Cor Fijneman at The Highlands Nightclub in Hollywood

Went to see Cor Fijneman at the Highland nightclub in Hollowood on 9-12-2003.  I got inside at around 11 and was puzzled by the hip-hop and 80′s stuff that was playing.  I asked one of the bouncers and he said yeah don’t worry Cor will show up.  After walking around like an idiot for like 1 1/2 hours I asked another bouncer and he suggested that I check out the VIP room area.  Low and behold the LRCN DJ guy was playing up some cool trance tunes there.  I asked around and it turned out Cor hasn’t showed up yet.  The crowed was really sparse- I’d say 25-30 people tops in the area.  Cor Fijneman showed up at about 1:15 AM and started playing soon after until like 2:45.  Amazingly the crowd just got smaller- at one point it was so pathetic that only myself and the LRCN dude was moving around on the dance floor.  The music was terrific, however.  But my theory on how the clubbing experience is all about the music was proven 100% wrong- the crowd is pretty darn important also.

Notes:
-the club was on the 4th floor of the Highland shopping center, right next to the Kodak theater
-parking was $10- I probably should’ve parked in the 4 hour parking area of the Kodak theater for like $2 I think

Cosmic Gate/DJ Bossi at Club Blue

On Friday night (6-27-2003) I went to Club Blue to see Cosmic Gate, with DJ Bossi representing (Nic Chagel wasn’t there).  Firstly I had a horrible time getting there- the GPS on my Acura lead me up a winding hill.  I left home at around 9:45 but didn’t get to the club till like an hour later.  Turns out I simply had to go on Hollywood Blvd and then turn left on Las Palmas.  Eventually I turned right into Las Palmas and parked next to some restaurant for $8 (some punkass charged me $8 instead of $2 because I wasn’t going to the restaurant).  Then I walked across Hollywood Blvd to Club Blue.  On the outside there was nothing that says “Club Blue” that I was aware of- there were simply some indigo-ish lights glowing on the side.  There was barely a line to get in.  Security guard told me not to take any pictures once inside.  I was a little stressed because I thought I had been there late and missed out on some cool stuff.  But nope- the club had only like 100-120 people inside.  The first portion of the club consisted of tables and booths, with a cool looking bar on the right side.  It was more like a restaurant/bar.  Beyond the first area is the first and main dance floor, and on the far left corner is the DJ booth.  There were only about 25 people on the dance floor when I first got there and only like 3 or 4 were dancing.  It was pretty pathetic.  It reminded me of some high school dance where everyone’s just sitting there and are scared to go on the dance floor to dance or something.  The bathroom was pretty good quality but really dark and there were quite a bit water (or piss) on the ground.  I sat on one of the tables and just waited.  Then I got bored and started playing minesweeper on my cellphone.  Just sat there for an hour until about 11:50, then I went to the dance floor and sat on one of the two dance platforms (some tall, super-hot chick clad in all white was dancing like a stripper on the other platform).  Then at around 12:10AM Bossi made his appearance and I got up and immediately went up next to the DJ booth.  He didn’t start playing till like 10 minutes later but the crowd was definitely fired up by then.  The music was really awesome and it was great how much room there was to dance, so quite a few people including myself were dancing super fast and hard and taking advantage of all the room- that was just sooooo fun.  Bossi was really energized also, pumping and waving his arms at times.  What was puzzling to me was  a lot of people still remained seating near the two large projection screens to the “north” side.  So I feel bad for Bossi cuz the crowd was tiny and some people were just like zombies.  But I had a blast.  At the end they passed out free posters and I got mine signed by Bossi and this other dude called Dutchboy who was on stage w/ Bossi for much of the set.

Notes:
-left at about 2:20; Bossi stopped playing at around 2:10- the night was capped off by Exploration of Space- AWESOME
-it was definitely hard trance- very danceable; I remembered “Human Beings”, “Firewire”, some dance mix of “Tainted Love”, and of course, “Exploration of Space”
-there was a ton of security for such a small crowd- it was really weird; they were really cracking down also; the security was otherwise pretty friendly, saying bye and telling people to drive safely home at the end
-this was simply a huge contrast vs PVD at the Palace in terms of the crowd, the smoke, and the dirty floor
-I doubt Bossi will be coming back anytime soon- a security guard asked if he was coming back and he said “Maybe” and I thought I saw the hint of a wry smile after he said it

Paul van Dyk at the Palace in Hollywood

I went to see Paul van Dyk at the Palace (6-22-2003).  It was below expectations, but I still had fun.  The way it was sooooo crowded really took away a lot of the fun.  Also the music seemed to “bassy”.  The guy before PVD (Jerry Bonheim?) really played a heavy techno-esque set.  The crowd seemed like they were on some sort of upper and were super hyped on songs I thought were low quality- songs that just had pure bass and beats and really nothing else.  I was hoping PVD would save the show- and he did to a certain extent, but curiously the heavy bass seemed to carry over to his set also.  Again I still had fun though.

Notes:
-my sister and her friend also went- they arrived before me; they managed to get on the guest list for “Architects of Sound” and got tickets for $20 (I paid $25) but paid $15 for parking (I paid $10)
-PVD appeared at around 1:10 AM, but didn’t start spinning till like 1:25
-I left at 4 AM- too tired and thirsty
-it was again mega-crowded, plus lots of people were smoking, and empty water bottles strewn the dance floor- really bad
-I got there at around 10:20PM
-this marked the first clubbing experience with my new Canon S400 digital camera capturing some of the action
-like the typical Palace events I’ve been to lately there were a lot of Asians (though not as many as before); and some were quite old which is kind of interesting- trance is ageless!

DJ Tiesto at Club Mayan in Los Angeles, CA

Thursday night (5-22-2003) was an awesome experience- I’m ranking it as the #1 clubbing experience I’ve had.  All the credit goes to the amazing DJ Tiesto and his music, the lively crowd, and the terrific venue of Club Mayan- the best club I’ve ever been to.  First and foremost the music was awesome, but Tiesto really pumped up the crowed with his liveliness- often times he was jumping up and down, dancing, spinning around, etc.

Notes:
-ticet was $30 + like $2.76 service charge from Groove Tickets
-$3 parking!
-got to the club at about 11:00- didn’t get in till about 11:50- there were like 300-500 people in front of me waiting to pick up their tickets
-Noel Sanger was on until 12:15 when Tiesto took over
-Tiesto wore a cool blue jacket that had “Tiesto” in the front; he took off the jacket and was wearing a simple white t-shirt
-early on this cute girl accidently hit me in the face but she kissed me in the cheek for it so it was all good
-There were 4 or 5 songs there were just super-terrific; the overall quality of the songs were just awesome
-bought a bottle of water for $4
-I was on the stage portion of the club that surrounded the DJ “altar”
-sometimes it got so crowded that it was shoulder-to-shoulder and there was only room to jump up and down; when it got a little less crowded I really enjoyed it
-Everyone went crazy when he played Flight 643; it felt like I started the “sing-along da-da-das” for that song; jumped up and down for like 3 minutes straight
-Tiesto played until 3:25 AM; seems like about 80% of the people stayed till the end

Ferry Corsten at Circus Disco in Hollywood, CA

Saturday night (4-19-2003) was an awesome, beautiful, euphoric experience.  First time to Circus Disco. The place is actually BEHIND the Arena.  The facade looked cool- golden color walls w/ cool lighting and some sorta coyote sticking out from the top.  It was mostly dance music and techno before Ferry Corsten came on at around 1:00-1:05.  Then it was like 80% trance after that which I just LOVED.  The crowd went nuts when “Punk” came on and were singing out the melody- Ferry played along and paused the music many times to have the crowd fill in the gap with the singing.  I liked that song and this other song I can’t seem to find- a really cool trance song with female vocals with the words “Summer” (maybe rain) and “Forever”.  I want VERY MUCH to get the MP3 of that song.  I was a little disappointed that Ferry didn’t play “Exhale” or “Out of the Blue”.  But the night was truly euphoric and truly above my expectations 10 times better than 4-12-2003.

Notes
-parking was horrible- we actually couldn’t find parking; had to park at a street about two blocks away across from a Honda dealership; at least it was free!
-it was jam packed- so much more so than the Mauro Picotto night at the Palace
-some dude was groping my sister who was on my right- I gave him a look to tell him to chill out- he did but he still stuck around her; finally she moved away and came to my left side
-at around 2:30 started to have some cramps; legs were just super tired after getting home at around 4:30
-Ferry Corsten addressed the crowd at around 3 AM- he said stuff like “What’s up LA, that ends the live recording of the mix, it’s only 3′O clock, are you ready for another hour!”  Very cool.
-loooong lines for bathrooms- thankfully I had fill up some gas when looking for parking and then took a leak at the gas station (a Mobil) bath room
-ticket was $33 ($30 + $3 service charge)
-there were two platforms in which these sexy girls who looked like they were hired were dancing on; we hung around the platform area the entire night; There were two really hot girls dancing on the left platform after the hired girls left at around 2:30 or 3.
-the dance floor was definitely quite a bit larger than the dance area at the Palace, with large mirrors to my left, of course those two platforms in the center, two big diamond video screens sandwiching the sides of the stage, on the left wall was all mirrors, and some cool laser thingies hanging above the center of the hall.

Here’s what Ferry had to say on his website on the night:

Ferry Corsten LIVE in Circus L.A.
Hi Guys! I’m still in L.A. at the moment, still suffering the aftermath of that amazing party at Circus for the LIVE compilation that will be coming out in the US.  Thanks to everyone who came to be with me during the show. It was a sold-out night thanks to all your support!  I will be back soon!

Ferry Corsten

Mauro Picotto at the Palace in Hollywood, CA

Saturday night (4-12-2003) was a pretty good experience- when Mauro Picotto came on at around 12:55 AM and before I left at 3 I was anywhere between 10 and 15 feet from him.  His music was like 95% heavy techno- a bit too industrial for my taste.  I also did not recognize a single song he was playing.  I did really like this one trance song he played (at around 2:30?)- really cool- perhaps I’ll find out what it is in the future.  The DJ before was supposed to be Sol, a girl, but strangely I only saw this Asian guy up there.  The music wasn’t bad though- I might almost say that I preferred it over Picotto’s stuff that night.

Notes
-Picotto was smoking a cigarette at one stage- I think/hope it was a cigarette
-got in at around 11:10ish
-parking was $10
-noticed that for non-online people tickets were $25
-some people under 18 tried to get in and were denied- apparently not knowing it was a Giant 21-n-over event
-a bald white dude who looked like Moby was up there on the stage w/ Picotto- maybe it was Moby?
-Picotto had another dude helping him out, a “junior” DJ?
-what’s up with the guy doing Chinese message on another guy while that other guy was dancing w/ a girl???
-It was like 65-70% male in the club- not exactly what I had hoped for, and the hot to somewhat-cute girls there being groped to death by their dates