EVENT REVIEW: Cycles Radio Episode150 at Virgin Mobile Mod Club 28-02-14 by Rory Harrison

On Friday, February 28^th, 2014, eager Torontonians descended upon Virgin Mobile Mod Club to take part in an epic celebration. Max Graham held a milestone 150^th episode of his Cycles Radio show inside the famous venue and not only was he joined by Solid Stone and Mark Sherry, but Digitally Imported Radio turned up to stream the entire thing live to the four corners of the globe. The event took an early hit when it was sadly revealed that Protoculture, who had originally been slated to spin, was unable to attend due to work visa complications. Ozmozis Events went straight to work and booked Montreal’s Solid Stone as a very capable replacement.

Solid Stone kicked things off around 10 p.m. as the crowds started to arrive. His set was made of some groovy tech and progressive songs, many which were unfamiliar to me. However, they did the trick and his expert mixing and timing made it impossible not to get sucked in by bouncy drops or catchy and repetitive basslines. Some tracks which had the dance floor moving were: Ambassador – The Fade (Guy J Remix), Jerome Isma-Ae & Mark Sixma – Refused (Dousk Remix) , Andrea Bertolini – Colorama (Solid Stone Remix) and his closing track Tempo Giusto – Blacksmith (Grant Lewis Blackout Mix) just to name a few. He even threw a few IDs in there. You can listen to Solid Stone’s set in its entirety right here:

Photo Credit: Nefertiti for EDM TOR

Around midnight, the man of the hour, himself took to the decks to pay homage to the three years of dedication and hard work that he had spent moulding and shaping this radio show. With it being his 150^th, you can bet that Max Graham brought his “A” game. He started of not too dissimilar to Solid Stone’s set, with some intricate progressive. As the venue was now quite full the energy of the dance floor visibly picked up a notch. Tucandeo – C.T.U. (Basil O’Glue Remix) and Yutise – Let’s Begin were some early progressive tracks Max Graham dropped. Then he dropped a cheeky minimal techno track with Marco P’s Seven Miles To, which only speaks to the versatility and fluidity of the movement that is Cycles.

Photo credit: Nefertiti for EDM TOR

After this we definitely started moving into trancier territory and once again the energy of the dance floor visibly picked up a notch. Markus Schulz’s smash hit Remember This nearly blew the roof off Mod Club. Max Graham was throwing a bit of techno into the set at this point. His ability to switch between styles so seamlessly is one I have not encountered often before. Towards the end of his set, Max finally threw down some beautiful uplifting trance such as Protoculture featuring Shannon Hurley – Sun Gone Down, Solarstone featuring Jes – Like A Waterfall , and Max Graham featuring Ana Criado – Nothing Else Matters (Norin & Rad Remix), all the while mixing in that cheeky proggy, almost techno, style. Mr. Graham ended the set with a groovy powerful ID which we will have to wait to hear again later. The crowd cheered and showed the man the love he deserves and around 2 am it was time for Mark Sherry to close out the night with a two hour set. The entire broadcast including Max’s set from two hours to four hours has been posted online here:

One of the treats of the night was the fact that Mark Sherry brought something very different to the table. The steadier intricate pace of Max Graham’s set was replaced with what can only be described as a ferocious pounding pace filled with tech-trance, some uplifting and quite a bit of psy-trance. By this point the crowd had found a hidden reserve and was determined to use every last bit of energy on Mark Sherry’s set. Setting the tone right off the bat with his own Argentinian Sun remix of Sun In Your Eyes by Above and Beyond, this set had some huge heavy hitters. Some other notable songs were Giuseppe Ottaviani with Aly & Fila – Brilliant People (Mark Sherry Remix), Max Graham – The Evil I.D. (Mark Sherry Remix), Jordan Suckley & Eddie Bitar – Centipede, Giuseppe Ottaviani featuring Alana Aldea – Heal This Empty Heart (John O’Callaghan Remix) and Darren Porter – Terraforming.

At the end of his set Mark treated us to a trip down memory lane with remixes of Tiesto classics including Richard Durand’s remix of Lethal Industry and James Dymond‘s rework of Adagio for Strings. It seemed that there was not a single hand in the room that wasn’t outstretched to the heavens. Mark was also very interactive with the crowd during his set and took full advantage of the stage set up to wave Scottish flags and take pictures and reach out his hands to the trance family. His set is also available to listen to or download right here

Once again Ozmozis can hold their heads up proudly for having facilitated not just an outstanding event, but a milestone celebration and one of Toronto’s most significant trance and progressive shows ever. I am confident that this event will be talked about for a long time to come.

Max Graham

Mark Sherry