Being a fan and having seen Audien for the first time a little over a year ago, I know his live sets are upbeat and fun! I was a little surprised to see him return to Toronto so soon, but excited nonetheless and jumped at the chance to see him again. I invited my really good friend to come along with me – she isn’t really into electronic music the same way I am, but she’s a good sport and I thought she’d enjoy the kind of music Audien plays. (She did!)
We arrived at UNIUN Nightclub a little before 11:30PM and we were thrilled at almost nonexistent entrance line up! We were greeted by friendly security and guestlist attendants – getting in couldn’t have been any smoother! There was no line at coat check either (most people opted out of wearing a coat anyway), but one of the ladies told us they will no longer accept photos of ticket stubs – I don’t know how long this rule has been implemented at UNIUN, but this is the first I’ve heard of it and may be something to keep in mind for the remainder of the cold weather.
My friend and I headed towards the bar as Toronto locals Manzone & Strong were warming up the crowd (which filled about a third of the room at this point). As much as I love UNIUN as a venue, their drink prices are incredibly steep – $9 for a vodka-cranberry, and I’m sure there was less than an ounce of alcohol in my drink. Lucky for us, we met a photographer who was doing promotions for Bud Light and we each scored a free beer in exchange for a picture!
Happily buzzed and eager for our headliner to take the stage, we floated around the dancefloor as Manzone & Strong played Martin Solveig‘s +1. The crowd had grown since we first arrived, but we still had plenty space to move and dance. At 1AM on the dot, the lights darkened and Audien’s recently released remix of Coldplay‘s Adventure Of A Lifetime began to play. This upbeat happy dance track was the perfect opening song; it had the entire room singing along (and it’s worth mentioning that it already has over one million plays on Soundcloud!).
Audien live @ UNIUN Nightclub – April 1 2016. Photo by Tobias Wang.
Audien mainly mixed house, electro and trance tracks throughout the night with some occasional dubstep, trap, rock, and top 40 samples. He really got the crowd going when he played Eric Prydz‘s Generate followed immediately by Above & Beyond‘s Sun & Moon mashed up with his original track Wayfarer. I was positively radiating when he played one of my all-time favourite mashups, How You Love Me Hindsight, near the one-hour mark in his set.
Although at no point was the dancefloor ever tightly packed, the air was still stuffy and hot; blasts of cool smokey air over the crowd went off more frequently as the night went on. The lights and visuals, as always, were bright, intense, and perfect! The crowd began to thin out shortly after 2am, so my friend and I slowly edged our way closer and closer to the stage. We were nearly right at the front by the time Audien played Easy vs. One More Time (Tristan Garner Unfinished Bootleg) as his encore track, finishing up his 105-minute long set around 2:45AM. Mirroring his fun and carefree intro, this upbeat mashup was a perfect choice to close with, engaging the reminding crowd to sing, dance, and go all-out one last time.
Audien live @ UNIUN Nightclub – April 1 2016. Photo by Tobias Wang.
Nearly everyone cleared out after Audien’s set, including my friend and I. We left as the closer played the intro to Guns ‘N Roses‘ Welcome To The Jungle. It was a cool 5°C outside but we left the club with such good spirits that we skipped the taxis and walked home. Wandering around the streets of downtown Toronto in the dead of night with the city lights and lit up CN Tower is one of my favourite things to do; I always feel a deep appreciation for the city I call home, and reflect on how lucky we are to host parties like that night!
PARTIAL TRACKLIST:
1:00 Coldplay – Adventure Of A Lifetime (Audien Remix)
1:11 Audien ft. Matthew Korma – Serotonin
1:13 Clean Bandit ft. Jess Glynne – Rather Be (Ashley Wallbridge Remix)
1:18 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll
1:21 DJ Snake – Propaganda
1:25 Armin Van Buuren – Another You (Headhunterz Remix)
1:27 Audien ft. Lady Antebellum – Something Better
1:29 Valentino Khan – Deep Down Low
1:30 Tiësto & KSHMR ft. Vassy – Secrets
1:39 Audien ft. Ruby Prophet – Circles
1:41 Eric Prydz – Generate
1:44 Above & Beyond vs. Audien – Sun & Moon vs. Wayfarer (Audien Mashup)
1:51 Pierce Fulton ft. JHart – Landmines
1:54 3LAU ft. Bright Lights vs. Audien – How You Love Me Hindsight (Audien Mashup)
2:02 O.B – Acid & Horns
2:05 DubVision – Heart
2:07 Jack Ü ft. Bunji Garlin – Jungle Bae
2:09 Zedd ft Bahari – Addicted To A Memory
2:10 Borgore ft. Waka Flocka Flame & Paige – Wild Out (Grandtheft & Torro Torro Remix)
2:12 D.O.D. – Those
2:14 Audien ft. RUMORS – Monaco
2:16 Sam Smith – Stay With Me w/ Galantis – In My Head (Matisse & Sadko Remix)
2:22 Audien vs. Zedd ft. Jon Bellion – Rooms vs Beautiful Now (Audien Mashup)
2:24 Van Halen – Jump (Audien Remix)
2:25 Audien ft. Parson James – Insomnia
2:28 twenty one pilots – Stressed Out
2:29 Audien – Leaving You
2:30 Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400
2:33 Audien – Iris w/ Avicii vs Nicky Romero – I Could Be The One (Acappella)
2:35 Jack Ü – Where Are Ü Now (Darren Styles & Gammer Remix)
2:38 Bastille – Pompeii (Audien Remix)
2:42 Porter Robinson & Mat Zo vs. Daft Punk – Easy vs. One More Time (Tristan Garner Unfinished Bootleg)
LINKS:
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Ashlyn Doughty – EDMTOR
