EVENT REVIEW: Subculture NYC at The Best Buy Theatre 25-04-15

Some people would think it is completely insane of me to take a bus 14 hours to New York City for one weekend. Those people obviously don’t understand the power of trance music. I was heading down for Subculture NYC 2015, put together by Esscala Entertainment and our big brother EDM NYC.

Friday night, I arrived in Manhattan around 8PM. I had just enough time to get my things to my friends place, and head to Cielo where the Subculture Pre-Party was being held. I swear I changed as fast as I could so I could get there early, but I didn’t get inside until nearly 11:15PM.

The Noble Six was already spinning, and seriously, Cielo was already packed. This was my first time catching him live, and I am glad I made it because he was blowing everyone‘s minds from the second he started his set. When I walked in, people I knew were telling me all about what I already had missed. He was playing uplifting, hard, and fast, and everyone in the room was smiling and dancing like mad. Andrew Alexandrov is a relatively new artist in the trance scene, and hails from British Columbia, Canada. You can see our past interview with him here. He played Marko V – Godd, Peter Santos – De Ja Vu (Noble Six Remix), Simon Patterson – Us, Noble Six and Neptune Project – Time, DJ Tim & Misjah – Access (John Askew Remix) and most notably his own remix of Neptune Project – Lost All My Tears that I caught many singing along to. I absolutely loved this set, and was really sad to see it end. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for The Noble Six.

Cielo in Manhattan was comparable to Maison Mercer in Toronto, in relation to size and vibe. There was an elevated DJ booth at the front of the dance floor, and directly behind was a long bar. A smoking patio was found to the left of the bar, just across from the washrooms. The room heated up quite quickly, and the venue seemed full all night long. It was easy to identify the Toronto TranceFamily in various corners of the room, as many of them were proudly displaying their flags and giving other ravers insane light shows. I even saw some familiar faces dancing in the space they had to the side. Trance DJ and Producer Mike Saint Jules was spotted in the DJ booth, understandably, since he usually can be found supporting trance events in NYC.

At midnight directly, Mark Sherry shut the sound off to start his set fresh, and hit us mad hard from the get-go with tech, tech, tech. He unleashed his Pillars of Creation and How Can I (Outburst Vocal Mix) as well as the Kings of Tomorrow – Finally (Kaskade Remix), and I even caught some Faithless and Above and Beyond in his mix. He was playing some psy, a bit of uplifting, but mainly tech trance. At one point, he climbed up on the decks and stage dove across the room! He was full of energy for the entire set, and when it ended you really had no idea it was coming. It was easy to tell from this set why Mark Sherry has quickly become a fan favourite DJ and Producer.

Standerwick was up next to close the night, and kept the room moving with his driving fast bpms. I think the first track he played was Jase Thirlwall’s Airborne. I also heard a Gareth Emery featuring Christina Novelli – Concrete Angel Mashup, John O’Callaghan – Games (Standerwick Remix), and Armin van Buuren featuring Aruna – Won’t Let You Go (Standerwick Remix) before I headed out to go sleep. I was totally wrote off from the bus ride up, plus, I had a big day ahead with the main event at Best Buy Theatre in Times Square.

At 7PM on Saturday, April 25th, 2015, I headed to Times Square to take part in the EDM NYC meet up on the red steps. Many trance fans arrived with cameras, friends, flags, and hugs to share. International travellers came from everywhere, even farther than we traveled from Canada. There was Fernando from Argentina. the beautiful Genie and her boyfriend from Singapore, and even Tael from Bahrain. After photos were taken, some headed off for a few pre-drinks at a local pub until the doors would open. I wandered around looking in stores and was getting way too antsy. I knew that this party was about to satisfy my trancing heart, completely.

Finally it was 9PM, and I was walked right in to the Best Buy Theatre. After a short wait outside, and obtaining my media pass, I was directed to an escalator downstairs, where a few coat checks, bars, and tables were located. I headed for the Subculture table to grab my Subculture NYC rubber bracelet to add to my trance wristband collection and then headed inside. The room was enormous and felt spacious. There were already tons of people inside and mainly on the dance floor. The area of seats had some scattered people, and there was also a mid-section between the floor and the seats that was slightly raised above the main floor but divided by railings and slightly higher up.

Guy Mantzur was our warm-up artist, and began our night with progressive beats. To be honest, I can’t ID them, and I asked friends of mine that know his music if they could ID any, but they couldn’t either. It was a great lead-in for the insanity that was coming next. His set seemed short, and it was then that I had to remind myself that this was going to be a one-hour-sets kind of night and everyone’s would seem short.

I was thinking to myself about how hard it would have been to arrange this line-up, because all of these artists are worthy of a peak time slot. Young and talented Will Atkinson is no exception. He took us right out of Guy’s progressive zone and right into trance melodies in no time, playing tracks like Meller – That Was, but he played mostly his own tracks including Numb The Pain, Fresh Meat, and Game Over, the latter which he ended up closing his set with. Our exposure to Will was over far too soon, but I was more than happy to hear the next artists to the stage.

I noticed that a smaller booth was placed in front of the main booth to accommodate the next headliners: Pure NRG, made up of Giuseppe Ottaviani and Solarstone. We haven’t had a Pure NRG show in Toronto yet, so this was destined to be a treat. They opened with a Pure NRG Ghost intro and led us into feels city with melodic, uplifting, and vocal trance throughout their set. Amazing Pure NRG remixes of London Grammar – Strong, and Queen‘s Radio Gaga were dropped, but a pleasant surprise was their take on Armin’s alias Rising Star featuring Betsie Larkin – Safe Inside You, which may have been the first time they’ve played it! They even played a Fire Island vs Dreamland Mashup and Ferry Corsten vs. Above & Beyond featuring Zoe Johnston – Galaxia vs. Good For Me (Pure NRG Mashup) and, yes, I cried. Their set wound down with Giuseppe playing a melody on the keys, proving my trance math equation correct again. Trance + Piano = YES.

It didn’t take me long to notice that the lights and LED screens were really bright and crisp and being changed up for each artist. The graphics were interesting, and fit to the Subculture brand. Check out some of the clips on our instagram account over here. I really appreciate an event that is not overdone, and this was really on point. The sound system was also booming but clear, and I just now realized that I didn’t put in my earplugs. Darn! Safety first!

We reached the peak time slot of this night as John O’Callaghan appeared to start his set. The room erupted as fans chanted “J” – “O” – “C” and John started with his very own song Adelphos, then mixed into Da Doo Da Dah by Sean Tyas. He played Giuseppe Ottaviani’s No One Like You (On Air Mix), Photographer and Abstract Vision – Zero Gravity, and some of his own tracks including Stay with Me featuring Dierdre McLaughlin. He finished his set with Stafighter – Apache (John O’Callaghan Remix), but the night was far from over.

There were Subculture shirts all around the room, custom-made flags up in the air, and even a few Subculture phone cases were spotted. There is an emormous love for JOC in the trance community, as he is a legend in his own right and has gained the respect of many artists and fans alike. I also happened to notice that he did not play his ever-so-popular Big Sky on this night. He seemed a bit more “techy” than usual.

It isn’t easy to follow the peak slot headliner, especially when it’s John O’Callaghan, but Bryan Kearney isn’t your average artist. He kept it going hard and opened with Mandragora & Groovholik – West (Sesto Sento & Vini Vici Remix). Kearney’s set had the most affect on me, because when he played his remix of Plumb – How Many Times, I broke down and cried. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a sad thing. I was smiling the whole time. That song just has a lot of meaning for me. Other tracks played included Depeche Mode‘s Personal Jesus (Sideform Remix), Alex Di Stefano – Escape from the Past (Bryan Kearney Remix), and Fabio XB & Liuck featuring Christina Novelli – Step Into the Light (Touchstone Remix).

The crowd was especially well-behaved and loving towards one another all night. It really felt like a huge room full of family, and that always puts the TranceFamily in the spotlight. There was a decent mix of different trance fans at this event, including those young, old, veteran, newbie, kandi kids, glovers, shufflers, elitists, purists, and more. I just really felt the love, it was definitely flowing. Even the security and bar staff were calm, friendly, and courteous, which is probably one of the reasons the entire evening went so smoothly.

Next it was time for John Askew. I still had not yet witnessed this genius live, so I was really excited. He began his set with some uplifting, but we knew that wouldn’t last long. This man goes hard and knows how to keep a crowd moving. Notable tracks in the set were Simon Patterson featuring Matt Adey – Time Stood Still, Askew remixes of Underworld – To Heal (John Askew Remix) and Commander Tom – Are Am Eye (Askew Remix), and Askew’s own track, Mechanism. I caught the eye of a good friend of mine who was on stage having the time of his life during this set and waved. This set had a bit of the “old trance vibe” and my crew definitely likes their trance, trancey. The entire room went crazy when he closed with his remix of John O’Callaghan’s Stresstest.

As I made my way through taking photos in the crowd, I noticed a few famous faces. Mark Sherry, Standerwick, The Noble Six, Mike Saint Jules, Thomas Datt, Eco, Mir Omar, and even Toronto’s own Saad Ayub made it out for this party. That really is one of the greatest things about the trance scene when the artists go to events they aren’t even booked to play at.

I can be so bold here and say that they saved the best for last, but it is kind of a bias. I just adore Sneijder since I first heard him a few years ago, and even more so since I witnessed his live sets at events around the world. He mixes so well and blends harder trance with uplifting tracks and gives me exactly what I need to keep moving til the end of the night. I was dancing to Allen Watts – Tunnel Vision (Amir Hussain Remix), Sied Van Riel featuring Alicia Madison – Gravity (Sneijder Remix) and his track with Bryan Kearney – Proper Order. It was quite fitting that I heard Orkidea – Purity (Sneijder Remix) to end a purely wonderful event of the best in today’s trance.

It was an emotional end to a perfect weekend of trance and friends. As everyone left you heard many talking about what had just taken place, it was really emotional. Friends of mine had come from overseas countries, from Canada, and from all over the United States to be at this party and now we all separate and return to our homes until the next major event we all will meet at. If you missed out on this event, be sure to check out my photos over here or go tag yourselves in them on our Facebook page.

The word on the street is that this is one of the best trance parties NYC has ever had, so kudos to Esscala, John O’Callaghan, and the Subculture family! I want to send a special thanks to Esscala, David Guzman and my EDM NYC family for the courtesy and love while I was in New York, and to Robert and Courtney who get so much love for opening their home to me, like always! The TranceFamily bond is truly a strong and incredible thing, and I will always be shocked at anyone else who doesn’t want to be a part of it. Until next time, keep d…. TRancing!

LINKS:

SubcultureNYC
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Esscala
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Best Buy Theatre NYC
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John O’ Callaghan
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PureNRG
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John Askew
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Bryan Kearney
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Will Atkinson
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Sneijder
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Guy Mantzur
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Cielo NY
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