Attention: Trance Lovers! The temperatures may be dropping but things are about to warm up this Friday, November 15th, 2019 as INK Events is bringing us a lineup that is absolute FIRE! The city of Toronto will be in the company of legends with Markus Schulz and Aly & Fila. If that wasn’t enough for you, the incredible Ruben de Ronde will be going b2b with label-mate and collaborator, Estiva. Local support provided by Toronto’s own DeeCee will be setting the tone for the evening. I know it’s cold out on the pier at Rebel, but that dance floor is guaranteed to bring the heat!
Markus Schulz live @ Beta Nightclub
Markus Schulz is renowned in the trance scene and this Miami-based DJ/producer is no stranger to the Toronto area. He played an incredible open-to-close set at Seventy-Seven in Hamilton back in September (check out the review here) and it hasn’t even been a full year since his last showing at Rebel back in January. Markus is well-known for his weekly radio showGlobal DJ Broadcast” in addition to being the founder of Coldharbour Recordings and Schulz Music Group, providing artist management for many rising stars in the industry. He is known by his fans as the “unicorn slayer” and if his recent sets are any indication he is coming to slay! I was lucky enough to catch him after his mini-set at the Statement! party at ADE where we talked about his Thanksgiving weekend all-nighter in Montreal. Stereo in Montreal gave him free rein to do whatever he wanted and he played from 2 am – 12 pm! These are the kind of sets he loves to play, and even though I know we won’t get 10+ hours I hope he will bring that vibe to Rebel this coming Friday.
Photo Credit: Aly & Fila’s Team Egypt FB Page
Egyptian trance duo Aly & Fila are men of many labels. As DJs and producers of some of the most beautiful trance tracks ever written, hosts of the Future Sound of Egypt radio show and founders of the respectively-titled record label, as well as creators of the Egyptian beach festival, Heracleion, they are some of the hardest working men in the business. While Aly & Fila is a duo, you will notice only one of the two on stage. Due to a severe ear injury, Aly can no longer tour, but Fadi certainly holds strong behind the decks. I saw him play 10 straight hours in Montreal last January without so much as the thought of a break. Lately, they have been playing a lot more progressive sets promoting their FSOE UV label, however with the looming release date of their upcoming album I am expecting more of an uplifting set from them. Aly & Fila are due to release their sixth studio album, “It’s All About the Melody”, later this month and if the title track is any indication it’s going to be an incredible journey.
Ruben de Ronde is well-known in the trance scene as Armin Van Buuren’s A State of Trance sidekick, but he is so much more. He has a mission to spread the love for music and unite people, and he does this through his productions, his live sets, his weekly radio show Sound of Holland and by providing a platform for others to do the same through his record label. 2019 has been a big year for Ruben seeing the release of his second artist album “Different”, hosting his first-ever Statement! label night at the Amsterdam Dance Event, and with his fandom picking up steam with his daily Twitch streams. He was last in Toronto back in February opening up for Cosmic Gate at Rebel but this time he will be going back to back with label-mate, Estiva.
Estiva is a Dutch musician, record producer and DJ most famously known in the trance scene for his feels-inducing melodies and progressive sound. He released his most recent album, “Metamorphoses”, this past September, just over a year after his last album, “Spectacle”. Listening to the two back-to-back you can truly hear an evolution. Metamorphoses is darker. The rhythms more tech. The basslines are deep, atmospheric and progressive and the melodies are icy and robotic, yet still carefully crafted to evoke feelings within the listener. This is a major contrast from “Spectacle” which was a generally airy and energetic, uplifting, yet progressive record. Even though these two records are so different they both contain trademark elements of Estiva’s sound and that’s exactly what we can expect on Friday. I have no idea what to expect as far as his chosen sound/vibe for the set on Friday, but I do know that it will be uniquely Estiva.
Doors open at 10PM with local support from Electric Escape’s DeeCee. Make sure you show up early to beat the crowds and get a proper warm-up because nobody does it better! Tickets are available through the event page and you had better act fast because with a line-up this massive, this is going to be one of the biggest trance events of the year!
LINKS:
Ink Events
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Markus Schulz
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Soundcloud
Instagram
Aly & Fila
Facebook
Twitter
SoundCloud
Instagram
Ruben de Ronde
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Soundcloud
Instagram
Twitch
Estiva
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Soundcloud
Instagram
DeeCee
Facebook
Instagram
Soundcloud
Anna Middleton – EDMTOR
