Paul Van Dyk @ Forum De Beirut [17-11-07]

[Icepick]

Well dont know where to start, excuse me for forgetting anything, still not in the correct state, ears are whisling from yesterday night...

At 10:15ish the outside of forum was already filling up for the best event yet to occur in Leb Land in 07. Scanning around, the usual crowd, wont comment more but was disappointed in the quality, i didnt for a first expect 7th and 8th graders from my school to be there !!! WTF are they doing there, shouldn't they be in bed reading Pocahantis ? anyway aside that the deep basslines filled Forum and doors are open and Amadeus is hands on decks playing the best in downtempo/minimalish tracks, like Phatzoo - Poop 'n' Loop (Marco V Remix),Nic Chagall - Back To San Fran. and my personal highlight of the set [b]Prepetous Dreamer - Sound Of Goodbye (Simon Shaker Remix) .
The venue was one of the most decorated i have witnessed .... The disco balls, the lights and mutlicolored lasers were amazing..
Amadeus was playing at the right of the stage, in the first booth, after the end of his set, the eyes were focused on the left where John Askew took over with the second booth... Also an amazing set and tracklisting...After loosing my friends for the 4th time due to "overcrowding" i bump into Kamil and Joe...anticipating the intro of Paul Van Dyk this time in the 3rd special booth with midi controllers and Paul's gadget, the A&H...the booth was covered by a curtain that descended on a metal circle, during the intro on a soft melodic track, and again due to "overcrowding" and people on other people,literally, the view wasn't so good, and pics were hands and feet instead of the booth. After that, moved to a better location where all the TH'ers were, with a bit of breathing space, to spend a few hours full of tech tracks, a bit of melodic but with filth, with filthy tech, and on several occasions noticed the disappointment on Kamil's face( The Starwars girls made you smile for a change ). while other TH'ers enjoying it...With not further details , tracks were a mix of new and old likes of Time of our lives, We're Alive, Crush (Vocals), Other Side, New York City Sky, Fallen, Castaway...and many others but cant fully remember all the tracklisting...but overall a good set, for tech listeners. The skills were amazing using live remixing editing and sampling made things great, the sound system was also great....

Well again another event in the leb history, but the thing that annoys the most is the amount of crowd and the quality of that crowd, i wont comment on the uneducated part because they are there to enjoy music just like us, but i would say the quality as in kids and "woziye" in addition to drug addicts, like always...

ps: as i was leaving to get some fresh air and calm my ears down before re-entering, my friends and I witness, what is yet to be the worst thing that can happen on a gig like this...A fight with the "DARAK"....A guy was beaten by a police man aka DARAK for some apparent reason...Whatever the reason was, it wasn't good enough to fire up such things...its sad to see that the Own police men of Lebanon, beat Lebanese citizens that are there to enjoy music ...

With crazy pics and of course the usual embarrasing ones,Great meeting all TH'ers...and until next time \0/!!!




Oh and sorry if my review isn't that extravagent...Enjoy!

[DIONYSOS]

Thanks for the early review Icepick! Would've loved to be there myself and come back with my usual dissertation-sized reviews, but urgent and unexpected last minute events compelled me to stay home. I missed raving with all of you! And thanks to everyone who messaged me or called me during the night. Looking forward to everyone's feedback! Onto the next... in December

[DJ_TRACID]

he couldn't be me more perfect in skills and everything interaction with the crowd everything i loved the tracklist unless the ones who r uplifting freaks as for the crowd well it was good axcept for the SMOKING thing my eyez started to heart like SHIT!!! and abt kids well we saw a 11 yr old kid walking arroud we were like WTF ???? :S still didn't solve the age issue and wont EVER but i after all i enjoyed it to the max with my fellow THerz c u all @ the next BIG event

[lebanese_raver]

Arrived at the venue at about 11:15, loved the set-up.... mmm music wise Amadeus was good, mm i enjoyed the last 3 tracks of Askew's set... then here comes the pain.... PVD oh god, i knew i was going to have a bad night, but i insisted on going just to catch up with trance a lil bit, okay 1st track a melodic track not bad... then PVD started with his "tanajir beats" that i couldnt handle at alll, so i went out for a bit since i wanted 2 change some air and calm my head... but i had a plan B for the nite BO ofcorse, went to BO around 2am, but 2bad i couldnt go in... so my friends convinced me 2 go back into Forum... we went back in at around 3am and the music was worstttttttttttt, wtf pvd was playing? tech-trance? hardcorse? tanajir tefal? anyway this is the last trance event that i will attend in my life, even if i get a free ticket im skipping a trance event.

God Bless House Music.

[Raneem]

I Entered Forum at around 12, when Askew already has started his set. A mixture between ProgHouse and Prog Trance, I believe Askew delivered a good warm up set!
As to PVD, i gotta say that i LOVED his techniques, loved his fast mixing, loved his effects. I really enjoyed the first 90 minutes of the set (starting with a gr8 intro, then New York City (DUB) mashed up with Touch The Sun (XB & Guess Remix), and with some Live Acts, then mixed with The Vocal Version later, then comes From Inside The Speaker (Part 1) and so on...), but then, suddenly, PVD started with House music.. I was a bit shocked...then, moved to Breakbeat..and should i add ROCK ?!
Anyway..Enjoyed my time with Thers !

[@mr]

glad i didnt go, didnt like his mix in previous event, knew he didnt change, its always tech and bass with this guy!

[~Tr@N(E_L@TiON~]

I couldnt catch up with Amadeus's set... Askew's set was very nice... I was lookin forward to hear him playin' and he did for sure satisfy my taste of progressive house and trance...
I loved the venue and the idea of 3 stages! toooo BAD it was OVERcrowded that i couldnt find a good spot to view the entrance of PVD am hoping i can see some videos of his entrance! (I also saw those 11yrs old kids n I was like WTF too LOL )
I was soooo looking forward to meeet up with U THerz.. but unfortunately i came across only 4 (Robert, Wafic, Rami, and Issam)
PVD's set wasnt disappointing at all! I just loved it and I stayed till like 4.15 am with non stop dancin and jumpin
oh I also think tht the sound system and lazer show were perfect, gr8 organization, thanks to everyone who helped build such a perfect night!
one more thing is that the security at the VIP section were mean lool.. my friend had a fight with them!!

Bottom Line: I HAD A BLAST

[DJ_TRACID]

btw he played tech from the moment that he played for the 1st time in lebanon in 2004 most f his sets r techy most of the time it's normal & the rock thing comonn ur exaderating ppl he played 2 tracks and a REMIX not rock song?! :S and for house well it was a change although i didn't like it, it was for 15 minutes or something not the whole set it wasn't that much to say that the night sucked :S if some ppl were in a bad mood from the beginning well dunno...

[TranceFusion]

I’m gonna have so much fun writing this!!!
I came with Rania and my cousin at 11:50pm. I had to go with my cousin to the point of sale to get a ticket first. I saw there the kid that Icepick mentioned. I’m sure that he’s not older than 12 years old and he already has the left ear pierced… Definitely looks like the “future generation of wazawiz”. What a bright future for the Lebanese EDM scene. They refused to sell him a ticket. With our small group we got inside the Forum. What I first liked about this event is the setup. The main reason why I liked it must be the lights I guess (blue-purple). I also liked the idea of 3 DJ booths! One for Amadeus on the right, one for John Askew (Gunther & Stamina later) on the left, and the main biggest one in the middle for the one and only Paul Van Dyk. It was covered with a big black curtain until his intro. John’s warm-up set was kinda cool but I wasn’t feeling it. Only 3 or 4 tracks made me smile from 00:15 to 01:15.

When it was time for PvD to start, I went to the middle of the dancefloor and tried to get as close as possible to the DJ booth for better pictures. But it was impossible; there were way too many people in front. When the intro began, I imagined myself standing in the middle of New York City! Not because of the track played, but because of all those ravers putting hands up in the air and I had around me at least 4 girls and guys sitting on their friends’ shoulders for a better view. Me surrounded by skyscrapers! So thanks a lot for pushing and hiding the view. Excitement is nice, overexcitement isn’t. By the way, I always preferred white shoes to black shoes. So also thanks for changing the color!
All right! PvD began, and I felt ready to really enjoy this event. I mean… the last time I went to a gig was on 5th of May when John Askew came here for the Sleepless Experience. And another personal reason to really enjoy this night was the fact that Poland got qualified for the first time in history to the football tournament Euro 2008! The game ended at 11:20pm with 2-0 for us! I thought to myself… “That’s definitely the best way to celebrate such an important achievement. I wanna have fun like the 40 million compatriots!” Hell… it’s true that I expected Paul Van Dyk to play tech-Trance, but I remember saying in the PvD topic of TH “he’s gonna play mostly tech, some uplifting and vocal”. But when I said mostly, I had in mind like 60% of the set! That was 90%!!! If the true definition of Trance music, the melodic subgenre (main genre I’d say), is reduced to a maximum of 7 or 8 tracks in a 4h set, then I say this: Fuck tech (yes, not with a caps lock T), Fuck this shitty trend, Fuck today’s scene and Fuck such crowd (not all of it of course, let’s say 95% of it)! I see first steps of minimal-Trance, electro-Trance; soon there will be shit-Trance I bet. Tech is the terrorist of Trance music and if I could make a wish at this moment, I’d wish for it to never have existed and never exist. I’m proud to call myself an “old skooler” if Uplifting Trance is reduced to history. I understand that tech can be enjoyable from time to time in an event, but how can people enjoy it for 3 straight hours?!?! All I hear is boring monotonous bass! (reminds me of Marco V gig on 10th of March)
What was the ratio of Tech-Melodic from 01:15 to 04:00? Only 3 tracks… Formentera What at the beginning and I think a mashup of the classic Airwave with a vocal track. How sweet… a whole country celebrating the qualification, and I was either sitting on the ground or simply standing. For the first time since 2004, the thought of not attending anymore gigs passed in my mind. I have never been so disappointed, never. From time to time I took some funny pics cuz I really wanted to smile at least. For a born smiler not to smile at an event of his greatest passion there must be one pretty fuckin good reason! I also enjoyed taking pics of multicolor lasers. So beautiful… perfectly fits the climate of dreamy feelings and melodies. How can tech be associated to multicolor lights? Stick to the green since “the market doesn’t sell other color lasers”.
I wish I could leave even at 4am, but I stayed till the end for 2 reasons:
First, I couldn’t leave my cousin. I know he was enjoying it a lot. It was his first time at an event, and just like me in 2004, his first time was seeing PvD live.
Second, I know that For An Angel would be played at the end, as always.
From 4:30am to 5:20am when PvD finished, I was sitting for at least 30 minutes… agh what a torture. The ratio of T-M (tech-Melodic) increased just a tiny bit, but tech was still dominating. And it was too late to make me even nod my head. And when For An Angel was played, only those who know me well knew that I was smiling inside, cuz my body still looked like stone. What I really loved here is that he played it live with his keyboard! It was a short moment, but what a perfect one. Like we say in life “happy moments are always short”.
The crowd? I felt that there was something different from the other times… too much pushing, and no manners at some points! Some didn’t want to let me pass through. Maybe cuz the place wasn’t big enough for such a big crowd. I also got almost hit in the chin cuz one was doing those “monkey moves” in all directions when I was passing through. Damn… some think that they have 2 square meters for them to dance and move in every possible way. I went to get 2 drinks, one for me and one for reemze, when I got back to our group, 1/3 of each plastic glass was gone, either landed on floor or on my shirt and jeans.

My rating? It should be 0.5/10 (only cuz Formentera What and Airwave were played) but it’s gonna be 4/10 cuz For An Angel was played live and cuz I loved the interaction of the German DJ with the crowd.

There’s democracy and I’m using my right to say what I have in mind. So...
DON’T TELL ME TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN. Only 2 persons can do it, myself and… well… someone else!
*slams the door to the point of breaking it*

[A-Cube]

Kamil for President ...

[crow]

Ah well. Better gigs will be coming up so take it easy people!

[Trancestral]

Its always good to recall back some memories from 2004, 2005, 2006

Airwave

[Deema]

Loved the mixing!
Loved the tracklist bt expected more uplifting trax!
Loved the set up n all!

9/10

[Omaro]

Kamil inta 3a rasi man! I swear I had the same feeling about not going to any more events after this, because let's admin it, when one of the biggest djs in the EDM world comes to your town (Despite it being an "album tour") you'd expect something extra-ordinary... Well, his mixing was class of course, but tracklist... hmm... The fact that not many tracks have been ID-ed from his sets in Dubai and Beirut says a lot in my opinion (Random Q, any THers in bahrain?!)... I don't mind tech-trance, house, bateekh-trance or whatever, but it wasn't what I expected... Maybe electronic music is moving forward,away from trance, tastes of people do change, but I'd rather stick to mainstream, uplifting, vocal and melodic trance to whatever is 'trendy' and 'in' now..

Sigh... What is ironic is that I waited for that event here for so long expecting a trance-ear-gasmic set because no matter what he plays, people will "love it", but he actually played what the people loved already (at least in dubai that is)... Did that make sense?

So2al... Did he play the likes of Satellite and Beautiful Things there? He played them in Dubai

p.s. sorry for taking this dxb v. beirut to the extreme

[TranceFusion]

^ No Satellite, no Beautiful Things.

I'm also against everything that is trendy. I never wanted to wear clothes that other people wear, get the newest Mercedes or BMW cuz a lot of people have those cars, buy the iPhone cuz it's "new", do this cuz others do this, like that cuz others like that.... fuck trends in all domains.
One more thing. All those people at the event that night? Were having so much fun cuz it's Paul Van Dyk. But who cares about the name? PvD played tech-Trance. But when those same people go to pubs and clubs in Beirut, and listen to the same tech-Trance played by TranceHits DJs (Dionysos, Ranim, Johnny, and now C-rouge), they leave the club!!! FUCKIN HYPOCRISY/MENTALITY/ATTITUDE!!! I WANNA NUKE THOSE @#^%%^@#@# !!!!!

If one day i decide to learn mixing on software, the first series of sets i'll do will be entitled "Tech Never Existed". And if one day i decide to organize a birthday party with a DJ, there won't be any fuckin tech. I don't care if only 10 friends would come, it would still be an amazing birthday party.