Patius: Electric Zoo - New York - September 5-6, 2009

Our official correspondent in NYC Jeppy1229, has sent us his review of the New York Electronic Music Festival that happened last weekend in the big apple.

"So what turned out to be one of the nicest weekends of the whole summer in NYC, was only made better by the Electric Zoo Music Festival. This is a brand new electronic music festival that was put on by the veteran promo-group Made Event at Randall's Island Park in New York City. The festival featured 4 stages, over 50 artists, and ran from 11am-11pm on both Saturday and Sunday, the 5th & 6th of September respectively. I cannot speak for Saturday because I did not attend, but I heard very good comments from those who did. Those who attended Saturday were treated to sounds from the likes of Armin van Buuren, Deadmau5, Kaskade, Second Sun, Roger Sanchez, Chus & Ceballos, Robbie Rivera, Benny Benassi, Danny Tenaglia, Luciano, Marco Carola, Paco Osuna and Tiga just to name some of them.

Knowing that I was going on Sunday and knowing that there were many DJ's who I wanted to see, I made myself a schedule since the people at Electric Zoo announced the lineup times ahead of time. I got to the park a little late so I missed the first 2 DJ's I wanted to see, Jason Jollins and Jerome Isma-Ae - but big deal - I was still able to see 10 others.

Menno de Jong - It's easy to see why this young phenom is rising so quickly in the trance music charts. The energy he was harnessing under the Riverside Arena tent was simply unbelievable. From the time he started till he finished and hour and a half later, everyone was on their feet jumping up an down with hands in the air the whole time. He played a lot of uplifting happy trance that seemed to often have a techno/rock tinge too at times. He was really enjoyable.

Guy Gerber - A progressive beast! Really the only pure progressive DJ I was able to see of the day and he definitely delivered. He had an every so slow build where you kept asking for more and more. Before you know it, the bass he was blowing had you dancing like crazy and the beats were relentless. Definitely one of my favorites during the day.

Josh Gabriel - From the former group, Gabriel & Dresden - he seemed to have his group of people really bouncing around in there with a mix of techno with some other vocal rock sounding songs. I really couldn't get into it, but if that's your thing, you would have enjoyed it - I know a lot of people were.

Steve Angello, Ferry Corsten, Markus Shultz - only heard each for a half hour or so at the main stage so it would be wrong to really comment much on their performances. However, many people who stuck around for Steve Angello's entire set were telling me it was some of the best music they have ever heard.

I heard a lot of David Guetta who closed out the main stage at the end of the night. The man was so excited - he got on top of the dj booth and jumped up and down and started running across the stage jumping all over the place. At one point - picked the mic up and said the crowd had him shivering because he was so excited. At another point he commented that it was an amazing party and he will never forget it for the rest of his life. Played mostly all of his commercial hits and new songs from his recent album. Two songs that stand out for me was one with the vocal line: Michale Jackson is Still Alive and another that went... "I'm David Guetta Bitch!" I have no idea what either were all about. The crowd at the main stage was huge and very excited to see him - that's all I know! Overall he was pretty enjoyable.

My favorites of the entire day were Adam Beyer and Victor Calderone - 2 techno wizards! Adam Beyer's set was ridiculous - the beats were so hard and relentless I couldn't even think straight. Just when I thought he would be my favorite of the day, Victor Calderone arrived with what I'm tempted to say is my favorite set of his to date! The crowd was going crazy the whole time he was on and the song selection was simply amazing. When songs hit you that hard and are that enjoyable, and you can not name one of them - you know the dj has done something good. It's my opinion on that on Sunday, Victor Calderone represented NYC to his fullest and out-shined all the other dj's, many who are ranked well above him on the dj charts. Bravo Victor! Well Done!
I do have to mention that as I was leaving, Richie Hawtin was playing and he did sound like another techno king, but since I didn't hear more than 10 minutes of his set, I really can't comment more than my very quick synopsis.

After attending Electric Zoo all day, I made my way over to Alegria w/the rest of the gays! The hero of my night was DJ Paulo. The first DJ Giangi Cappai of Rapido Amsterdam was a very fair warm up DJ, but not too good. His selection of songs was very inconsistent and he seemed to skip around a lot from dark to light music and it just wasn't enjoyable. Renato Cecin of Brazil was slightly better - he started out very happy and started to go dark and tribal but then like the first dj, he seemed to become very inconsistent although his style did suit the Alegria crowd very well. Just not my cup of tea after seeing 12 of the top djs in the world during the day. DJ Paulo however - totally different story! Dark, Delicious, and Tribal. He brought the drums, he brought the bitchery, he brought it all. DJ Paulo definitely worked the system there and deserves to be brought back to Alegria. Next to the Alegria featuring Chus & Ceballos, DJ Paulo's 4 hours alone made it probably my 2nd most enjoyable ever. Looking forward to him coming back - hopefully! One can only take so much of Tony Moran and Abel.

One more note on electric zoo - entrance line was quick and security quickly frisked people without being intrusive, bathrooms were aplenty, there was a large rain forest misting station set up if you were hot and the crowd was super friendly and especially gay-friendly. I was super impressed by the whole setup from MADE event and this was truly the best party I have every been to, to date. Even the dj's started playing at exactly the time they were supposed to go on according to the schedule - not one minute sooner or later. The only thing I regret is not going on Saturday also. I heard that they expected 20,000 over the 2 days and ended up with over 30,000 attendance. I also heard they have the same 2 days booked ahead for next year...so start planning on being there now - mark your calendars."