Even though this past week was a short one for many of us, the anticipation for the most recent edition of Electric Escape‘s U4RIA series managed to make it feel exceptionally long. I was determined to make it though with enough energy to dance the night away at Mark Sherry‘s Outburst 500 and spend the rest of the long weekend recovering. I ultimately prevailed.
When I arrived at Coda at just past 10PM the entry line was mercifully non-existant and I managed to gain entry within a minute or two. Since it was a nice night I traveled light and had little trouble getting though the compulsory security search. The opening DJ was playing some pure progressive to a small crowd of early birds and enthusiasts. Kris Morton delivered a solid opening set with tracks from progressive virtuosos Enrico Sangiuliano and Eric Prydz. As I’m generally unfamiliar with the genre I wasn’t able to identify any of the tracks, but certain artist’s sounds do tend to stand out. Eventually the tone and BPM started to build, not quite to the levels of trance yet, but that’s where this musical journey was heading.
I decided I’d use this time before it became crowded to take stock of the venue. It had been nearly a year since I’d been to an event at Coda and nearly two since I’d seen any trance played there. The venue was largely unchanged, which is a good thing in my opinion. Coda has a great layout, plenty of dance space, a reasonable amount of seating, and an interesting while not overpowering visual setup. Since it was largely empty this early in the night, I wandered over to the bar, ordered a rye and ginger, and got a glass of whiskey with a splash of ginger ale. 10/10 to Coda for their mixing game.
By roughly 11:30 the venue was starting to fill in nicely. It was still a bit shy of full but, then again, the night was still early. David Forbes was a highly anticipated DJ for this event for the old-school trance crowd, since he has been active in the scene for over 15 years now. Forbes played John Askew‘s Remix of The Prodigy‘s Voodoo People which is, in my book, always a great selection. Another interesting track choice was a mashup of Marco V‘s G.O.D.D. and the WAIO remix of Simon Patterson‘s Smack which I have taken to calling G.o.d.d.smack. It was during Forbes’ set when Mark Sherry made his way down to the floor and could be seen conversing with fans, taking photos and just generally engaging with the audience, which is always refreshing to see.
Alex Di Stefano was much more pure trance than the previous artists. I know a number of the trance purists in the community would argue this was the best set of the night. I thought it was quite good but generally prefer to stay on the harder side of the spectrum. Whatever your preference there’s no denying that Alex played a phenomenal set. Our Manager was happy to hear him drop the Noble Six remix of Kyau and Albert‘s Kiksu track and messaged me from wherever she was in the club shooting photos at the time. A number of other tracks from Di Stefano which caught my ear were Scot Project‘s W5 and Chris Schwiezer‘s newest track Shadow.
After Di Stefano came the artist I was most interested in seeing. I’d only recently become aware of Lostly but am a big fan of what I’d heard so far. I missed the very beginning of the set as I was engrossed in a heated conversation outside but when I came back in Lostly was playing his mix of Markus’ Schulz‘s Facedown. Honestly, I didn’t really care for this particular track when it came out, nor most of the remixes I had heard, but this one worked well enough that I actually enjoyed it.
It was immediately evident when Mark Sherry took over in the booth. The driving basslines with tech sounds layered over top made for a near-perfect combination. It’s worth mentioning that while hard trance seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird, it’s spirit seems to have been reincarnated in the form of tech trance. Shortly after the start of his set, Sherry played a mix of Smack my Bitch up, marking the second instance of the Prodigy that night. I, for one, support the apparent comeback of The Prodigy, even though he doesn’t seem to have much to do with it himself. Mark also played an unexpected track in the form of Oasis‘ Stop Crying Your Heart Out. This appears to be an as yet unreleased Psyburst mix that Sherry debuted at the A State of Trance festival in Utrecht recently.
I kind of expected a decrease in energy as we transitioned from Mark Sherry to Richard Durand, but it was more of a lateral move from tech trance to psy-influenced trance. It was so seamless that I nearly didn’t notice until I saw Sherry walk not two feet in front of me! Given the opportunity, I’d love to have inquired as to his opinion on the differences and similarities between hard trance and tech trance, but at a glance I was glad to simply thank him and let him be on his way. I had mentioned that I was most interested to see Lostly, but I think Durand’s set was utimately my favourite. It simply catered to the sound I like, which is pure, unadulterated psy-trance. His set did start with Outburst style tech trance but quickly shifted to the psychedelic side of trance with tracks that just barely hinted at classic melodies. After 4AM the triplets and rolling basslines were incessant and captured the attention of all those remaining and forcing them to move. Durand was like a snake charmer plying his trade.
Due to obligations the following day I decided that I should head home for some rest, but I heard that the last few minutes were just as enjoyable as the rest of the night. Hopefully the night was memorable enough for Mr. Sherry that he remembers this night in Toronto when the next big milestone rolls around. Many thanks to the Electric Escape team for another stellar trance event. Follow their Facebook page to be on top of their upcoming event dates.
As always, you can relive the night as captured through our photos. Click here for the full album.
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Mark Sherry
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David Forbes
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Lostly
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Richard Durand
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Alex DiStefano
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Kris Morton
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