know me can tell you how hard is to get me moving to any dance floor.
Usually I like to arrive right at the beginning, to see the evolution of the night, but I was in no mood to arrive early, so next thing I know it was almost 4:00am when I made it to the line, and what a line. Too funny that some people kept asking me what I was doing lining up like everyone else. Sure they might know me at Stereo, but it doesn’t mean I have more rights than others, and this is where I stayed until a little bit passed 4:00am, which unfortunately only gave me the chance to catch around 10 minutes of Danny Torrence.
The place looked impeccable regarding the decor, and a little bit iffy regarding the crowd. Lot of newcomers, and an unbelievable quality and quantity of good looking people on the dance floor. Was security doing more than just checking what we were brining inside? Were they enforcing a crowd quality control?
Moved myself to the dance floor, and there he was, David Morales in person showing to one of his friends something up in the roof - I just hope it was not the plastic protecting the simple mortals against a possible rain during the night. No, it was not possible, he was pointing out to the décor of the place - I wanted to say hi, but I remembered we Montrealers let the celebrities alone, and I continue my journey to the back end of the building.
Reports from the night before were that the plastic divider was still in place, and this was one of the reason why I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go or not to Stereo. My relief was when I arrived, the Berlin wall was no longer there, and happy dancers were on stage killing themselves dancing.
Usually the change of guard happens at 5:00am but David Morales was probably anxious to start and a little bit passed 4:30am he took over the decks. Some people noticed he was already up there, and others had no idea there was a transition in thew works. Meanwhile I was trying to catch up with the rest of the crowd, feeling the music, the ambiance, the vibe. Looking around I could see the crowd going wild and weird at the same time. Don’t know how to explain, but the crowd got better with time, either because they got “Stereolized” or because the hard core crowd stayed and the rest left.
I wish I could talk a little bit about Danny Torrence set, but the line outside didn’t let me in on time, but I can talk about David Morales. Good or bad, David Morales is a star, I tell everyone if it is your first time at Stereo there is no better night than Morales night to start your introduction to the temple. He will give everything and more, love or hate him, Morales will be able to move you on the dance floor like no one else. Music will flow out of those speakers with a personal appealing, and louder or softer you will most likely get into it.
He rapidly moved into the Techno ground, and very well done, but we know he loves his divas, and so do I, it didn’t take long for those famous and delicious vocals start to come out, including his own favourite and becoming a classic now “Say Something” among others. I admit this song doesn’t move me as much as it did before, but it is still a good spoon to scup out good memories out of me.
Morales then move on to show us a little bit of what is going in Ibiza with those tunes people love to hate, and hate to love, as “Heater” and another Techno-Brazilian good remix, which I found kind of interesting. He also searched for some past favourites such as “He is“. The dance floor was equality receptive, some saying it was amazing, while others where like show us something else. Personally, I had a blast all night long, specially since I found a dance partner that made me move like no one else has done before..
David started with his T-shirt but it didn’t take long to lose it, and his energy was out of the roof. Jumping, pointing to the crowd, and who was the guy he was hugging at the decks? Was it the French DJ again? Obviously we had to have the famous Morales intromission, when he thanked the stuff, Danny Torrence and of course the crowd for letting this sacred place be what it is, the second house to many of us.
I was worried the place was going to become super packed, and I was even more worried when I saw the fire marshals going into Stereo while I was still lining up outside to get in. Nevertheless, the boys and girls of justice were joking and smiling with the big Stereo security guy. Not sure what they were talking while I was going thru coat check, but it was something about names in the guest list. Nevertheless, someone got kicked out of the building, and it was not fun to watch, then again I don’t think the guy even noticed he was already outside.
Tribal, Techno, Vocals, classics, even Vallenato, and more vocals, and add lots of energy, amazing place, different crowd and you have a recipe of success and failure, depending who you spoke to of course. Some people loved the night, and other didn’t enjoy as much as previous Morales appearances. Parties are like that, some people like it and others don’t, there are so many variables that must be considered in order to classify a party as a good party, and each person will have their own scoring system. Personally I had a blast at Morales, there were times I felt as if there were only two people in the dance floor, my dancing friend and I, and in others as if I was part of a movement of dancing energy.
The crowd became friendlier as the time went by, and I just love how sometimes you feel as if the fans installed in the four metal towers, are used to enhanced the experience of the music. I have to check that out but I’m sure Stereo changes the speed of the fans to match sometimes the music being played.
Fist of all, thank so much to my friends from NYC that convinced me to go to Morales Birthday Bash, Morales nights are usually memorable like the time when with the help of a drag queen, a spider web made of wool was created in the dance floor. Morales nights are magical and tireless, and even if this birthday bash didn’t have the best music ever, at least for myself it was definitely fun and happy. Second, thank you so much Morales for year after year of great entertainment in our city of Montreal - and I hope Morales realizes there are tons of people that share his enthusiasm for the temple of house. Finally, even though I said David’s nights are tireless, by noon I decided to leave the premises of the main floor, the one we get by walking upstairs, like as if we were walking towards a revelation, and yes there is one, the dance floor.
Happy Birthday David Morales, and have fun in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in your upcoming Brazilian gig.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Jester, Dekoze, Peter Rauhofer @ Stereo, August 5, 2007
My ticket read “Doors open at 1:00am”, but when I got to Stereo at 1:00am the party was already on for a couple of hours. Anyway, even if I had known the party would start earlier, there was no way I would had make it from the beginning. Spent some time at the “La Grande Dance” and had to relax before going out and partying again.
Missed Jester, and Deko-ze was already bouncing, and the bouncing became tribal, and tribal became trance, and then hard core trance. This guy cannot stay still, he is always bouncing in the decks, and I have to say it is kind of contagious.
Stereo was officially gay for the night, and as someone described the night even before it started, it was a zoo. There were guys everywhere, and those rainbow flags were dripping in sweat all night long. The place was packed, and when I say packed it is really packed. I got really worry when I saw 4 fire marshals walking around the place at around 4:00am - it was dejavu all over again for me, but it looks like everything was under control - except the security guys that were a little bit more tense than usual.
Deko-ze got the party happening with his hard core tunes, and it was hard. I believe the first part of his set of kind of dark tribal, but it was as if he took off and this is when he started to insert the trance like sounds in the house. Interesting to see a human train trying to follow the moves with those tunes. Even more interesting to see a couple of hundred men hugging each other under the influence of those sounds.
I asked a friend of mine how did he like Deko-ze, and he said he loved, but then I reminded him those tunes are the ones he does not enjoy very much. He then reminded me that he was with 3 beautiful guys, and there was nothing that would ruin the moment. In behalf of my friend, thank you Atlanta and Barcelona for entertaining my friend in those hard core hours.
Personally, Deko-ze played tunes that are not part of my cup of tea during the second part of his set, so I decided to move to the sidelines and watch the dance floor from there. Here and there I would feel the urge to lift up my arms and start making those aggressive moves with my hands, this is when I saw the serious Peter Rauhofer move on to the decks. He arrived probably 20 min before the beginning of his set, and he exchanged some brief words with Deko-ze while he started to slowly take over the place. Deko-ze became even more hard core, please someone correct me if I’m wrong, but that was pure Trance what he was playing by the end of his set.
Finally Peter Rauhofer took over, and if wasn’t because I was standing right beside the booth I wouldn’t have noticed. It was one of the cleanest transition I have seen in a long time. He just continue the same time of sounds for at least 3 more records, and slowly started to revive the tribal sounds he has not delivered at Stereo in a long time.
I know some of you will disagree with me, but this has been one of the best sets I had the chance to experience from Peter Rauhofer. Not sure if he wanted to show to Stereo what we have been missing in a long time, or it is his new style, or what, but it was just a diabolic mix of perfect sounds. I had kind of become disappointed with him because I had not fully enjoyed his previous sets, it became a little bit better the last two times I saw him, but after this performance at Stereo, I won’t doubt him again.
The dance floor was literally exploding, and this is when I felt some water falling in my legs. At first I thought someone was playing with water near the fan, and this was making water to travel all over the place, until I realized something was happening with the roof, water was coming down hard thru the ceiling. I was already tired, and probably this is a sign telling me I should go home. I moved myself downstairs and told a friend it was raining. He told me it was true, it was raining hard outside, this is when I had to explain to him it was raining inside Stereo as well. When I saw the security guys walking upstairs with a metal fence each, this is when I said goodbye to the party - left at around 9:30am, and for what I heard, the party kept going strong downstairs until late.
Peter Rauhofer, it doesn’t matter if you don’t smile man, what a fantastic treat you gave us at the Pride Ball.
Missed Jester, and Deko-ze was already bouncing, and the bouncing became tribal, and tribal became trance, and then hard core trance. This guy cannot stay still, he is always bouncing in the decks, and I have to say it is kind of contagious.
Stereo was officially gay for the night, and as someone described the night even before it started, it was a zoo. There were guys everywhere, and those rainbow flags were dripping in sweat all night long. The place was packed, and when I say packed it is really packed. I got really worry when I saw 4 fire marshals walking around the place at around 4:00am - it was dejavu all over again for me, but it looks like everything was under control - except the security guys that were a little bit more tense than usual.
Deko-ze got the party happening with his hard core tunes, and it was hard. I believe the first part of his set of kind of dark tribal, but it was as if he took off and this is when he started to insert the trance like sounds in the house. Interesting to see a human train trying to follow the moves with those tunes. Even more interesting to see a couple of hundred men hugging each other under the influence of those sounds.
I asked a friend of mine how did he like Deko-ze, and he said he loved, but then I reminded him those tunes are the ones he does not enjoy very much. He then reminded me that he was with 3 beautiful guys, and there was nothing that would ruin the moment. In behalf of my friend, thank you Atlanta and Barcelona for entertaining my friend in those hard core hours.
Personally, Deko-ze played tunes that are not part of my cup of tea during the second part of his set, so I decided to move to the sidelines and watch the dance floor from there. Here and there I would feel the urge to lift up my arms and start making those aggressive moves with my hands, this is when I saw the serious Peter Rauhofer move on to the decks. He arrived probably 20 min before the beginning of his set, and he exchanged some brief words with Deko-ze while he started to slowly take over the place. Deko-ze became even more hard core, please someone correct me if I’m wrong, but that was pure Trance what he was playing by the end of his set.
Finally Peter Rauhofer took over, and if wasn’t because I was standing right beside the booth I wouldn’t have noticed. It was one of the cleanest transition I have seen in a long time. He just continue the same time of sounds for at least 3 more records, and slowly started to revive the tribal sounds he has not delivered at Stereo in a long time.
I know some of you will disagree with me, but this has been one of the best sets I had the chance to experience from Peter Rauhofer. Not sure if he wanted to show to Stereo what we have been missing in a long time, or it is his new style, or what, but it was just a diabolic mix of perfect sounds. I had kind of become disappointed with him because I had not fully enjoyed his previous sets, it became a little bit better the last two times I saw him, but after this performance at Stereo, I won’t doubt him again.
The dance floor was literally exploding, and this is when I felt some water falling in my legs. At first I thought someone was playing with water near the fan, and this was making water to travel all over the place, until I realized something was happening with the roof, water was coming down hard thru the ceiling. I was already tired, and probably this is a sign telling me I should go home. I moved myself downstairs and told a friend it was raining. He told me it was true, it was raining hard outside, this is when I had to explain to him it was raining inside Stereo as well. When I saw the security guys walking upstairs with a metal fence each, this is when I said goodbye to the party - left at around 9:30am, and for what I heard, the party kept going strong downstairs until late.
Peter Rauhofer, it doesn’t matter if you don’t smile man, what a fantastic treat you gave us at the Pride Ball.
Shawn Riker & Danny Torrence - Climaxxx @ Stereo - August 4, 2007
Disclaimer: this is how I think I spent my Saturday to Sunday - there was a major brain malfunction happening, so I will try to write as much as I can remember.
If I’m not mistaken, Shawn Riker was a resident DJ at the short lived Sonic in Toronto, and if my memory doesn’t fail me, I believe I always read the Torontonian raving about him. I cannot recall if I have seen him before or not, but to tell you the truth I was there because of Danny Torrence.
There were so many people asking me if I was going to go to the Twist party, and the thought of going anywhere else but to celebrate the first anniversary of the Climaxxx night at Stereo wasn’t an option. I missed the launch of this night last year because I decided to go to the Out Games final party, but there was no way I was going to miss the first celebration of this night.
First I have to say that Stereo looked just fabulous, decorated with rainbow flags and multicolour balloons. I know it was not a gay night, but my respects to Stereo for recognizing the support of the gay community to the temple, for many it wouldn’t be a big deal, but we do sometimes pay attention to those little details.
The crowd was just beautiful, a combination of the true Canadian society, a bit of everything and anything, and I won’t measure my words to describe how attractive almost everyone looked. Beautiful men, beautiful women, energetic stuff, happy people, friendly atmosphere, and a lot of anticipation to what Mr. Torrence had prepared for the night.
Mr. Riker was interesting, he brought amazing music to the temple, my only complain is that maybe it was not placed correctly one after the other. One moment the music was here and next was way over there, I keep getting zapped in different ways, just wished it had been perfectly. Nevertheless, my hat off to the guy for feeling comfortable enough with the crowd - you could see how the Toronto crowd felt proud about having one of their own gracing the sacred decks. Shawn Riker felt so comfortable with the crowd that he started to play with us, at one point in time he started to stop the music, and let the crowd continue the music by singing along. He did it probably like three times, and surprisingly the crowed followed the game. Some said tacky, other just smiled, but most of the people just went along with it.
I won’t even try to describe the type of music being played - I’ll allow the professionals do this for me, and then the music stopped. Silence in the room and everyone looking at each other as “please don’t tell the me the system crashed.” No system crashed, it was Danny Torrence taking over the decks with a very dramatic entrance. I guess there was no way to do a clean transition from Riker to Torrence, and after hearing the beginning of the set I’ll probably say stopping the music was the best beginning.
Volume started to gradually move up in the scale, until I felt this feeling of being involved by the sounds. House music in the temple of house, and this is what Torrence gave us for the next couple of hours.
Torrence has been changing his style and I like it. More techno, darker and even more sensual, sometimes the sounds are spiced up by voices if needed, but most of the time just using the vibrations of each tune to do the job. I understand Danny Torrence was excited about achieving the first anniversary of his Climaxxx night, and he sure was pumped up for the night. Came down at least one time to the dance floor, which was just vibrating at very high energy.
Seriously, it was not just fun, it was super-fun. People were joking with each other, talking, dancing, kissing, and everything very real. Stereo was full but with enough space to dance Someone I know had this big smile in his face, and when I got close to him and told me “I don’t want this night to end”.
If my brain were working propriety I would love to get into more details on the type of music played by Danny Torrence, and the only thing I can tell you is I did not stop dancing, and when I was ready to sit down because the energy was not there anymore, I decided to leave. Great Climaxxx.
If I’m not mistaken, Shawn Riker was a resident DJ at the short lived Sonic in Toronto, and if my memory doesn’t fail me, I believe I always read the Torontonian raving about him. I cannot recall if I have seen him before or not, but to tell you the truth I was there because of Danny Torrence.
There were so many people asking me if I was going to go to the Twist party, and the thought of going anywhere else but to celebrate the first anniversary of the Climaxxx night at Stereo wasn’t an option. I missed the launch of this night last year because I decided to go to the Out Games final party, but there was no way I was going to miss the first celebration of this night.
First I have to say that Stereo looked just fabulous, decorated with rainbow flags and multicolour balloons. I know it was not a gay night, but my respects to Stereo for recognizing the support of the gay community to the temple, for many it wouldn’t be a big deal, but we do sometimes pay attention to those little details.
The crowd was just beautiful, a combination of the true Canadian society, a bit of everything and anything, and I won’t measure my words to describe how attractive almost everyone looked. Beautiful men, beautiful women, energetic stuff, happy people, friendly atmosphere, and a lot of anticipation to what Mr. Torrence had prepared for the night.
Mr. Riker was interesting, he brought amazing music to the temple, my only complain is that maybe it was not placed correctly one after the other. One moment the music was here and next was way over there, I keep getting zapped in different ways, just wished it had been perfectly. Nevertheless, my hat off to the guy for feeling comfortable enough with the crowd - you could see how the Toronto crowd felt proud about having one of their own gracing the sacred decks. Shawn Riker felt so comfortable with the crowd that he started to play with us, at one point in time he started to stop the music, and let the crowd continue the music by singing along. He did it probably like three times, and surprisingly the crowed followed the game. Some said tacky, other just smiled, but most of the people just went along with it.
I won’t even try to describe the type of music being played - I’ll allow the professionals do this for me, and then the music stopped. Silence in the room and everyone looking at each other as “please don’t tell the me the system crashed.” No system crashed, it was Danny Torrence taking over the decks with a very dramatic entrance. I guess there was no way to do a clean transition from Riker to Torrence, and after hearing the beginning of the set I’ll probably say stopping the music was the best beginning.
Volume started to gradually move up in the scale, until I felt this feeling of being involved by the sounds. House music in the temple of house, and this is what Torrence gave us for the next couple of hours.
Torrence has been changing his style and I like it. More techno, darker and even more sensual, sometimes the sounds are spiced up by voices if needed, but most of the time just using the vibrations of each tune to do the job. I understand Danny Torrence was excited about achieving the first anniversary of his Climaxxx night, and he sure was pumped up for the night. Came down at least one time to the dance floor, which was just vibrating at very high energy.
Seriously, it was not just fun, it was super-fun. People were joking with each other, talking, dancing, kissing, and everything very real. Stereo was full but with enough space to dance Someone I know had this big smile in his face, and when I got close to him and told me “I don’t want this night to end”.
If my brain were working propriety I would love to get into more details on the type of music played by Danny Torrence, and the only thing I can tell you is I did not stop dancing, and when I was ready to sit down because the energy was not there anymore, I decided to leave. Great Climaxxx.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
La Grande Dance @ North Stage - August 5, 2007
Gay Pride in Montreal is one of my favourite events of the year, and by looking at the number of tourists that keep returning, I'm not alone on that one. La Grande Dance is the last major outdoors event organized by the Divers/Cité, and I don't know how many people were at the party, but I would say no less than 5,000.
I arrived exactly at the time Alain Vinet was finishing his set, and to the surprise of a lot of people, DJ Ana Paula from Rio de Janeiro took charge of the party. Many were expecting to see Offer Nissim in the decks, and others didn't even noticed what had just happened. Earlier in the afternoon I had been told diva Offer Nissim had not made it to Montreal. First time hearing Ana Paula spinning, and what a good job she did, she delivered perfect music for a t-dance. The beats made you move even if you didn't want to do it. DJ Stephan Grondin followed Ana Paula, and as usual, the people enjoyed the music.
Good crowd, with eye candy everywhere - and talking about good looking guys, the TD Bank boys dressed in those small sexy green shorts were causing traffic jam in the street, I just want to know where do I sign up to open up that account.
I arrived exactly at the time Alain Vinet was finishing his set, and to the surprise of a lot of people, DJ Ana Paula from Rio de Janeiro took charge of the party. Many were expecting to see Offer Nissim in the decks, and others didn't even noticed what had just happened. Earlier in the afternoon I had been told diva Offer Nissim had not made it to Montreal. First time hearing Ana Paula spinning, and what a good job she did, she delivered perfect music for a t-dance. The beats made you move even if you didn't want to do it. DJ Stephan Grondin followed Ana Paula, and as usual, the people enjoyed the music.
Good crowd, with eye candy everywhere - and talking about good looking guys, the TD Bank boys dressed in those small sexy green shorts were causing traffic jam in the street, I just want to know where do I sign up to open up that account.
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