I would love to have more time for keeping up to date with analog synthesizers.
Electronic music runs deep in my heart, there is no question, but other than a few big DJ’s it just does not pay the bills, so its mashup software for me.
Still, it sure tuggs at the old heart strings when I see stuff like this.
[Its a video – it’s longer than two minutes – I’m not sorry].
I’m probably going to be judged pretty harshly for this one, but I still think I should blog about it……..
Amy found out that our favorite DJ, Armin Van Buuren, was going to be playing at a huge rave party over new years eve…… she wanted to go since it was an ‘all ages’ event. (A lot of raves are 18+ or 21+ only).
I checked out the event reviews from last year and decided that it sounded pretty good. The only concern that I had was the number of people there. In past years the event has pulled around 45,000 people…. Yeah, you read right….. forty five thousand people…… Ugh, for a guy that does not do crowds, it was going to be some night…….
I went for a ride, had some lunch, we had a sleep and then E-tickets in hand, we headed off at 5pm.
The traffic was pretty mad around the LA convention center where it was being held, but that’s to be expected.
We picked up our real tickets and joined the growing line for our security checks. The line took about an hour. Latter, it was taking up to three hours to get in, glad we got there early. If we go again next year (which is not a given, it will depend on the DJ(s) that’s playing), we will get there earlier still.
Once in, you just follow your ears…….
Armin is an amazing DJ. Both Amy and I really like his style. Its hard to describe, but its very mellow with lots of soothing vocals, big strings and often, acoustic or electric guitar, of course all this is overlaid with that trance beat that’s hard to miss.
He has been playing 9 hour sets now for years. Its his trademark, as his his style. He started playing at 7pm, we did not get in till 8pm, so sadly we missed his first hour.
We spent the first two hours on the floor. It was filling up by the minute, so it was good to be down there before it got really crazy.
At 10pm the curtain that he was playing behind came down and things really got cranked up a few notches.
Amy wanted to get closer, so we moved through the crowd and ended up a few rows of people from the stage. It was pretty squishy, so we did not stay long, but Amy was thrilled to be so close (even I have to admit that it was pretty cool to see him ‘just there’ and feel the energy of the front rows. This is something I have never done at the other raves I have been too).
We then headed back, way back. I really liked the view and sound from the back center seats. The back sides were packed because there was nothing blocking the main view, but having less people around you was a plus for me!
We spent the next 6 or so hours just sitting, standing, dancing and just drinking in the huge sound and light show……..
To answer your obvious questions…….Yes, it was a human zoo. Yes, there was a lot of flesh. Yes, there were drugs there. Yes, there were clearly people on said drugs. Yes, both Amy and I were offered drugs. Yes, I felt safe. Yes, I am glad that I took my 15 year old daughter. And yes, if Armin plays again next year, and regardless of if Amy wants to go or not, I would go. (Given the amount she enjoyed it, I think I am going to have zero chance of going to any all ages rave without her ever again).
The crowd was huge, but well behaved. People were clearly looking out for others, I saw no one on their own, people were there with their friends and were looking out for each other. I did not see a single scuffle or incident all night.
My only concern was the sheer number of people there…..if there had been an earth quake or some sort of incident that had caused a panic, there would have been some real trouble. That was my big concern, not the drugs or the people around me.
Amy and I were there for the music and Armin did not disappoint. It was a fantastic 8 hours that we heard. I hope that there is a recording of it released at some stage. The light show that went with it was just spectacular. The two together, as one, was well worth the price of admission. Amy could have kept going, but at 4am, when Armin finished his set, this old bald geek had to head for home.
You can see our photos here, and I put together a video, which you can see on YouTube. Here is the high res version (by far the best if you have a good internet connection) and here is the standard YouTube low res version.
For years I have been warning friends off ipods. I just have read a lot of negative things about them, and did not feel comfortable giving them the thumbs up as an MP3 player.
A few weeks back I had the chance to swap a computer for an ipod nano 1st generation (1gb). I took the chance because I wanted to see what they were like…….Sadly, they were worse than I had read……
They are very unfriendly. The click wheel is quite literally a pain to use. You can not just drag and drop music or photos onto it from either Linux or Windows.
Terry had a bash at it for a few days (probably something like 5-6 hours all up) with Ubuntu. He was really trying hard, and I thought it was just his inexperience that did not get it to ‘fly’. He was pretty disappointed when he gave it back to me, he really wanted it to work. He was very confused how something so nice to hold could be such a pain to use.
Next up was Dan. He is my Linux guru so I was sure he would nut it out in no time. He came up with gtkpod, it was better, but after some 4-5 hours, Dan too gave it back.
I did not have the time, but could not believe that it would ‘stump’ two people that I look up too. I downloaded a few free windows applications to try and get it working. All to no avail.
As a last resort I looked at Podzilla and Rockbox. The latter was the quickest to put on, and thats as far as I got. The ipod now ‘works’ as an mp3 player. You still are stuck with that silly invisible wheel thing, but at least its drag and drop under any OS and it now sounds a whole lot better!
I have read a blog about how to tri-boot the thing, if I had some time, I would be doing that, but I just need an mp3 player, not a time sink!
I suspect that I will be putting it on the bike and just letting it rot there.
I wonder how many ipods are sitting in draws collecting dust because their owners have lost patience with them.
Hats off to Apple for selling them so well.
We will stick with our Irivers and no name players……..
Edit:7th Nov 2007. Was reading the news headlines on Slashdot this morning, and came across a story about Apple making a tablet PC. Slashdot had this to say about the question of whether Apple even have the ability to make a tablet PC……
“The short answer is ‘yes’. Any company that can make a mobile phone with no buttons, no picture messaging, slow Web access and no video capture into the most desirable phone on the planet can easily make tablets popular.”
Sounds like two things to me, 1. I need to do some reading about the iPhone, looks like it might be another iPod, and 2. Sounds like I am not the only one that thinks that the advertising department of Apple has more money and clout than the R&D department.
Very brutal movie about the weapons dealers. Nick Cage does a fantastic job. This one will slap you in the face and make you think and talk to your friends about it.
Tough to recommend due to the violence, but its well worth your time.
2 hours of non stop trance. WOW!
There is a radio station in Melbourne that plays it (I think).
Other wise you need to go to his web site to hear it.
I have really come to love this show. Its great to listen to, it really just rolls along, the mix that he puts together is just great, new and old tracks and DJ’s.
The 300th show was great, it was 7 hours of live Trance…….now THATS a trance track!
I am becoming more keen to get to another Rave and hear some more live Dj’s. Im just not sure where to go. Im told that some of the Raves in Melbourne are really bad for drugs, but I want to hear some good DJ’s. I have not spent any time searching the web to see if I can find some locations or Raves that get a good balance.
The other thing thats really important for me is sound, where ever it is, it has to have a good sound system. That was one of the best things about the Rave at Kryal Castle last year, the sound was sssssooooooo good.
Im trying to figure out how long I have been listing to Trance music for. I know its been more than a few years, not as long as I have been listening to Mike Oldfield or Jarre, but its getting up there. I think its safe to say I am enjoying it more and more. I am keen to get hold of some of the early stuff and see what it sounds like. I still have no idea what the Dj’s are doing, where the music comes from or how it is put together, but its a treat when they get it right.
I think I like it because it has so much energy and is soothing at the same time, and because there is so much going on at once.
One thing is sure, at ~170Mb per track, you need a good size MP3 player to carry the stuff with you!
