Godskitchen @ Melbourne Park (05/10/02)
Reported by Tristan Thursday, November 21 2002
Despite expectations of the highest order, it is still inconceivable by how much Godskitchen surpassed expectations. The major difficulty i have is trying to write down, the emotion and power of the event, but here goes.
Rocked up at about 11:30 to see a rather large line, but it didn?t matter as it was very fast moving and after only about five minutes we were in and the fun commenced. Doing the tour of the venue the 'market' was rather lame selling general stuff like massages, rave paraphernalia, t-shirts and necklaces. Down from the market was the VIP arena but was still available to the general public, it looked pretty ordinary and consisted of a large marquee.
Importantly just before the marquee were a few doors. A few doors which opened into the most amazing arena you will ever see. About 100m long and filled with mad as hatters GK fans, with angels hanging from the roof and emblazoned on the walls, stands to take a break and still be able to take in the madness, a giant video screen behind the DJ, and two stunning screens to each side of the video. What was a very unique and impressive touch was the use of real water falling down the stage as rain from the foam clouds suspended above. The rain was used to great effect with the lasers and video projecting onto it to created a unique video screen for the crowd. The lasers were absolutely wicked with massive effects and a enormous variety.
I went into the main arena and Ajax was playing a VS set against Scott Alert. They were battling it up with some hard trance, but were mainly just passing time until the internationals came on. At 1:00, Judge Jules came on, and as expected he was a bit hit and miss so i listened to the first half an hour or so before going to progressive arena for Satoshi Tomiie.
The progressive room was away in a back room sort and initially seemed a bit neglected, and compared to the main arena it was, but was still fine. Satoshi came on at 1:30 for a three hour set. He was outstanding, playing a really tough N.Y. influenced set of progressive house. It was the type of progressive, that cynics purposely overlook. It wasn't so much driving just tough as nails, really wicked shit. Anyway time flew by and at 3:00, one and a half hours into Satoshi's set I left to see Armin Van Buuren in the main arena. Leaving the progressive room, i was amazed to see a massive line as it wasn't very packed inside when i left. I think a lot of people must have rocked up at 1:30 exactly or shortly after, so in my case the early bird did indeed catch the worm.
Back in the main arena, it was absolutely mad and was packed with ravers but still spacious enough to have a dance. Armin Van Buuren came on at 3:00 and had the cheesiest grin on his face. The grin never left for the two hour set and punters couldn't help but be caught up in the enthusiasm and enjoyment he showed when playing. Showing an unlearnable knowledge of how to mix the old with the new, the hands of the Freshdisko crew and thousands and thousands of others were high in the air when twenty minutes in, he played Solar Stone's - Seven Cities . Keeping the pace firmly up, he mixed the driving with the dark and melodic and was completely exhilarating. Going on to play Paul Van Dyk?s - For An Angel and the 2000 Remake of ?Strange World? by Push the emotion is impossible to convey properly. One of his last tracks was Energy 52 ?Cafe Del Mar? (J?00?F Mix) . For me and many others the set from the Dutch trancemaster was the highlight of the night.
John ?00? Fleming took over at 5:00 and banged it out for the last two hours. He wasn't as melodic as I expected but still went off big time. Playing well after the sun began to stream into the arena, he played a harder mix of Narcotic Thrust's ?Safe from Harm? as well as ?Lethal Industry? by DJ Tiesto of which the oppressive bassline did some serious damage. But it was all too soon until Mark James came on and thanked everyone for coming and everyone began to leave.
I don't think so. Waiting for the compulsory encore, I don't think i will ever forget the moment the PVD Mix of ?Synaesthesia? by the Thrillseekers started to come through the speakers. Standing in the middle of thousands of people all raising their arms, with the sun coming through, with the beat cut and sample coming through was simply one of the best moments of my life. Without question. He also played another encore after that as well, before it was all over at about 7:20 and I begun to rip down as many posters as I could.
Earlier on in J?00?F's set I went back into the progressive room to hear Chris Fortier and caught his last song which was pretty damn hard and the crowd was still pumping. Sean Quinn then came on and played a electro breaks song, so I left.
This isn't so much a review as an account of what happened. I would hate to attempt to try and communicate through writing, the emotion and energy of the night. Being an atmosphere like that, with so many people, giving off so much emotion, is too hard to describe.
Simply the best night of my life.
|
|
|
