dammIT

A rantbox by Michiel Scholten

Week of music: from Goa/Psytrance to Queen


Last weekend I went to a party in Belgium: seven guys, two cars, 260km trip and a huge anticipation for Infected Mushroom, Shpongle and more. We where not let down by them :)

The sets where awesome, Infected Mushroom live was just mindblowing and the whole event gave me enough energy to keep on dancing even after my feet fell off. Shpongle warmed everyone up with a slow transition from ambient-ish Goa to quite minimal beats, after which John '00' Fleming continued in a minimal hard fasion. When it was time for Infected Mushroom and their guitars, everyone already was warmed up and anticipating a great 2.5h performance. They started with some of their newer work (complete with live performance on guitars and microphone) and threw some of their classics in the mix. Let's just say we didn't stop dancing :) After 1.5 hours of this, they almost seemlessly switched to a set with oldskool work, which turned out to be quite minimal and hardstyle-ish again. We didn't complain :)

After that, Hallucinogen (from the same producer as Shpongle) continued in a similar fashion. It then was nearing 5AM and with our feet completely trashed and energy drinks running out of effect we decided to return to the Netherlands. The trip was quite uneventful, apart from the usual highway work-in-progress annoyances. After booting my two passengers out of my car at their respective homes, I crashed in my own bed at about 9AM.

So, all-in-all it was a great party. Too bad that the organisation didn't succeed in opening the doors at 21:30 and when they finally did at about 21:55, it turned out you had to switch your ticket for a bracelet first, which took ages again (and it wasn't that warm outside...). Also the two ladies taking our jackets wheren't the fastest I've seen also. Their system turned out not too bullet-proof either, as I had to look up our jackets on the way out myself, after watching her rummaging through the rows of jackets for over five minutes. This sure was a bit less professional, but that didn't prevent the party from being a big success in my eyes.

So, after spending a surprisingly non-wrecked Sunday and Monday, I'm now looking forward to going to Queen and Paul Rodgers with my girlfriend, my sister and her boyfriend and his sister completing our little gang. I think it's going to rock out :)