roundup of the last few nights...
destino opening party, 27th may
friday was a very busy night so I headed to destino first and just quickly. friends of mine were staying there so went to say hello. was there round 7pm and it just only really started getting busy and the music level was also still pretty low. when I left an hour later lots of traffic was coming in up to destino though and judging by pics and comments, it was well busy after sunset and I'm sure they put up the music louder later too.
IMS grand finale, dalt vila, 27th may
next stop was dalt vila. got there just as nicole moudaber started playing and quite enjoyed her set. overall I think I've seen better editions of dalt vila parties and I believe it also wasn't sold out this year (unlike last year for example), but this event I'll always support simply because of its location. it's also one of the events that really mark the proper start of the season for me, IMS (conference) done and big openings ahead!
HEART opening party, 27th may
after a quick pitstop it was then time for heart. got there at 1am and wolfgang haffner trio did their live thing from around 1:30am onwards. was really nice, just one of the pieces they played was too slow/quiet for the actual time of the night, but I still enjoyed it. then sven väth started and the dance floor was packed. I knew I still wanted to go somewhere else and also I knew I'm gonna see papa sven for a longer sesh pretty soon so we left at around 3:30am. they haven't changed anything of the hardware in heart compared to last year, the only thing they have changed is that the rooftop terrace is now just a bar and mo more street food market. i did like that concept last year so that's a bit of a shame, but the terrace is at least still there and it's a great place to have a drink and socialize. I am sure that the venue will be very busy on sundays, but if there's any truth to those rumors about guests for openlab and boogie in wonderland plus select tuesdays we're in for a strong heart summer.
privilege opening party, 27th may
last stop for the day was privi. got there at around 4am, basically just waiting for vista club to open. main room was an EDM fest (but that was clear checking the line up) and it was busy, but not packed. vista opened at 5am eventually and was nicely busy for the sunrise session. it emptied out a bit sooner than what people expected I think and we finally called it a night at 9am. off to bed!
ushuaïa opening party, 28th may
after a lazy day spent in bed and on sofa I got my sh*t together just before the sun left and arrived at ushuaïa at around 8:30pm. as expected it was packed and it was one of those few occasions where I was actually glad that with my press pass I could go up to the cloud (the vip bit at the very back) where things weren't as bad and I had a little more space. I'm normally totally a 'dance floor all the way' person, but in this case I preferred to stay away. musically I got the last bit of joris voorn and a chunk of hot since 82. well..I am neither a big fan of ushuaïa nor the type of tech house that was played at that time so it just wasn't for me, but you people around me had a blast. there were a few good tunes every now and then but generally not my cuppa tea. left at around 10:30pm and headed for a quick pad thai at chopstiqs.
amnesia opening party, 28th may
got to amnesia a bit before midnight. I had heard that the club only started to filling up at/around sunset and had also heard that ricardo villalobos started later than planned, so when I got there both the club as well as RV were in full swing. it wasn't completely packed at first, but it was just right. also ricardo was in good form, he played one of his trademark 'good' sets, means lots of energy, lots of crossfader use (prince's when doves cry in an out for about 20 minutes and it worked a treat) and not the weird afterhour sounds he sometimes plays (they can be cool, but must be at afters!). after him mar-t and cuartero played back to back. this was more tech house/techno, but still pretty good. by that time amnesia was VERY busy and also the main room (amine edge & dance were playing) was full by then. I didn't stay for apollonia and left at around 3am.
...everything so far was just a warm up. my proper opening parties happen today, tomorrow and tuesday
