REVIEW: Myon & Shane 54 @ Beta 02-02-13 by Mohammed Sami

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On my way up to my old University town of Waterloo, I realized how short my recovery time was since day 1 of BRRRR! Winter Music Festival in Toronto. However, as I approached the iconic flashing Beta sign I was hit with a rush of nostalgia. I turned the corner from the ticketing booth and a spine-tingling sensation rushed through my body with every passing beat of bass hurled right towards me. I knew that feeling all too well; I felt like I was home.

Of course I give full credit to the DJ on decks for the opening set of the night – a DJ I have seen grow from the very beginning of his journey in the electronic music scene with every year proving to be exponentially better than the previous. Taking advantage of the powerful 4-corner speaker arrangement, DJ Flux, better known as Gary Sagoo, kept the dance floor groovy and had people bouncing with his deep tech and progressive house sounds. The unique lighting setup in the club allowed me to watch as patrons walked in with an immediate urge to start dancing. Dancers were welcomed into the club with rhythmic tunes such as Siwell’s remix of Critical, originally produced by the collaborating team of Phunk Investigation & Schuhmacher, and Zumb Socks by Abel the Kid which features the Trommeltanz Din Daa Daa sample – a very recognizable acapella. Flux kept the vibe progressive and dark for the second half with remixes such as Jerome Isma-Ae’s Eyes Closed remix by Justin Michael. Fans of Funkagenda would have also been pleased with Gary’s decision to drop a number of his tech-house productions to close out the set.

As Flux left the decks, clearly overjoyed by the support he was receiving from the half-full venue, Beta resident and veteran DJ Kurtbradd took over to bring the crowd a staggering set that quickly had music lovers pumped. I was absolutely blown away by some of the remixes Kurtbradd was able to implement in his set, many of which I had never heard before but fortunately I was able to pick up on the original sample used. Two tracks in particular that had the crowd going absolutely wild over were Funkagenda’s remix of Must be the Feeling by Nero as well as an exhilarating 134 BPM version of Wamdue Project’s King of My Castle remixed by Sander Van Doorn. Soon after, the eerie vocals of Mark Knight’s Nothing Matters kicked in which had the entire club dancing hard.

The transition from Flux’s set into a fast-paced one seemed to be a very conscious decision on Kurtbradd’s part; I really have to credit him for being aware of the fact that the club was prepared for a high energy night when Myon & Shane 54 would eventually take over. He understood very well that fans were there to party to the sounds of trance – and he certainly delivered. You could feel Kurtbradd feeding off the energy of the crowd when he dropped bangers like Endymion by Orjan Nilsen, Vapor by Khomha, and the smashing track that is everyone’s favourite, Ummet Ozcan’s The Box.

It was due to the overzealous screams around me that I realized headliners Myon & Shane 54 were finally on the decks around 12:30. If you haven’t heard much about them, the main reason for their recent popularity in the electronic music scene can be accredited to the massive number of mashups and remixes they have produced as a team – I have been told they have made close to 200! Perhaps every track they delivered was a Myon & Shane 54 remix, but to be honest, I didn’t mind that at all. This gave their set a fresh twist that easily lit up smiles on everyone’s faces around the room. Try to picture the buildup of Deadmau5’s Get in the Cart, Pig with the vocals of Cinema dropping into some of the grungiest electro-house that would have the cast of Jersey Shore fist pumping the roof off! And that was just their opening track.

The dynamic duo is not just known for their musical versatility but also the energy they bring to their performances. At any given moment you could look up and watch as Mario (Myon) would have control of the decks while the other would jump around and quite literally scream at the crowd until he was red in the face. I even caught the DJs standing on the booth a couple of times, hyping up the crowd. The crowd was so in love with Myon & Shane 54’s performance that they would synchronize-clap to the music and elevate the night a bit further every time.

In all honesty though, the duo was able to deliver an electrifying energy solely through their song selection. Staple tracks like The Great Divide, Spectrum vs Over, and Love Rain Down remixes had the crowd chanting and jumping continuously. It was very apparent that playing catchy sing-along tracks was their signature style as they even dropped original mixes such as Porter Robinson’s Easy, Axwell’s In My Mind, and Everyday by Pryda. With 15 minutes left in their set, Myon and Shane 54 were not ready to stop and decided to turn it up a notch. It was in those 15 minutes that brought me back to the old days of Beta. It might have been the feeling of having great people around me, or the uplifting quality of the songs that were played, or perhaps it was just plain Group Therapy. Back-to-back-to-back, the speakers of Beta blared with tunes from Above & Beyond. It started with On My Way To Heaven (Club Mix) which led into an all-time crowd favourite Sun and Moon – you can only imagine the sing-along to that one – followed by On a Good Day (Metropolis). The night unfortunately came to an early end, around 2:15, but was done so on a good note with Gareth Emery’s Sanctuary. The crowd just was not ready to leave as the chant “ONE MORE SONG” grew louder and louder, as is customary after a night at Beta.

My overall impression of the night was extremely favourable as I was reminded of why the scene exploded so quickly in the city of Waterloo. With the saturation of the electronic music market it is hard to find an event that maintains a high level of quality throughout the night; this one did it for me. The night got a rolling start with an extremely talented local DJ who had everyone bouncing and grooving, progressed gradually into a high adrenaline vibe with Kurbradd, and finally ended in full throttle as Myon & Shane 54 took over the decks. Here’s to Beta for a solid night.

Cheers!

 

Links

Flux

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Kurtbradd

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Myon & Shane 54

Website

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Mohammed Sami EDM TOR

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Adele is the owner of Tranceported. She manages and maintains the social media and the photo and video teams, and has been shooting our event photos since 2011. She has been a fan of Trance music since the mid-90s and started this website (formerly called EDM TOR) in 2012.

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