By the time I arrived at Nest at approximately 10:30PM on Saturday night, there were only a few early birds present with a steady trickle of people taking advantage of the free cover before midnight. Saad Ayub had already warmed up the decks and was playing some progressive-leaning tracks, including an interesting mix of Armin van Buuren‘s classic Burned With Desire. The general vibe was pretty hopeful and a number of people started to shuffle, getting warmed up. I noticed a number of members of both the local gloving and shuffling communities in attendance, actively readying themselves for a long night of dancing. Another thing I noticed almost immediately upon arrival was the additional hardware that had been brought in for the event. The DJ booth sported a pair of LCD screens for the custom visualizations, a fairly impressive laser, speakers, several cameras pointed at the decks, and Saad Ayub himself. Heretofore, I had been unaware that Saad would be broadcasting the show live for the 200th episode of his Tranced podcast.
Around the 11:30PM mark, the progressive vibes started to give way to the more upbeat, signature trance sound of Saad’s that drew most of us out. Playing fan favourites by Above and Beyond, and my personal favourite, Tritonal‘s Blackout (Reorder remix), as well as other obscure tracks such as Velvetine‘s The Great Divide.
Around this point of the night, I noticed the video screens had been turned on and the laser effects were being put to good use. Personally, I find that well-delivered visual accompaniment can add a bit of flare to an already-great set and captivate an entranced audience.
By midnight the party was in full effect. Though the venue never got entirely rammed, the turnout was ample and Nest reached approximately three-quarters of capacity during the busiest parts of the night. There was always plenty of space to dance, a fair amount of couch space toward the back and even some seating bracketing the front. I have always appreciated Nest’s consideration for shufflers and dancers who tend to expend our energy in intense bursts and occasionally need a respite. 140 BPM maybe be an exceptional tempo when it comes to dance music, but attendee’s heart rates prefer not to maintain that velocity as consistently as the music!
Before long, Saad was seamlessly swinging back and forth between a euphoric uplifting sound and the darker, more aggressive tones and cadences of psy- and tech-trance, peppering some classic tunes into the mix. I was surprised to hear Faithless’ Insomnia and a remix of We Come One, although somewhat less surprised to hear Tiësto‘s Adagio for Strings. Unfortunately, I am unable to identify most of the specific remixes he played.
The crowd began to thin out around 2:00AM once final glasses were drained and the bar ceased to serve, leaving behind the die-hard trance fans among us concerned purely with the music – and, I dare say, we were amply satisfied. I particularly enjoyed the frequency of the driving psytrance rhythms. There is no better way to get people up and dancing hard than to drop a dirty psy beat or two; for instance, when Saad dropped Great Spirit, cheesy though it may be, I was instantly off the couch and stomping for the entirety of the track.
A few other notable tracks were Saad’s own releases: Daylight ft. Cristina Soto, and Ever After Ft. Fenja. A number of people I spoke with over the course of the night were eagerly anticipating these tracks, so much so that I saw one girl actually running out of the washroom pressed by a compulsion to dance, specifically, to Daylight.
When all was said and done I would consider this event a near-perfect night. Good vibes, good people, good visualization and great music. The one bittersweet point of the whole evening came when the house lights brightened and Saad spoke into a microphone with a heartfelt thank you to the attendees, then announced the last track of the night. Sadly, this also happened to occur a half hour before the posted end time, which was a bit disappointing to the few party-goers who were left. While my aching feet rejoiced to finally be finished dancing, we all left smiling with the echoes of Saad’s music following everyone home!
MORE TRACKS:
Markus Schulz – Facedown
Armin van Buuren feat. Jaren – Unforgivable
LINKS:
Saad Ayub
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Scott Copeland – EDM TOR
