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| Basics |
Date:
Friday 11th February 2005
Address: Red Box, Harcourt St, Dublin 2
Occurrence: Weekly
Hours: 11pm - 3am
Ticket Price: €20
Genre: Trance
Dress Code: Anything goes
Capacity: 1000 |
| Line-Up:
Armin Van Buuren, Al Redmond |
Armin Van Buuren has
enjoyed a meteoric rise to DJ stardom. From his
genre defining Blue Fear back in 1997, to being
voted number three DJ in the world the last two
years in a row, he has come through the ranks to
become one of the most in demand DJ's in the world.
With tour dates in North and South America, as well
as Asia and all over Europe, Armin managed to squeeze
a rare appearance in Ireland last week, as he made
his debut at Dublin City's premier club the Red
Box. Support on the night, which was the most anticipated
of the year so far night in Ireland's capital, came
from Al Redmond, who has slowly but surely established
himself as Dublin's number one Trance DJ.
Upon arrival at the Red Box, Al Redmond was already
well into his stride and it didn't take us long
to join him as the first drinks weren't even finished
before we were enticed on to the dancefloor by Rachel
Star - Til There Was You (Gabriel & Dresden
mix), and once we were there, we were there for
the night. As the Red Box filled up, it seemed everyone
headed straight for the floor and the Luke Chable
mix of Steve May's Forty-3 followed soon after by
Lolo's Why, both clearly met the criteria of the
ever increasing crowd. Al himself seemed to be enjoying
the night as much as the crowd, with plenty of crowd
interaction throughout his set. With the club nearly
full, Ridgewalkers - Find (Kayu & Albert mix)
had the Red Box rocking and got the best reaction
of Al Redmond's set. He finished off with an absolute
gem, Midtone - Pearl on Duty Free Recordings, in
which the breakdown timed perfectly with Armin Van
Buuren's arrival on the decks, a combination which
brought a resounding roar from the crowd, which
further enhanced the already well built atmosphere.
Armin started of with some progressive trance, with
tunes such as Gabriel & Dresden - Arcadia dominating
his first half hour, but things soon started picking
up with Firewall - Sincere (Smith & Pledger
mix) picking up the pace of the night. The night
continued on the up after that with John O'Callaghan's
mix of Hemstock & Jennings - The Passion bringing
proceedings to the level we were expecting from
the Dutch maestro. The Red Box has one of the best
soundsystems in Dublin, and despite sounding a bit
too bassy earlier in the night, it was well tuned
in now to Armin's pounding beats and massive breakdowns,
with Marcos - Cosmic String on Vandit Records and
Sophie Sugar - Call Of Tomorrow, another John O'Callaghan
remix, being greeted with rapturous applause from
the crowd, who were now lapping it up. Armin himself
was getting well into the swing of things now too,
with his customary dancing and punching of the air
now going with every tune, including O'Callagahan
v Kearney's Restricted Motion on Discover Records,
one of the biggest tunes around at the moment.
With the Red Box now cooking, the final ingredient
was added, with the awesome laser light kicking
in to complement the tasty tunage we were already
indulging in. Armin could do no wrong now with lashings
of Rank1 - Beats@Rankone.com going down a treat.
MIKE's latest offering Massive Motion lives up to
it's name, as it's an absolute monster that had
the whole Red Box rocking unison once it kicked
it in from a breakdown which had such a lift in
it, it seemed everyone was floating two feet above
the ground. Armin continued to bang it out after
that as the crowd chanted "Armin, Armin"
and both DJ and crowd alike were loving it with
the Marco V mix of Clocks followed by the Cosmic
Gate/Jan Johnston mix of Skydive (I Feel Wonderful).
Armin finished of with another bootleg, that of
Tiesto's Suburban Train and the lyrics of his own
Yet Another Day, featuring the vocals of Ray Wilson.
Having witnessed Armin in clubs such as Godskitchen
and Amnesia in Ibiza, this reviewer felt he could
slightly have improved on his set, as we would be
used to hearing alot more unfamiliar tunes, as tonight
alot of the tunes were fairly well know to most
trance enthusiasts . But even still, after calls
for one more tune fell on deaf ears, the crowd dispersed,
eager to see Armin grace these shores again, sooner
rather than later. |
Venue: 8
Music: 9
Crowd: 7
Sound System: 8
Total: 32 / 40
Rating: Silver Award |
| Review written by:
Wayne Spelman |
wayne@uk-cl.co.uk |
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