This years annual MoonPa party, hosted by Intok Entertainment, went down September 27 at the Toronto Event Centre. This annual event is a celebration hosted by the Chinese Undergraduate Association at the University of Toronto. This year, the UofT students were treated to an action-packed night of international and local talent. The night was be headlined by German electro-house producer Tujamo, with support from Daijo, DeeCee and Beauz. This was the first time I have ever been to an event at the Toronto Event Centre. As I pulled up to the front doors, students were starting to arrive in large groups. Walking into the venue I was immediately taken back by the sheer size and beauty of the room. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling and white leather couches organized into little pods for bottle service surrounded the dance floor. The centrepiece of the room is a massive diamond-shaped chandelier made up of thousands of tiny crystals. Sparkling pink and purple reflections of the lights panned across the room, all tied together with the loud rolling bass of house music spun by none other than one of Toronto’s hottest DJs, DeeCee.
As students started to fill the massive hall, DeeCee got the party moving early dropping tracks like Michael BiBi‘s Hanging Tree, a collaboration from Pardon My French label stars, DJ Snake, Tchami, Malaa and Mercer‘s Made in France and one of my personal favourites, Sweet Memories (a collaboration between CID and Kaskade). With most of the students comfortably settled into their booths socializing with classmates, the venue is packed and the party is well underway in time for the west coast DJ and producer, Daijo, to take the stage. Picking up right where DeeCee left off, Daijo did not hold back, making the crowd bounce to tracks like SWACQ‘s remix of Tiesto, Jonas Blue and Rita Ora‘s Ritual, Waiting For Love by Brooks feat. Alida, and Reebs‘ remix of Laidback Luke‘s I Need Your Loving. With the dance floor packed and the sounds of Daijo pounding through the hall, I started to make my way deeper into the crowd of energetic university students. Everyone was electric; dancing, jumping and singing to mashups of old and new songs put together by Daijo. He set the stage for an epic entrance; the much-anticipated arrival of Tujamo.
As Daijo ended his set, the crowd applauded him for his work and the stage went dark. The familiar melody of the German producer’s newest record, Drop That Low starts to fill the speakers. Up pops Tujamo from behind the decks as the beat builds. With a quick hello to the Toronto crowd, the heavy kick drums and bass of Tujamo’s new hit drops. The CO2 cannons blast a huge burst into the diamond-shaped chandelier followed by the biggest blast of confetti I have ever seen. The entire crowd reacted by throwing their hands up and jumping in the air as the confetti rained down and consumed every inch of the dance floor. Tujamo is relentless, dropping all of his original hard-hitting, bouncy electro tracks like, Who, S.A.X and Jook It. For almost two hours, he has the undivided attention of everyone in the venue. I found myself side-stage watching all the action of the DJ and the crowd. Everyone was moving in sync to the beats. Finally, he plays his biggest hit yet, Boneless feat. Steve Aoki and Chris Lake. The crowd goes wild. Hit after hit, you can tell that he is well-practised in reading the crowd and giving them exactly what they want. After a set that seemed to just fly by, Tujamo thanks the Toronto crowd. With one last drop and one last blast of confetti and CO2, his set comes to an end.
As Tujamo steps off of the stage, a duo by the name of Beauz steps up to the decks. As the night carries on past 2 am, the crowd starts to thin out a bit. Unfortunately for those who were left, they missed out on the incredible energy that these two guys brought to the Toronto Event Centre. Beauz brought a heavy rotation of uplifting vocals paired with heavy bass and dubstep wubz. As they bounced around behind the DJ booth the crowd that was left was bouncing and headbanging just as hard. For me, it was time to call it a night.
Overall, I would have to say that the organizers of this event did a fantastic job. The venue was stunning, the crowd was great and the DJs were perfect. Truly a successful night for their annual party. One thing I have never seen before at an event was a very small detail on my way out. Event staff were standing at the front gates handing out water and helping people who maybe had one too many drinks safely into cabs. I thought it was a great touch. With great music in my heart and a cup of cold water in my hand I hopped into my car and headed home.
LINKS
InTok Entertainment
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Tujamo
Website
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SoundCloud
Youtube
Spotify
Apple Music
Beatport
Daijo
Website
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Spotify
Apple Music
SoundCloud
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DeeCee
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SoundCloud
MixCloud
Beauz
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SoundCloud
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Spotify
Apple Music
Twitter
Phil Martinello – EDM TOR
