Wow.. what a night Philadelphia. Last night marks the 3rd time I have been to Soundgarden Hall, and although each event review I always seem to skim the surface of mentioning how good the venue has become, it’s for good reason. With better organization by the venue’s management, the previous elevated stage (with a huge view of the entire venue) is now for VIP ticket-holders. Incorporating a CO2 gun on stage, more confetti (who doesn’t love confetti), and a special area where fans could go to smoke outside without dealing with re-entry, Soundgarden will have to be on my top 3 venues in the area. With a sold out show, Soundgarden Hall brought out some huge headliners in Trance including W&W, Kyau & Albert, and even Ummet Ozcan, a name seem infrequently around these parts of town. Be sure to come to Soundgarden Hall if you haven’t already, because you’re definitely missing out if you don’t know what I’m talking about yet.
..::UMMET OZCAN::..
Arriving to Soundgarden Hall, Ummet Ozcan was simply ripping apart the place. One of the things I really like about Ummet Ozcan is his dark style of music (Ummet himself looks to be pretty dark in the picture below). Despite how badass he looks in his Twitter picture below, Ummet Ozcan truly is a really nice guy after talking to him a bit backstage. Although I couldn’t catch majority of his set, I did witness one of his biggest tracks, The Box simply caused an eruption of screams of joy. It’s special moments like these that in the weeks and days prior to the event, you anticipate and imagine the utter euphoria you’ll experience within your heart and mind when your favorite DJ or producer drops a song like The Box. Unfortunately I missed parts of his set.. but the next time he’s around in any of the nearby states, I’ll be back. I speak for everyone when I say the #trancefamily of the Tri-state is indefinitely eagerly awaiting the return of Ummet Ozcan. Much love!
Up next on the decks, we all recognize those matching “euphonic sessions” shirts anywhere, meaning it was time for Ralph Kyau & Steven Albert, better known as the Trance duo Kyau & Albert. “… & she fell in my arms on A Night Like This” is quite possibly their most infamous track, graced with the vocals from Steven Albert himself. You rarely find such great talent like that. If you were there last night, you know exactly what I’m talking about when I say Ralph Kyau seriously brought out the energy. Interacting with the crowd on a constant basis and dancing up on stage, it seemed like he jumped forever when he flew just as the beat exploded. Playing some more of their expected tracks like Another Time, and This Love, I was thoroughly engaged when they started playing a huge track from Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy album. “Dream on… little dreamer..” echoed off the walls and instantly the tempo slowed down to some uplifting Trance. See you guys in Philadelphia again soon in 2013!
Filling Soundgarden Hall with it’s capacity of around 4000 people was no difficult task for headliners W&W. In 2010 Dutch powerhouse Armin van Buuren quoted “W&W are truly the rising stars of trance. If I have to put my money on somebody, I put it on W&W.” Hailing from the Netherlands, Willem van Hanegem and Wardt van der Harst came for their first performance at Soundgarden Hall last night. Not long into their set, Philly ventured on a journey to space with the driving heavy beats of their new track Lift Off. Some of their hottest tracks were played last night with huge feedback from the crowd including Delirium’s Trance anthem ‘Silence’ (W&W vs Jonas Stenberg Rework), the A State of Trance 550 anthem Invasion, and a huge mashup between Hardwell vs. Above & Beyond, a Thing Called Spaceman (W&W Mashup). No performance by W&W is done right without two of my personal favorite tracks, Moscow & Sub Zero. Here’s a full list of all the tracks I remember W&W playing last night at Soundgarden (in no particular order):
- W&W – Lift Off
- W&W – Invasion
- W&W – Shotgun
- W&W – Moscow
- W&W vs Marcel Woods – Trigger
- Hardwell vs Above & Beyond – Thing Called Spaceman (W&W Mashup)
- Rick Mitchells – Sub Zero
- Ferry Corsten feat. Aruna vs. Dada Life – Forever Epic Motherfucker (Faruk Sabanci Mashup)
- Hard Rock Sofa & Swanky Tunes – Here We Go
- Gareth Emery – The Saga
It was truly an epic night.. What other BIG tracks do you guys recall? Pictures from last night are up on Facebook HERE & HERE. Be sure to like my ‘Abyssal Photography‘ page!
Hope to see you all again at Soundgarden Hall soon! Have a great weekend #trancefamily.
