As a die hard trance fan, and one who had experienced the majesty of the previous Electric Escape, I was determined not to miss the first installment of their new series of shows; U4RIA: The Trance Collective. This edition took place at one of Toronto’s more upscale music venues: Maison Mercer, and featured the undeniable talents of Craig Connelly, James Dymond and Jorn van Deynhoven.
Due to some misinformation and an admittedly ill-advised nap, I arrived shortly after 11PM Unfortunately this temporal miscalculation resulted in my missing the bulk of the opening set by DEECEE. Surprisingly, even though I was running late (or later than I would have liked) neither the entry line, nor the coat check queue took any significant amount of time. This was a welcome departure from my previous experiences at Maison, which left me standing in the coat-check line for hours.
By the time I gained access to the club, shed my outer layer and had time to assess my surroundings, the familiar sounds of Paul Oakenfold ft. Cassandra Fox – Touch Me (Beat Service Remix) flitted up from the dance floor. I once again found myself surprised by how few people had showed up early. I’ve seen DEECEE as an opener several times and he usually does a good job of it – and tonight was no exception. He played a few more well known tracks which warmed the crowd for the main attractions coming up.
Much to the delight of everyone present, Gareth Emery and Standerwick‘s newest production, Saving Light also made an appearance on Craig’s setlist.
There was a noticeable influx of people shortly before midnight, which filled out the dance floor nicely. The crowd seemed to be composed of an equal number of familiar and new faces. To close his set, Connelly treated us to his hit track with Christina Novelli , Black Hole, once again enrapturing everyone in the room.
On a bit of a sour note, there were a few instances where the sound system seemed to be over-leveled, resulting in garbled vocals and some noticable distortion, especially toward the end of Connelly’s set. Now, I know this isn’t the fault of the artists, nor the promoter and perhaps not even entirely the fault of the venue. However, if you’re going to have Funktion One sound system which is remarked as one of the best in the world, it should probably be tuned properly. This didn’t ruin my night by any means, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention it.
After the airy, uplifting sounds of Connelly’s set James Dymond burst out of the gate with some solid psy-trance and steadfastly refused to let up. This was, by a wide margin, my favourite set of the night which had me dancing almost the whole way through.
There’s something primal about the psy beat that compels people to dance. As we moved though the night the energy only seemed to increase. Throughout Dymond’s set one could see people stomping the floor, shuffling and unabashedly throwing their hands in the air. It’s almost viscerally satisfying to see a room full of people dancing to psy-trance.
Subjectively, James Dymond played my favourite set of the night. However, objectively, I’d say Jorn van Deynhoven played the best set technically. JvD played an eclectic mix of popular tracks, quite a few classics and a number his own remixes. By the time Jorn took over the decks at 2:30AM the crowd had already begun to thin out. Although it’s disheartening to see people leave an amazing show just because there’s no more alcohol to be served, it does usually grant considerably more dancing room for the rest of us.
A number of Tiësto tracks were counted among JvD’s selection, causing someone dancing nearby to turn to me and jokingly inquire as to whether or not Lethal Industry was a “Teestoo track”. At the very end of the evening Jorn acquiesced to the cries of “one more song” and regaled us with a mix of Say My Name by Flynn and Denton, although my subsequent call for 5 more songs went, once again, unheeded.
Check out the photos from the night on our Facebook page. Courtesy of our fearless leader, Adele.
PARTIAL TRACKLIST:
DEECEE:
Paul Oakenfold ft. Cassandra Fox – Touch Me (Beat Service Remix)
Andy moor & Betsie Larkin – Love Again (Andrew Rayel Remix)
Cosmic Gate – Falling Back (Mark Sixma Remix)
Armin van Buuren & Orjan Nilsen – Flashlight
Craig Connelly:
Gareth Emery & Standerwick – Saving light
Armin Van Buuren – Orbion (Craig Connelly Remix)
Paul van Dyk & Ronald van Gelderen ft. Gaelan, Eric Lumiere – Everyone Needs Love
Tritonal – Everafter (Craig connelly remix)
Craig Connelly ft. Christina Novelli – Black Hole
James Dymond:
Aly & Fila ft. Ever Burn – Is It love (James Dymond remix)
Sunscreem – Please Save Me (James Dymond remix)
Mark Sherry meets Space Frog & Derb – Follow Me (Psyburst Mix)
Blastoyz – Parvati Valley
DT8 Project ft. Roxanne Wilde – Destination
James Dymond – Show The World
James Dymond – Push
James Dymond – Carry Me Away
James Dymond – It Ain’t Over
Jorn van Deynhoven:
Tiësto – Lethal Industry (Jorn Van Deynhoven Rework)
Orkidea – Purity (Sneijder remix)
Matt Darey ft. Kate Smith – See The Sun
Craig Connelly – Black hole (Jorn Van Deynhoven remix)
Tiesto ft. BT – Love never came (Digital Dreamerz Rework)
Years & Years – King
Vini Vici – The Tribe / Filo & Peri – Anthem (mashup)
Chris Schweizer – Scorpion
Bryan Kearney & Will Atkinson – The Game Changer (standerwick Remix)
Flynn and Denton Ft. Audrey Gallagher – Say My Name
LINKS:
Electric Escape
U4RIA Event Page
Maison Mercer
Craig Connelly
Website
Facebook
Soundcloud
Instagram
James Dymond
Facebook
Soundcloud
Instagram
Jorn van Deynhoven
Website
Facebook
Soundcloud
Instagram
DEECEE
Facebook
Soundcloud
Instagram
Scott Copeland – EDM TOR
