Last week was very eventful. On Monday, I got my Green Card; on Tuesday, I had my first interview on Sirius Radio and on Thursday, I got a promotion at work. Thus, I planned to spend my weekend in a quiet and relaxing way, but a single phone call to Austin on Friday night disrupted all my plans. A few minutes later, I was in a possession of a Jetblue ticket to New Orleans. I was going to see Gabriel and Dresden!

After work on Saturday night I headed to JFK to catch my flight. I arrived to Luis Armstrong International airport at 8.50 am to be immediately picked up by my friend Herbert.  I never been to New Orleans before, and anticipating to see the city after the hurricane Katrina, I asked Herbert to take me for a ride around town. It took us about 3-4 hours to have a full tour around New Orleans and the suburbs. I have to admit that despite last year’s hurricane, the city (some parts of it) looked amazing. It carried that old dignifying southern accent in everything. And it felt as if somebody brought me back in time, to the era of Scarlett O’Hara (yes, I’m a “Gone with the Wind” fan).
While Herbert was driving and telling me the stories about New Orleans, I was snapping picture after picture, reaching more than 500 in just a few hours.  French Quarter with its Cafe du Monde and Sunday markets, Mississippi river walk – all was stunning even in +90F. Oh, the ironwork balcony rails – I absolutely loved them!!!!

Then we went to the part of the city that got damaged by the Hurricane Katrina the most. All the houses, including the expansive and beautiful mansions, were abandoned with fateful stains on the walls, indicating the level of water rose during the hurricane. Just six month ago, those houses were gorgeous family estates, but now they all looked alike: windowless, ugly, depressing,  “crossed-circle” marked on the walls, indicating an inevitable demolition . I don’t think we met any people or even any cars while we were browsing the empty streets.

In the evening we (seven of Gabriel & Dresden’s lovers) went to the dinner to Cafe East. I had two glasses of white wine and felt completely tipsy, when the time came to go to the club. Thank you, Herbert, for warning me about the small (and lame) New Orleans’ tranceaddict scene,  but I was impressed by the music lounge Ampersand and warm and friendly Nola people.

We got to the club shortly after 11 pm. Gabriel & Dresden started playing about 30 minutes after and they rocked!!! They were dancing behind the decks, singing the lyrics of the tracks along with everybody else in a club and just having a good time.

Tracklist (borrowed from Louisiana dance forum, thanks Thrillseekers)
1. Gabriel & Dresden – Dust In The Wind
2. ID – G&D Remix
3. Perasma – Swing to Harmony (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
4. Gabriel & Dresden – Acardia + Acapella
5. Gabriel & Dresden – Mass Repeat
6. Gustavo Santaolalla – The Wings(Theme From Brokeback Mountain) (Gabriel & Dresden’s Organized Nature Mix)
7. Rachael Starr – Till There Was You (Gabriel & Dresden Mix)
8. Gabriel & Dresden – Sydney
9. Coldplay – White Shadows (Gabriel & Dresden Bootleg)
10. Andain – Beautiful Things
11. Duoteque – Adyra
12. Gabriel & Dresden – Let Go
13. Paul Oakenfold – Southern Sun (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged Mix)
14. Gabriel & Dresden – Eleven
15. Gabriel & Dresden – Tracking Treasure Down (Original)
16. Way Out West feat T. Kelshall -Mmindcircus (Gabriel & Dresden Mix)
17. Gabriel & Dresden – Dangerous Power
18. Josh Gabriel – Alive
19. ID
20. Above & Beyond – No One On Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Edit)

I adore Armin van Buuren, I’m absolutely dedicated to Tijs and I think Matthew Dekay is one of the most talented producers, but when it comes to G&D, I have to admit – they are my new music love.

On Sunday, Herbert, his wife, Hong, and I went to Cafe du Monde. We had cafes au lait and beignets. It was time to say goodbye to a wonderful city called New Orleans. One of the most beautiful places in the United States.

My flight was delayed and on the way to NYC, I’ve experienced the biggest turbulence I could remember. It was like a Cirque du Soleil with lightening striking outside of the aircraft and lights going off in the salon, illuminating everything with flushing red and orange emergency lights.

And.. many thanks go to:

• Gabriel & Dresden, for a massive musical orgasm, for your talent and wonderful attitudes.
• Herbert and Hong! I am grateful to call you my friends. Thanks for inviting me, for convincing me to come, for the CDs and heavy bags on the way home. I appreciate every moment I spent with you!
• Everybody I met in New Orleans.

What is next for me? White party in Los Angeles with Armin van Buuren or Creamfields in Poland with Gabriel and Dresden. I still have time to think.

Pictures

Video

The post New Orleans, LA. May 2006 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

My trip didn’t start smoothly. I ran late for my 6.00 am departure, only to find out that my flight got  rescheduled and all passengers ended up bouncing from one plane to another for almost 6 hours. In the end, instead of arriving to Miami at 9 am and enjoying the sunny Florida weather, I reached my hotel at 4.30 pm.  I was staying at the same hotel in the heart of SoBe as the year before (The Clay Hotel).

My girlfriend, Laura, was arriving an hour later, which allowed me to take a brief walk along Ocean Drive and completely ruin my feet with new shoes. Thus,  my trip started terribly but despite all, I was ready to have a great time. What can go wrong when WMC 2006 starts with the Armada Night at Space?

Taking into consideration my previous bad experience with Space, Laura and I arrived to the Club at 9.30 pm.  We collected our will-call tickets and went inside. Matthew Dekay was already spinning and people were gathering very quickly. After about 30 minutes, dance floor filled in. It was great to see so many familiar faces, many of whome came only for this ONE particular night. Pity that night sucked!
Matthew Dekay was the highlight of the evening (can’t comment on Remy who spun in the very end, when I already left). MDK never manages to disappoint. He is young, talented and very creative. His part of the night brought me a great satisfaction. 3 hours of MDK was enough to make a night. Thanks a lot, Matthew!

The rest of the night turned out to be a disaster.
I don’t know why, but that night Markus Schulz imagined he was Armin van Buuren  circa 2002.  Armin van Buuren came next, but his set was very unremarkable and plain. Having been Armin’s biggest fan, I felt a bit dissapointed to hear him play such an undistinguished set. I left at 4.30 am, in the middle of his set and later found out I haven’t missed much.

Pictures. 

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Laura and I woke up in different hotels. I have no idea where she spent a night at (in/with), but I woke up in the arms of Dimitri. Despite the failure of the Armada night, my day started off great.

I went for a walk on the beach, got soaked in tropical rain and bought a bag of delicious cookies, all, before getting back to my hotel.

In the afternoon, Laura and I went to meet H&H (my friends from New Orleans – Herbert and Hong) at Cafeteria, and apparently it was a happening place, as on our way we met Darude, guys from Cosmic Gates, Ian, Jason Jollins and James Zabiela. Apparently, Miami is a place to be!

Darude looked shocked to run into me again, but Zabiella was nice enough to give me me his UK phone number.
Laura and I didn’t have any big plans for Thursday, so we went to Crobar for Serge Devant, Junkie XL and Ferry Corsten. What a great night! Music was good, atmosphere was relaxing. Armada guys were hanging out in a VIP area on the first floor, some ‘other VIP” guests (in particular Del – the moderator of the www.tranceaddict.com) were partying on a second floor. Serge threw a very good set; in my opinion, he is a great representative of the EDM scene of New York City. Junkie XL was better then ever and looked more like a DJ than a usual show-man. I run into two girlfriends of mine, who were in Miami on vacation, and randomly ended up at Crobar that night. They fell in love with Junkie XL. Indeed, Tom is a different type of a DJ. He is not just a record-mixing machine, but a true personality, with his own world and a way to replicate and deliver that world to public. He was great! Dimitri was there too and made my night even better.

I hung out downstairs with the Armada people, chatted with Matthew Dekay and his lovely girlfriend Helena, Ruud M. (a producer from Endemol), Remy and others. Later, i I got into a booth with Dimitri and Ferry Corsten and it was great to give Ferry a real hug, once again. We stayed till the very end, because it was worth it. Despite a fact that I have seen Ferry multiple times during his monthly residency at Crobar NYC, he always brings sparkles to his set. Either it’s a new tune or an old one, they all sound great when it comes to Ferry.

Pictures.

Friday, March 24, 2006.

I couldn’t have been more disappointed with the weather, it was raining for the rest of the weekend, nevertheless, I was looking forward to The Wet Grooves party at Nikki Beach. The venue was half empty when I got there at 2 pm. A new policy required from us to purchase a bottle of alcohol in order to get a lounge-chair. Wow, what if i don’t drink?! Accidentally, I ran into a friend of mine who happened to be one of the owners of Nikki Beach, so he took care of everything… chairs including.

I got to see Filo and Peri‘s set, but because Laura and I were placing more bets on the evening DJ line-up, we decided to go back to the hotel and come back after sunset. We returned at 8 pm, just in time for BT and Above and Beyond on the ground floor. H&H and their friends arrived around 9.30 pm and after a few pitchers of Mojito, we went upstairs to see Darude, Andy Moor and Cosmic Gates. It was a very nicely decorated place with a huge ball hanging right from the middle of the ceiling. Music was great.

In my humble opinion, Darude is a great Dj, who is grossly underestimated. I’m still waiting when people start appreciate his music the way it deserves to be appreciated. It was my first time seeing Andy Moor and Cosmic Gates. Great night overall!

Pictures 1 and pictures 2

Saturday, March 25, 2006.

Day started with an attempt to hit a beach, but it was just too cold. I stopped by Dimitri’s hotel and he introduced me to Keith Flint ( OH MY GOD, if only I knew, he was from The Prodigy!) Well, it was something to discover later.

Saturday was ultimately and exclusively dedicated to an Ultra party. I arrived to the venue with some friends, who couldn’t get inside. I met up with Herbert and after checking a few music tents, I settled by a main stage, expecting to see Paul Oakenfold, The Prodigy and Paul van Dyk. This year around, the organization of Ultra expected to be better.  The sound went down in the middle of Oakey’s set, but as a true entertainer, he kept dancing with a crowd and entertaining it. Light went down in the middle of The Prodigy set, but everyone was so excited to see them that nobody paid attention to those little glitches. The Prodigy band was great (even though it’s not a type of music I enjoy listening to). PvD started bright and because I haven’t seen him in a while, I was amazed to see that he, in fact, finally learnt some dance moves.

I left at 11.30 pm because .. there is no Ultra without Tiesto!!!! I was going back to the hotel to put my party dress on and hit the most exciting event of the night (by Invitations Only – Tiesto at Mansion.

I want to thank Tiesto’s crew for the guest list and Karl R. for a VIP table right in front of a DJ booth. It was an amazing night. Hearing Tijs playing again, seeing my friends having fun, watching people happy faces .What can be better?! Better could be only Sunday night “In Search of Sunrise 5” release party!

Ultra Pictures 1 and Pictures 2

Tiesto at Mansion

Sunday, March 26, 2006.

I was waiting for this day for more than a month. In late afternoon Laura and I stopped by Cafeteria to grab some food and check out Gabriel and Dresden‘s new album listening party, that took place in a back room of the restaurant. It was a pleasure to meet Josh and Dave and especially Dave Dresden’s mom. She rocked!

But the main event of the night was a 7 hour set of Tiesto. He started at 10 pm, surprising everybody by playing behind a huge curtain. At midnight the curtain has dropped and the show has begun! I never looked at my watch throughout the night (which is sign of a tremendous success)! H&H and their friends had a table to the left from the stage with a great view of the DJ booth and dance floor. There is nothing better than party with happy people with similar music affiliations.  The more I heard “the sound of Tiesto” the more I crave it! It was a mind blowing night. Thanks Tijs for a great joy!
Uncharacteristically, he stayed longer to sign the CDs, t-shirts, tickets, empty bottles of water, lingerie, shoes.. I bet he enjoyed that too!

Party was over, but my body sought more fun. On the street, I ran into Richard Rockstar from Crobar NYC and he invited me to come to Nocturnal.  We got to Nocturnal terrace shortly before 6 am and guess who was there? Everybody, who didn’t get enough of Tiesto and Dimitri too. I am still trying to replay in my mind that Monday morning – I was with Dimitri, dancing on the couch in a VIP area, listening to Svan Vath, sipping from two glasses simultaneously. Sun came out and it got suddenly warm. Dimitri was right behind me to catch, in case I fall (I wasn’t drunk but very very dizzy). I saw him smiling every time I turned my face to him and I think it was a moment when I realized how much he meant to me. We left at around 11 am, had a breakfast at Primetime cafe on Ocean Drive and went to the hotel. I fell asleep the moment my head touched a pillow.

Tiesto Show. Pictures 1 and pictures 2

Monday, March 27, 2006.

3 hours of power nap and shortly after 5 pm I was heading to “We love New Orleans” party. Later my friends and I had a dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Tons of small portions shared by 6 friends. Yum! I didn’t plan anything for Monday night, overwhelming exhaustion forced me back to the hotel.

Dimitri called  after 2 am, when he finally completed all his music-business related meetings. Despite my tiredness, I got up and joined him at his hotel.  It was our last night together, before we had to part our ways again.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006.

Dimitri and I had lunch at News Cafe and then sat by the pool. Noon, 1 pm… 2pm…. 3pm… It was time to leave and I had to let him go. It was so difficult. I was smiling but inside my heart was breaking. I knew he felt the same way, but he jumped into a car and left…..

Well, as for me, I still had another night to enjoy, before going back to cold NYC. Laura and I did some shopping on Lincoln Road and then I had a dinner with Karl R. at Setai Hotel (a glass of Krug Champagne is $65… gotta love this place). After the dinner, we went to B.E.D. for Matthew Dekay, Remy and Markus Schulz. I still can’t understand how my first and last nights got screwed up so badly, but this night sucked too.

MDK was great, but his slot was no longer than an hour. I completely missed Remy, because his set was too short. Markus Schulz might be a nice guy (and I don’t want to take this from him), but his music isn’t my cup of tea. I literally fell asleep.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006.

Last day, last hours on a beach, last shopping. Laura was tired, I was exhausted but our trip were fulfilled. I got my dosage of fun, music and sun. I was going back to NYC carrying the best memories of that week with me.

Pictures.

P.S. One more thing.
Laura! I want to thank you for being my party-mate, roommate and, most importantly, my friend! I truly enjoyed (and still enjoying) your company in Miami. We are a great team!
H&H! You are my inspiration. You make me stick to true self. You are the most precious gift I have ever had. I love you, guys!
LATA team, Joey, Helena, Ali, Mario, Jason Jollins, Arturo, Genna, Richard and everybody, who I met during WMC – thanks for great moments we shared together.
Tijs team, Armada team, AM Only, Ferry Corsten, people from Ultra and MadeEvent – thanks a lot.
And Dimitri. Is it a right time and place to admit that it’s something BIG!!! Ja tebja lublju, schatje!

The post Miami, FL. March 2006 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

My plane was scheduled for 6.45 am on Friday and I landed in LAX on time – 9.30 am UTC. Gotta love Delta Song! Cab fare to The Standard downtown was $45 which is not bad at all.
Dimitri got to LA a few days earlier and that morning he was already waiting for me in the hotel. It was really nice to see him again. The Standard Downtown is a pretty upscale and full of character hotel. We had a extra large room that was large and comfortable.

Half a day I spent walking around downtown area and checking local sightseeing – City Hall, Walt Disney Hall with Patina, El Pueblo de Los Angeles with it’s Olivera Street, Fashion and Jewelry districts, Pershing Square and absolutely amazing LA’s new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angeles. LA made an impression of a city with tons of fountains and absolutely no people.

I ended up going to the roof pool in my hotel and spent the entire evening there. What a great place!!! Colorful couches and water mattresses, great pool and absolutely gorgeous people. Very chick pool-lounge. For those you never been there I highly recommend. It sucks that they charge $15 to get in, but it’s so worth it.

.

Later that night Dimitri and I met up with Michelle and went out for a dinner to “the most popular LA restaurant” (according to Zagat) – Cafe Bizou in Santa Monica. Later we went back to the hotel for the additional drinks. Thanks Michelle for a really good evening. I wish we could hang out more, but it was impossible to schedule everything in one weekend.

Saturday was a major day. Almost all day I was hanging out with my friends in Hollywood, checking the world’s famous Walk of Fame and Melrose Avenue with its shops.

At 8.30 pm we were already parking our car by LA Sports Arena. Show was supposed to start at 9.30 pm.
Dimitri arranged the VIP guest list for me and some of my friends. I really appreciate that! I don’t know, how the regular admission entrance was, but it looked pretty scary from the outside – those endless lines would drive me crazy. As for us – we got our bracelets with no line and went straight to the Arena.
VIP tickets guaranteed faster entrance, free drinks and an access to the VIP area. Sadly, the VIP section turned out to be  next to the DJ Stage and not in front of it, thus, there was no ability to see Tiesto at all, so I had to go to the regular admission floor. Crowd was happy and excited!!! Luckily for me I could squeeze myself right in front of the DJ booth and Tijs didn’t make us wait for too long. Even though the arena wasn’t yet full, he jumped out from the backstage and started with Magikal Circus.

Overall, I enjoyed the night. I really liked the performance by the gymnasts and Jes‘, “Just be” girl looked really hot, but her voice wasn’t strong enough to handle this track. And this is where the magic has begun and the whole arena started singing along with Angela Taylor. Place got crowded very fast and only after a few tracks, when I turned around, I couldn’t see a free spot – floor and the lower seat area of the Arena were packed. 9 500 – 10 000 people were attending this event, as I found out later.

My Highlights of the night:

• Tijs! Thanks for “The Darkside of the Moon“. I noticed you winked at me a few times while playing this track, I know that you knew it was my newest favorite track.
• Chris!!!! I admire your talent and I think Tijs is really lucky to have somebody like you to work with him. Your visuals were absolutely awesome. Great job!
• Meeting some of the LA’s TAs. Sorry guys, I haven’t had more time to spend with you and get to know you better. Michelle, you looked hot hot hot!!!
• Security people, who started to bring water for whose, who were standing in the first few rows and didn’t have any access to drinks. I have never seen security to be so concern about the crowd. They made it so much better! LA Sports arena got an A+ crew.
• Moment when the show was over and Chris came with a half full bottle of Moet. We were passing this bottle around making our little celebration party.

And…
Erwin Z. It was 3 in the morning. I just left Arena and were driving back to the hotel when I received a phone call from you. I truly wish you were there with me.

We left a venue at 3 am and went straight to the hotel. I knew there was a planned afterparty, but we were too tired to go out. I hoped everybody who went to see Second Sun had fun. I ran into Adam White the next morning in the lobby. We had a really nice chat and he promised to come back to NYC soon.

Sunday was a lazy day. “The Team” was relaxed because everything was accomplished with a great success. We got a very late brunch on the terrace and then went to the pool. A bit after 3 pm Marques Wyatt came to “kidnap” me for a couple of hours and we drove to Santa Monica. Did I say I adore Marques? I had a really nice evening with him at his house. When I got back to the hotel, a limo was already waiting outside to take Dimitri and I to the airport. We had to catch our flight to NYC at 10 pm.

This is it. Needless to say that the flight was exhausting and I was completely dead when I got to the office on Monday morning. Wrecked but happy. It was a good trip!

Thanks to:
Tijs for a great show!
All the people I have met and haven’t met – Payman, Matt, Michelle, Herbert, Hong, Elizabeth and others.
LA Sports Arena Team for being so attentive and polite.

Pictures.

The post Los Angeles, CA. August 2005 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

The post Las Vegas, NV. May 2005 first appeared on SvetaNYC.

Wednesday night, March 23, 2005.

I came home from work at about 6 pm and couldn’t concentrate on anything, in anticipation of the upcoming trip. After “discovering” electronic dance music and attending multiple gigs at NYC’s famous Avalon, Crobar and Spirit, I finally grew “senior” enough to attend the world’s famous WMC in Miami.  One of the prep-steps was to print a “Ik wil een Nederlands meisje zeij”  t-shirt for Tiesto’s show. Who knew, at the time, that this shirt would help me meet my future boyfriend, Dimitri de Wit, a man whose friendship I will cherish forever. Before going to sleep, I packed my suitcase and called a car service to schedule a 5.00 am pick-up. Everything was ready for Miami, nevertheless, I could hardly sleep.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

By 5.15 am, I was already checking my bag at the JFK AA terminal; even a fact that I lost my phone on the way to the airport, didn’t spoil my mood. I was ready to leave snowy and rainy New York City.

On a plane I sat next to Brian C. (one of the active tranceaddict.com members) and got to meet a bunch of other guys who were going to the Conference.  Brian’s friends met us at the airport and we went straight to The Clay hotel, where we all had booked rooms. The Clay Hotel is, perhaps, Miami’s cheapest accommodation, with 3 types of rooms: hotel-like, shared bathroom rooms and hostel-like. The property is located in the heart of Art Deco area, close to all the restaurants, beach and clubs. I found the hotel to be a bit dodgy and in need of repair, but it was a total steal for the price I paid.

I checked in to my room with no problems, changed clothes, because my jeans and leather jacket weren’t weather- appropriate for SoBe (around +75F). I put on my bathing suit and headed out with Arty V. to have a brunch at Jerry’s Deli, before attending a Wet Grooves Party at The Shelborne Hotel. By 2 pm, I was already in line, and after refusing to “surrender” my ticket to a drunk guy for $200, I got inside.

The pool at Shelborne was full of beautiful people and rocking the trance beats. The moment we got in,  Robbie Rivera started his set. Having never heard him spinning before, he quite impressed me with his style and made everybody got out of the pool and dance. Chris Lawrence, Paul Oakenfold, George Acosta and Darude  succeeded each other till about 8.30 pm.
For info, at that moment in life, I was under Darude’s spell. Just a week prior, I flew to Las Vegas to hear him spin and I couldn’t get enough of his beats. Ville rocked The Shelborne. Unfortunately, videos I recorded that evening, didn’t make to my youtube.com site, as it contained tracks yet to be released on Darude’s new “Label This” CD.

Then Rick (the Telemundo’s producer) fetched me a VIP pass, which allowed me to freely browse around the hotel premises. Hessu H. arrived and with some other people, we ended up hanging out in the backstage, dancing and discussing new music trends. To my surprise, some of the tranceaddics (Candy Girl and Mattivi) recognized me and came to say “hello”.

After the Wet Grooves Party, Hessu, Marko, Turo (my Finnish friends) and I went to Wyndham hotel to relax before going out to Lounge 16 to attend Darude’s second gig at WMC.  It was such an intimate venue, but everyone who showed up were truly fans of Da Man!

Around 3 am I dropped Darude and Hessu by their hotel in Downtown Miami (they were leaving for Puerto Rico the next day) and went to Space to catch the last minutes of Tiesto‘s gig. Line outside of Space was so unreasonably long that, despite my acquaintance with Tijs and love for his music, it was not worth standing. After running into Pete Kalamoutsos and catching up on the latest WMC gossips, I optioned to go back to the hotel.

Friday, March 25, 2005.

Arty V, Ben and I started a day with a lunch and then drove to Nikki Beach. It is one of my favorite places in Miami, because it never disappoints – music, vibe, ambiance and crowd are all top notch.  We got there at about 2 pm and the place was already grooving. Music was great, crowd was even better. I got my beach chair and fell asleep (simply due to lack of sleep the night before). The sound of Behrouz woke me up. Rarely had I heard a set that would make everybody get up and dance their butts off.

By 7 pm, the party started to die out, people were chilling, drinking but music became boring and redundant. We decided to leave, in order to pick up our ticket for Paul van Dyk at Space on the same evening. We ended the day by devouring delicious meal at some Vietnamese restaurant in SoBe.

I got to Space for PvD at 1 am.  After waiting in line for about 2 hours, I ran out of patience and left. Ironically, I purchased my two Space tickets far in advance, but failed to get in both nights. Sadly, I missed the best shows of the WMC 2005, but learned my lesson to arrive early next time.

Saturday, March 26, 2005.

In the morning I went to the beach, where I met a nice guy from Tampa Bay. Of all topics to talk about, we ended up discussing a war in Iraq and American politics. Jacob was only 21 y.o., but amazingly clever and opinionated. He introduced me to his mom who left me her telephone number in case I needed something. It was sweet of her.

I got back to the hotel at about 3 pm to get myself ready for Ultra. Even though, Ultra Music Festival started around noon, for the best line-up, it is recommended to show up after 5 pm.  I had difficulties getting a cab, so after 45 minutes of waiting, I accepted an offer from a random Italian guy who volunteered to drive me  “wherever I was going to”.

I arrived to Ultra at about 4 pm, a line was endless but flawless organization of the event, got me in within 10 minutes. Ultra Festival is a “non-camera” venue and of course, the brief purse search revealed my camera. But… believe it or not, I addressed to a police officer, who was standing behind the ticket guy, and told him that there was no way I would go back to the hotel without attending at least one WMC event. Surprisingly, he let me in under the condition that I won’t take any pictures or videos….so naive of him!

I headed straight for the main stage. It was about 4.30 pm and Ferry Corsten just started his set. Do I really need to tell you  how much I love this guy? I guess not.
As soon as I saw Ferry, I got my “dutch” shirt out and showed it to him (I was standing in the first row, facing the DJ booth). The venue wasn’t packed yet, so he saw me and started laughing.
Then Oakey (Paul Oakenfold) came in. He had an impressive laser and visual affects. Admittedly,  his set was much better than the one I have heard at The Shelborne a few days earlier.

Junkie XL came next. I could see why people were excited to hear him spin because he definitely had a connection with the crowd but his music wasn’t my cup of tea. I thought his set wasn’t align with the music trajectory that was developing that evening at the Main Stage.

Who said Tiesto was coming? TI-ES-TO, TI-ES-TO. I bet everyone came to see him, otherwise I can’t explain why the entire audience immediately turned orange The #1 was right on time -jumped on the stage and rocked the amphitheater. He was back! The energy, the sounds, the charisma shone through to all his fans (and I am a devoted one). He played some tunes from his last set at Crobar but, thank God, the old Tiesto was back. Some progressive in the beginning and then… Just be…and of course every single person was singing “Love comes again” together with Tijs.
I can’t say that Tijs was too much into his set (but definitely into his cameraman), nevertheless, he was enjoying himself and all 40,000 people were going nuts.

After second track Dimitri (Tijs’ manager) spotted me in the crowd. My shirt attracted his attention so, he called Wilfried and pointed at me. When all their attention was on me, I turned around to show them the rest of the “message” but they couldn’t see it, so I simply took my shirt off….. and raised it above my head. The back of it read “Wil je met me trouwen?”. Dimitri and Wilfried burst out laughing. This simple gesture brought Dimitri and I together forever, but I didn’t know that at the moment.

When I knew that Tiesto was about to finish his set, I asked a guy next to me to lift me up, so I could reach the pre-stage area. Security was scanning the room and I had all the chances to be kicked out of Ultra. I knew Tiesto was expecting to see me there, so I got on top of the fence and turned my face to him. He looked at me and gave me his killing smile. My mission was completed but apparently, the Ultra’s producers decided to record my moment of fame, because instantaneously all the cameras were focused on me. I felt like a little girl under the stage projectors, but I didn’t care and kept on dancing. Thanks to Dimitri, later, I found out it was he, who ordered security to leave me alone and let me enjoy the last beats of “Adagio for Strings“.

PvD succeeded Tijs on the stage. He did a pretty good job, but I can’t tell what i was enjoying more – his set or Ricky Martin and NU -NRG  guys dancing in the back stage. I didn’t know Ricky was a friend of Paul??!!

Ultra ended at 12 am, everyone was rushing out to the AAA for the after-party. I wasn’t going there because I was not a big fan of Sasha. I got held up by the stage, because people kept coming and asking me to take a picture with them. Funny feeling. Amphitheater was nearly empty and I was still inside, talking to some Dutch guys, when one of the crane cameras approached us. It was hanging right in front of our faces with its red eye on. As if planned, we all started jumping and shouting. What do you think we were screaming? “TIESTO #1! TIESTO #1!” Do you think I’m gonna be on Ultra’s DVD? You bet!

After the show we went to check out Space and obviously, it was packed again.

Sunday, March 27, 2005.

In the morning, we went to the beach, but it was too windy, so we moved to the hotel’s pool. Apparently, somebody told us that Armin van Buuren was scheduled to play at Nikki Beach. It turned out to be a lie, as we found out when we turned up at the venue later. Many people have left Miami, because the WMC came to an end, that is why Nikki beach was almost empty. We stayed there for next… 10 hours, dancing with Marques Wyatt and enjoying our last day in Miami.

I left at about 11 pm, but not before running into some NYC TA guys.  I walked all the way to the hotel, buying ice creams at every store that was still open. Naturally, I was still to complete my shopping list, so I stopped by a few gift shops on my way. At one of the T-shirt stores, I tried on no less than 15 t-shirts which forced the manager (or owner) to offer me a t-shirt modeling job.

Monday, March 28, 2005.

5.00 am is my wake-up call. I arrived at the Miami International Airport at 6.30 am, checked my bag, got breakfast, boarded a plane and two hours later I was back to rainy NYC.

That’s it.

Bear with me, I’m almost done.
Summary – I didn’t see everything, but I didn’t plan to see everything and everybody. Pity, I didn’t manage to get in to Space but…. I’ll be back and all the DJs will be back too.

Pictures:

Thursday, March 24, 2005
Wet Grooves Shelborne and at Lounge 16

Friday, March 25, 2005
Nikki Beach

Saturday, March 26, 2005

South Beach and ULTRA

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Beach and closing party at Nikki Beach

Videos:

Nikki beach

Junkie XL at Ultra

Dancing on the beach

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