It was 6am on a quiet Monday morning. And there I was, staring at the grid timetable for a lengthly duration of time before booking the ideal classes for my upcoming semester. Forward. 10 minutes till 9am. That was when the ticketing opened for the fourth and final show of Tiesto’s Element of Life concert tour in Melbourne.
After having stuck in a whole dilemma situation, I decided to pass up on the event. It was a hard decision to make as I was this close to purchasing the tickets to see Tiesto perform live after having stayed up since 6am. I can take into consolation the fact that I have seen him performed back in KL on a considerably big scaled production, as part of his In Search Of Sunrise tour. I’m happy, to say the least. It was one of the many memorable nights.
However, it could just be me but I felt it was a little unfair over the treatment of the organizer for increasing the ticket price of the last show to AUD106 in comparison with the previous AUD95. No doubt Tiesto is overrated and yada yada, but it’d still be one hell of an experience to see him live. Unfortunately, it is not to be this time around. I guess the whole hype about him coming down has killed the anticipation. Though I wouldn’t mind going if there is actually free tickets up for grabs… Anyone? ;P
Plus I’d rather have my savings for mid year instead… ARMIN ONLY!!!! Instead of touring with the usual party bandwagon, Armin chose to travel on his own and probably come up with something in par with AHOY. Now lemme hear you say YEAH!! “Be part of the history in the making! One of only THREE in the world Armin Only Concerts, This event will be filmed for DVD.”
So if you were me, would you have gone for Tiesto or Armin instead? I wish I could go for both but that would burn two big holes on my (daddy’s) wallet..
Still haven’t gotten tickets for Trance Nation!! Who else going, ring me up!
Trance Nation is just too good to miss out on. Just the thought of Bulldozer ringing in my ear gives me goosebumps! Sean Tyas has been quite a significant one with his uplifting singles and not forgetting some of the massive reworks he’d done. The only problem now is, WHERE THE HELL CAN I GET THE TICKETS PLEASE?
Carl Cox will be spinning the week before, though I don’t think I will actually be going for his gig anyway. The rest who attended Zoukout last year said that Carl’s set was less than satisfactory. Even if otherwise so, I wouldn’t want to spent the weekends of my entire month of March just on partying. It’s hazardous to health and wallet as well!
Thought it’d be fun to participate in the welcome party. Hehehehe! Ooooh.. Ah! Free food! Anybody else who reads my blog actually stays here at Arrow on Swanston?
Something I came across earlier today on Bourke Street.. Not sure what were they up to?
It was only the second day of Chinese New Year, and the roads were pretty much clear. We couldn’t help but wondered if it was going to be congested, considering the fact that Above & Beyond is pretty much well received by the electronic dance music fans here. We decided to leave home early for Zouk anyway, only to be greeted by an empty courtyard with a long queue for those who were dying to get in for free, courtesy of Red Sessions.
We initially thought of opening a bottle in exchange of a table for us to chill at, till I received a call from the Slut about our dear friend, Jue Lin who managed to get us a whopping 10 guestlists bundled together with a complimentary table. It was such a waste after all because Zouk members, surprisingly were allowed to sign in a guest for the night. Everyone ended up in mainroom without using any of the 15 guestlists, with extras courtesy of Krystal’s.
Seeming how everyone was hyped up about the event, it was only hours till the midnight madness promotion ended, so we decided to kick off the night with 6 mighty jugs of beer with an additional bottle coming late night from my cousin. It was such a joyous occasion with almost everyone present. Hahahaha then of course, absentees were not left out as we partied the night away with them in heart.
It was about 11 when Fono started his warm-up set, and boy was it psychedelic. It didn’t take long before we shifted gear as Uncle dropped the beats of Cause You Know (Wippenberg Remix), Big Sky (Original Mix) and Falling (Original Mix), just to name a few. The transition from Uncle’s set to Above & Beyond’s was fantastic and the sight of Paavo and Tony threw the whole crowd into a state of trance.
We practically stormed our way to the front of the deck and probably stayed there for a good whole one hour. Ivan was also present, together with Jessica, Gerald, Alvin and another friend of his. Daym, that was like the only time I saw him throughout the holidays back in KL! Hahaha and I have my cousin to thank for as the table would have been left unattended if it wasn’t because of him.
No words can describe the intensity of adrenaline rush we felt throughout the whole night. Above & Beyond have always been the number one in me, and to be able to see them live again since 2005, truly was memorable. Okay, now that sounded a bit gay but yeah… To the extent where everyone couldn’t be bothered with the jugs of beer we bought but enjoyed every single minute of the set sober. We did looked like we were doped at certain periods of time though.
Paavo took a picture of me taking picture of him!
And having thought of meeting Paavo and Tony in person, I didn’t really expect myself to be. Reality kicked in, and the next thing I know, I was up at the console beside Above & Beyond as thtey so willingly dished out more familiar tracks that got our kneecaps wobbling like jellyfish. Much thanks to Adams who brought us in and for making my dream come true. Envious of him having abled to work for Gatecrasher before this. He is the one you can fully depend on when it comes to bringing in more quality international acts! Great lad!
Since it was just the two of them, obviously one has got time-out break as the other one takes over the decks. I was afraid that I might not be able to go up the console again, so I took the opportunity to snap a picture with Tony Mcguinness! Another friend of mine actually questioned me over the motive of taking picture with an old man… -_-; !!
The rest of the night was just indescribably euphoric. Too good for the weak hearted ones. Suru.. Shadow’s Movement.. BREAKING TIES.. Home.. Can’t Sleep.. AMSTERDAM.. New York City.. Big Sky.. Air For Life.. SATELLITE.. Waiting Here For You.. Body of Conflict.. RAZORFISH.. Total sasauness! Can’t wait for the official release of Anjunabeats 100, even though I’ve heard most of the songs already. Am just hoping that they would include Oceanlab’s Breaking Ties as well.. HAVOC!!
There’s nothing more I could say, but to claim the fact that Above & Beyond totally blew the rooftop of Zouk KL! Can’t thank Jue Lin enough as well as Adams Matthew for making the night one hell of an experience. And not forgetting William tai kor and Chin for the tracklist as well! It was great meeting the rest before I left for Melbourne once again. Bumped into Adam as well at the courtyard after the event. Hahahaha come to think of it, I see him at Zouk more often than I actually did back in Astro when I was doing my internship at Xfresh..
FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL 08 ON 09/03/08
TIESTO 4TH SHOW IN MELBOURNE ON 01/05/08
ARMIN ONLY 08 IN MELBOURNE ON JULY…!
Don’t worry kor and jie, I will study at the same time… Study hard, party hard, ok?
I meant to blog but the internet connection here at my new place is just plain dodgy! Apparently, my connection is constantly monitored and would be “blocked” should they detect multiple connections to other peers at one time. Probably the worst one who relies much on Torrent would expect from the management of this place itself. Gah! Right, so it took me a couple of days just to realize that my internet was “blocked” because I tried refreshing the servers on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
Spending Chap Goh Mei 6000 kilometers away from home for the very first time, and boy does it feel shitty. After having spent almost 4 months back at home, I left Malaysia with a heavy heart, and even more so due to the untimely passing of my grand aunt. Never would I have thought that it was the last time seeing her.
This post is dedicated to you. Rest in peace, grand aunt.
A proper post will follow after that. Take care!
Probably the best Chinese New Year I had in a while. Great company, great music from great DJs. What more could you possibly ask for? Okay, well I kinda did… And that totally made my day because I didn’t really see it coming at all. Why? Just watch the video..
A proper update on the most magnificent night of 2008 to come real soon!
Every time when I actually do give up on you, you just had to inject some hope back into me..
Surprise! Guess it’s only right for me to dust Fractionize after having left untouched for the longest while. A proper post could have come sooner if it wasn’t because of my lack of will in fighting against my own laziness. Not much had happened, though the recent happenings have affected me in one way or another. Long story cut short, I am bothered on several occurrences but I don’t intend to do anything about it for now. Would be interesting to see what that leads to..
Yeah right, so it’s Chinese New Year Eve so one would only expect to write something more enlightening to go with the festive mood. Unfortunately, I have none, though I’m praying hard that 2008 would eventually prove me wrong. Seriously..
I have been wandering around with an eye closed. I have not really spoken my mind, in fear of jeopardizing my very own ego. I have lied to myself on countless occasions, thinking that everything is fine. Everything is normal, when it actually is not. At least not for me. That, I suppose, is the price that I’m paying for in exchange of a brutally honest answer. I believe what I want to, but that doesn’t mean that one can take advantage of that and step on my head.
How is this happening? What could I have not done to prevent all these from happening? Have I been way too comfortable with everything that I am now living in a state of oblivion to things around me?
Loyalty does not show honesty. Even so, Honesty is never the best policy.
Have a great holiday and drive safe to those who travel back to hometown!
