Upon entering Nest somewhere between 10 and 10:30PM, I heard the distinctive four-on-the-floor beat of progressive house. I immediately exchanged words with Derek (the iconic DeeCee and mastermind behind Electric Escape) who laid out the night that we had in store for me. He told me we’d have a bit of building vocal trance before the anticipated M6 set, followed by driving, high-energy trance after. Which, if you know me, is what I live for. It seemed like Electric Escape had once again assured that one of their U4RIA shows would be a hit, and I for one was excited to see what Mark Sixma had in store for us with M6.
A.D. the Kid, or Adrian Dobbs, was first up on deck. The first track I heard him play when I arrived was the Spencer Brown mix of Above and Beyond‘s – Northern Soul, which I was surprised to hear, not because it was out of place, but rather because it’s so new that I’m unused to hearing it in any context. The sound quickly progressed to a more trance oriented sound while still staying on the progressive side of the spectrum. Eric Prydz – Every Day made an appearance, followed by what I would describe as non-descript techno. All said, I quite enjoyed his set. It was a solid progressive outing from an artist I knew absolutely nothing about. I didn’t know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised.
Next up on the roster was of course resident mix master DeeCee. Derek was just getting set up in the DJ booth when A.D. the Kid tossed out Arty and Matt Zo‘s – Rebound. DeeCee had no trouble at all getting going, and in no time was playing Andrew Rayel & Emma Hewitt‘s My Reflection Overall, the whole set seemed to have a lot of Anjuna influence, which always delivers hard on the feels. True to his word, DeeCee delivered vocal hit after hit. At one point I recall that Gareth Emery‘s CVNT5 came on, causing most of my group of friends to lose it and dance about with wild abandon. If you had noticed us, you’d likely think “here’s a group of people who love trance music and clearly don’t care how they look” – which would be correct.
It was approximately 20 minutes before the end of DeeCee’s set when the crowd really started to fill up. This is standard – the primary crowd always shows up just in time to see the headliner and usually disappears shortly thereafter. Some people even leave before the headliner is through, depending on how late the bar serves booze and how hectic getting home may prove to be. Fortunately, though, Nest is never jammed for coat check, or line-wise.
Mark Sixma took over the booth just after 12:30AM. The crowd was pumped, the energy was high, and the night was just getting started. Early in Sixma’s set was the second time I heard Above & Beyonds‘ Northern Soul, albeit a different mix in a more trance-leaning style. Mark also played what I believe to be his mashup of Jorn Van Deynhoven‘s New Horizons and Armin Van Buuren‘s In and Out of Love. Somewhere around this point in the night he also played some new tracks that I hadn’t heard before (at the very least, they were songs I couldn’t readily identify). Sixma quickly shifted back into a few classics, like his own remix of Cosmic Gate – Exploration of Space and Vincent De Moor – Fly Away… even the classic among classics Adagio for Strings made an appearance.
One particularly revelation-ary moment came in the form of the 2017 cover of Missing by Mark Sixma & Emma Hewitt. Originally performed by Everything but the Girl in 1994, it was a staple of 90’s mixes everywhere. I had no idea that this version of the song existed and was something of a blast from the past when the first chorus came in.
Once again it came time for DeeCee to take over the decks for a high-energy closing set. Unfortunately, as anticipated, most of the crowd didn’t stick around to see it. I’ll admit that I wasn’t in much of a state to remember tracks after several hours of imbibing alcohol and having a great time with friends, but I can say with certainty that it was a great set and that anybody that left early missed out.
Photos from the event are as always available on our EDM TOR Facebook, or click here to view the album.
PARTIAL TRACKLIST:
A.D. the Kid
Above and Beyond – Northern Soul (Spencer Brown remix)
Eric Prydz – Every Day
DeeCee
Arty and Matt Zo – Rebound
Andrew Rayel & Emma Hewitt – My Reflection
Somna – Love Hold On
MaRLo ft. Christina Novelli – Hold It Together
Gareth Emery – CVNT5
Above and Beyond – On a Good Day
Dash Berlin & Sarah Howells – Go it Alone
Above and Beyond – Sticky Fingers
Mark Sixma/M6
Above and Beyond – Northern Soul
JvD & AvB – New Horizons/In and Out of Love
Mark Sixma & Emma Hewitt – Restless Hearts
Above and Beyond – A Thing Called Love
Tiesto – Adagio for Strings (Mark Sixma remix)
Dash Berlin & Roxanne Emery – Shelter
Gaia – Empire of Hearts
Cosmic Gate – Exploration of Space (Mark Sixma remix)
Gareth Emery – Saving Light
Mark Sixma & Emma Hewitt – Missing
Vini Vici – Chakra
Vincent De Moor – Fly Away
Darude – Sandstorm
LINKS:
Mark Sixma
Facebook
Instagram
Soundcloud
Deecee
Facebook
Instagram
SoundCloud
A.D. the Kid
Twitter
Instagram
Scott Copeland – EDM TOR
