EVENT REVIEW: Trance Sessions Toronto presents: A Tribute Night to FSOE @ Populus (formerly Toika)

I consider myself a fan of Aly & Fila as well as a number of artists on their Future Sound of Egypt label, so I was pretty excited to hear about A Tribute Night to FSOE. A relative newcomer on the scene, Trance Sessions Toronto, has been putting on trance events at Populus. I have mixed feelings about the venue, but I‘d heard a couple of rumors regarding the sound system – specifically, that they’d either installed a new one, or overhauled the old one. Being a longtime patron of Toika, which more recently rebranded as Populus, I was intrigued to hear what they had in store.

By the time I arrived at around 10:30PM Andy Teixeira was already well into his set of progressive house. It was a solid set, though, as near as I could tell, Teixeira played no identifiable tracks from the FSOE label. Not that many songs from FSOE would’ve meshed well with his style. I was somewhat surprised, but pleasantly so, to hear the unmistakable sounds of Deadmau5 and Kaskade’s most recent collaboration: Beneath With Me.

At one point in Andy’s set I watched the fog from the stage-mounted C02 cannon completely envelop a girl, somewhat akin to a ninja’s smoke bomb. It was around 11PM that I noticed the odor of cigarette smoke had permeated into the club. I had initially assumed it was just a draft from outside bringing the scent in, until I noticed people actually smoking INSIDE the club. This is a thing for which I have zero tolerance, even more so in this case, given the size of Populus.

Following Andy Teixteira came Trance Sessions veteran Patrick Win. Initially opening with a selection from the progressive FSOE sublabel Excelsior, Win quickly transitioned into uplifting trance stayed there. The first FSOE track I remember hearing was We Control the Sunlight (Alex M.O.R.P.H Remix) just before midnight. Patrick did, however, play almost exclusively Aly & Fila remixes, which he blended together with ease.

Sound of the Drums, Concrete Angel and a few other well known trance tracks made appearances in Win’s timeslot but my favourite selection of the set, possibly of the night, was the delightful mashup Good for Nubia. There is something intrinsically satisfying about hearing the haunting Above and Beyond vocals paired with the bouncy trance of Aly & Fila.

It took a while, but I did notice that the rumors were, ostensibly, true. The sound at Populus seems to have been improved. I’ve had issues in the past with the levels being so outrageously off kilter that I’ve needed to leave early if I forgot earplugs. This issue certainly seems to have been resolved. It’s still far from perfect, but there has been considerable improvement.

Next up on deck was yet another Trance Sessions favourite, Brian Longmire who opened his set boldly with the dulcet tones of the FSOE 400 anthem: A New Age. After a slightly jarring first transition, Brian came back and treated the crowd to a select mix of uplifting interspersed with some harder tech trance sounds.

The international talent for the night came in the form of Nick Brzezinski, better known by his DJ name M45. As soon as our friend from Buffalo took over the decks, it was clear he intended to eschew the more uplifting sounds in favor of the driving tones of hard trance. He opened with two Andres Sanchez tracks back to back, which seemed to generate no complaints. I, as a Sanchez fan, unilaterally applauded the decision. Toward the end of the evening an unexpected interruption occurred in the guise of a technical issue. It caused a brief moment of concern for anybody who has ever seen an equipment failure result in an early end to a night out. That, however, was fortunately not the case; M45 rallied, announced the issue, resolved it, then went right back into the hard trance.

All said, at the end of the night, it was a great show from the lovely folks at Trance Sessions Toronto. While this show seemed to be one for locals and by locals, I see bigger things in the future from this team.

Check out the EDM TOR official pictures from this event on our Facebook Page!

Come out to the next Trance Sessions Toronto event at Populus, where Kris Morton will play an open to close set with vinyls only! Find more information on the official event page here.

TRACKLISTS:

Patrick Win

Protoculture – Sun Gone Down (Aly & Fila Remix)
Gareth Emery – Concrete Angel ( Aly & Fila Remix)
Sunlounger – Lost (Aly & Fila Remix)
Luke Bond – On Fire (Aly & Fila Remix)
Aly & Fila – Control The Sunlight (Alex M.O.R.P.H. Remix)
RAM – Ramelia
Max Graham – Nothing Else Matters (Aly & Fila Remix)
DT8 – Hold Me Till The End (Aly & Fila Remix)
Above & Beyond Vs Aly & Fila With Ferry Tayle – Good For Nubia (Arbe & Dann Mashup)
Armin Van Buuren – Sound of the drums (Aly & Fila Remix)
Lange – Out Of The Sky (Aly & Fila Remix)
Armin Van Buuren – If You Should Go (Aly & Fila Remix)

Brian Longmire

Aly & Fila with Omar Sherif & Jonathan Carvajal – A New Age (FSOE 400 Anthem) [FSOE]
Omar Sherif & Adam Deane – Stay in Wonderland (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Will Atkinson – Through Spirit (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Darren Porter – To Feel Again (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Sean Tyas & Darren Porter – Relentless (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Neptune Project – Lost All My Tears (The Noble Six Remix) [FSOE]
Philippe El Sisi feat. Aminda – You Never Know (Aly & Fila Remix) [FSOE]
Aly & Fila – First Sun (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Aly & Fila feat. Jwaydan – Coming Home (Original Mix) [FSOE]
John Askew – Can I Be Frank? (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Standerwick & Jennifer Rene – All Of Us (Original Mix) [FSOE]
ReOrder – Venice Beach (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Sean Tyas – I Remember Now (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Fady & Mina – Wonder Why (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Dan Stone – Macy (Original Mix) [FSOE]
ReOrder – Way Finding Around (Original Mix) [FSOE]
Matt Darey feat. Kate Louise Smith – See The Sun (Dan Stone Rework) [FSOE]
Aly & Fila & Skypatrol feat. Sue McLaren – Running (Original Mix) [FSOE]

M45

Raw Nerve (Original Mix ) -Andres Sanchez [FSOE]
Until Amnesia (Original Mix) – Andres Sanchez and Omar Sherif [FSOE]
Infinity (Original Mix) – Talla 2xlc [FSOE]
Revolution (Original Mix) – Arctic Moon feat. Noire Lee [FSOE]
Lost Again (Ian Standerwick remix) – Hazem Beltagui feat. Rebecca Louise Burch [FSOE]
Renegade (Original Mix) – James Dymond [FSOE]
Scota (Original Mix) – A & Z vs. Flynn & Denton [FSOE]
Kinetics (Original Mix) – Fady and Mina [FSOE]
Laily (Photographer Remix) – Aly & Fila feat. Karim Youssef ([FSOE]
Rimur [Extended Mix] – Indecent Noise [FSOE]
Shut Up! (Original Mix) – SkyPatrol [FSOE]
Show the World (Original Mix) – James Dymond [FSOE]
Mysteries Unfold (A&F Uplifting Mix) – Aly and Fila feat. Sue McLaren [FSOE]
Supersonic (Original Mix) – John Askew [FSOE]
Leyenda (Original Mix) – Andres Sanchez, Michael Kaelios & Spanish Armada [FSOE]
Tula (The Noble Six Remix) – Aly and Fila [FSOE]
Neon Nights (Original Mix) – Arctic Moon [FSOE]
Xantic (Aly and Fila vs Bjorn Akesson Remix) – Bjorn Akesson feat. Jwaydan [FSOE]
Amber (Skylex Remix) – The Thrillseekers [FSOE