Having already set the bar quite high with their trance debut event with Ronski Speed, and Stoneface and Terminal at RYZE, there was a lot to live up to for the crew at Balance Inc. and only their second trance event. On Saturday, March 15th, 2014 this event not only met the success of its predecessor, it surpassed it.
Before discussing the mayhem that was this night, a few words must be said about the Balance Inc. and RYZE staff. The bouncers are both friendly and understanding, and do their job without hassling you or making you feel like a bad. The ticket, bar, and floor staff are equally accommodating and Dave Balance himself could be seen running to and fro to meet the needs of his patrons and headliners alike. This is very refreshing in a sometimes dismissive fast paced industry and should be applauded.
The opener of the night was Andy Ares. I got there early but not quite early enough and caught about 15-20 minutes of his set. He threw down some groovy progressive trance and set the energetic tone of the night for the next few acts.
Photo Credit: Adele Desloges for EDMTOR
I hadn’t caught Baranov live yet before this event, so I was quite curious and excited as he took the decks around 11:30 p.m. What came next surpassed my expectations certainly. Toronto is incredibly lucky to have this young talent in our ranks. His mixing is superb and his track selection was on point. With the main act still to come usually I would be pacing myself still so early in the night but there was none of that last Saturday. Baranov didn’t allow it as he delivered the sauce, throwing down tracks like Mike Foyle – Headrush (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction) and his own track V8. My favourite part of the set was towards the end when he dropped a cheeky bootleg of Adele‘s “Skyfall” theme song. Chills were sent up our collective spines in that dark but magical moment. I look forward to the next time I will be able to catch this rising star.
Luckily for all of us, a reconstruction of Mr Baranov’s set is available on SoundCloud below:
A bit of cheese snuck in around the 1:40 mark when they mixed in a retouch of Rihanna’s track Stay, and this was followed shortly by Dash Berlins summer hit, Steal You Away. Saying that it was cheesy doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable in the slightest. The way they worked it in was seamless and beautiful.
Photo Credit: Adele Desloges for EDMTOR
We Own The Night was dropped around 2 am to rapturous applause and cheering, and that led into Sean Tyas’ amazing remix of Lange and Betsie Larkin’s Insatiable which is smashing clubs and charts right now.
At around the halfway point through their set, they dropped another track off of their “Nights Awake” Remix Album. This Love in the LTN remix did the business before Ronski Speed’s awesome remix of A Night Like This slaughtered our eardrums. Some fans were in joyful tears, hands in the air, singing right along. Long time fans of the two Germans really enjoyed this night as so many K&A favourites just kept coming.
The night was a huge success, and I think I can speak for many patrons who would agree. We also were looking forward to Saad Ayub‘s closing set, knowing he would be the cherry on top of a beautiful night. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond the event organizers’ control, a neighbourhood noise complaint led to an appearance by the Toronto Police who shut the music down after just ten minutes of Saad. These things are bound to happen once in a while, and I’m positive we will be treated to a Saad set in the near future.
Photo Credit: Adele Desloges for EDMTOR
This was a huge, huge, HUGE night and treat for fans of progressive trance. Thank you also to Electronic Nation Canada for being part of this event. I await the next announcement for a trance event at RYZE, in the meantime find me on the dance floor!
Check out the photos on our facebook page by clicking on this link!
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Rory Harrison – EDM TOR
