Arriving in time to trip over the better half of Ceasar K's warmup, my first impression was being satisfied with the turnout; for after the tragic events which plagued our nation this week, I was afraid of a low turnout due to most people being alarmed from the recent events and preferring to stay indoors. Gladly, the venue was starting to fill up early on the night, making me admit that I underestimated the Lebanese passion for clubbing despite all circumstances. The venue was spacious enough for the crowds to rave freely, with decent ventilation, adequate visual work, good sound distribution with a little bit of unnecessary extra bass though, and a very well-setup stage with plasma screens all around the DJ booth and a giant screen right behind the DJ, both displaying the night's visuals.
I missed out on Maximus' opening, but I heard positive feedback when I asked around; perhaps he could fill us in some more on what he played since he's a member over here! Ceasar K was as entertaining as ever, feeding the hungry masses his aggressive breaks with a touch of electro, setting just the right mood for Chris Lake to take over. This is the sort of professional warmup that is sometimes missed in our events, when organizers think about the warmup DJ name rather than how the warmup should sound, disregarding of what significance is the worth of a warmup, and how much a good warmup makes the main set sound even better, while a bad warmup does exactly the opposite. Ceasar K never disappointed in that respect, be it warming up for Judge Jules last year, Marco V last month, or Chris Lake last night, carefully selecting his breaks according to the sound of the main DJ to follow.
And the main DJ followed sometime past 1AM, waiting for the last track of the warmup to fade out, and kicking things off with a beat straight away, no intro, just bass. By then the crowd had reached its maximum capacity, in a turnout that was pretty impressive given the political instability mentioned above, a turnout that would've certainly been maximized had these events not taken place. Chris Lake scubadived the crowd through a wide exploration of House music, test-driving various subgenres while showcasing his productions and remixes intensely. This is a natural occurrence whenever a DJ plays for a fresh crowd in a virgin destination which he is visiting for the first time, in an attempt to single out which sound this crowd is mostly into. The pricetag for this technique is the lack of "flow" in a set, as the numerous variations in a relatively short set amplifies the aural contrast for the trained ear; however, this did not lead Lake to play any commercial tracks to please the masses, but strictly quality House music. The crowd was digging Lake's music, be it under the guise of electro filth, techy mayhem, or proggy trips, and special moments of the night were when he hammered his latest radio-played track Carry Me Away (the Sébastien Légér remix, avec du extra filth à côté), when he pounded a remix of By The Way (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and when he closed his set with a sound-polluting (in a good way) version of Insomnia.
He close a bit later than expected though, and consequently Andy Moor’s time to take over the decks was delayed, leaving us trancers teased and in agony for melody, and letting part of the crowd leave earlier than the norm given the same security issue addressed above. But eventually he took over, sometime past 3AM, for a crowd much bigger than the one he got last year, and consequently a set much better. It was time for Progressive Trance by the man who knows it best, a producer whose original works and remixes have accumulated unmatched support from every single Trance DJ you could think of, the musician whose signature melodies and patented basslines have been intoxicating the eardrums of trancers ever since his solo career began away from his collaborations with the legendary Tilt, the studio genius who literally set the trend for how vocals should be heard in modern-day Trance with all the effects and chops you could think of and more. Andy picked up where Chris left off in terms of tempo and overall feel of the set, debuting with a house-ish trancer, to move on to full-blown Progressive Trance right on the next track. With this tasty trackselection, this smooth transitioning from one beauty to another, this cheering and motivating interaction with the crowd, Andy won the hearts and ears of the dancefloor in a second, and refused to compromise on either organ – the emotional music never stopped, neither did the crowd interaction… neither did the crowd reaction. Hands in the air during the breaks, feet drilling the soil during beats, and smiles passed around during melodies: thus may be summed up the state of mind fabricated by this DJ through his set. Andy played such masterpieces as Lange vs Gareth Emery – Another You Another Me, Cara Dillon & 2Devine – Black Is The Color (the original is by Nina Simone by the way), and his very own piece of musical genius YearZero to name a few. The music was transcendental and what was left of the crowd was savoring every bit of it, but after an hour or so I wasn’t any longer, for I started getting dizzy and had to go sit in the back or on the sides, and couldn’t last much longer after that and thus had to leave early. I wouldn’t miss my favorite modern Progressive Trance producer for the world, let alone with the caliber of Trance he was playing last night, but my recent overloaded life schedule is getting to me sometimes… either that or I’m just getting old!
Anyway, this is to say that I missed out the remainder of Andy’s set and thus cannot talk about it nor the followup set by Melonic nor the closing set by Shiva, so whoever managed to hang around late please fill us in on how the night evolved!
A third success in a row for Frenchy B Entertainment and Radio One, with the pros of the night outweighing the cons, and so we cannot but congratulate them on pulling this out during such turbulent times, and hope to see them again next month, with more Trance too!
Andy Moor:
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... no words can describe what i was feeling.
i was walking around, talking to THerz i was finding on my way, taking pics here and there. Most of the time i stayed on the right side where most of the THerz were gathered. I was getting tired of the set. The venue wasn't completely full during Chris' set (that's what i was worried about but luckily it was half full which is good) and some started to leave before Andy started. I never saw Andy Moor before (missed him when he came last time) and i was wondering when he was gonna start his set! At one moment Tranced came to me and asked if i wanna leave, i asked why and she replied that Andy left. My reaction => 
.......... nightmare! But luckily a few seconds later he came back 
I can't find the words that best describe how we all felt when he played YearZero !! 
around 30minutes after he began, most of the THerz had to leave for various reasons. The only users left were Diabolix, C-rouge, Trancelvania, TRAX, kevo and mehio (did i forget anyone?). I couldn't leave, specially after waiting so long for him! That was some pure quality Trance played there! Reminds me of Armin's gig in 2005 
I recognized 7 to 8 of the 9 to 10 tracks he played. Unfortunately i couldn't remember the titles of them. It happens to me everytime i'm at a gig! 
I know that we listened to 
