Armin at Godskitchen last night!

[Briggsy]

I'm not normally a huge fan of Armin's from a musical point of view - but last night, once he got past his boring proggyness, was supurb!

I'll still stand by my words that Armin make Tiesto and PvD looks amateur - he's by far the best Trance DJ around from a technical point of view. His mixing is flawless, each tune complimented the other 100%, and his enthusiasm cannot be matched - he clearly loves his job.

Some great tunes too! Great to hear Communication (Coldware remix), Art Of Trance - Madagascar, Mike Foyle - Firefly, Jose Gonzales - Crosses (Not sure which mix he's playing), a new remix of Bedrock - Heaven Scent (I really like this - any ideas which remix Armin is playing?), and, a tune that i've never seen what the hype is about, and found really balnd until last night - Super8 & DJ Tab - Needs To Feel (Wippenburg Mix). Its amazing how tunes sound average at home, but sound AWESOME in a club - and Needs To Feel comes under that category. I like it now.

A big thumbs up for Armin - immense set. Remy was also very good warming up, as was Mark Eteson closing.

Markus Schulz though = :eek: Boring isn't the word! Very dull, unimaginitive, "music" - how a DJ can play that for two hours is beyond me. It has nothing about it at all.

[Moonman]

Armin once he gets past the prog stuff is very good. seen him a few times. never disappointed with him!

[bigsteve]

Armin has never failed to disappoint me either. I quite like his proggy stuff on the radio, but it doesn't always work in a club situation after a few beers.

Glad you had a good night :thumbsup:

Any idea what Eteson played?

[Max Kane]

Prog rules!

:mrgreen:

[Briggsy]

Any idea what Eteson played?

Haven't a clue unfortunately mate. My ears were caning by his set, so I left not too long after he started. Fairly action-packed, high-tempo stuff though. His closing sets are much better than his opening sets.

[JasonB]

Greg Downeys done a remix of Heaven Scent, Id expect it to be that.

I agree prog is very good and how else to do warm up?!! play dj sammy?!!

[bigsteve]

play dj sammy?!!

Twilight mix? :mrgreen:

[Bjorn]

Greg Downeys done a remix of Heaven Scent, Id expect it to be that.

I agree prog is very good and how else to do warm up?!! play dj sammy?!!

yeh will be downeys mix :thumbsup:

[Gregg]

armin van buuren played one of the best sets i've ever heard from him on saturday.

like briggsy said, he really is the best trance DJ around and knows how to construct a set brilliantly, whether its a 2 hour set or a 9 hour marathon.

shame none of the other DJ's were able to compete, but there should have been another big name on. This seems to be major drawback with Godskitchen, they only ever have one real big name on.

[Max Kane]

shame none of the other DJ's were able to compete, but there should have been another big name on. This seems to be major drawback with Godskitchen, they only ever have one real big name on.

I'd say Markus Schulz & remy were two pretty big names, Schulz is huge!

Mark Knight was playing aswell in the house room so it was pretty much a star studded lineup :mrgreen:

Just out of interest did Armin play before Markus?

[Gregg]

sorry tom, i was specifically reffering to the main room. i only went in the nitro room to hear micky slim at the beginning of the night. although i caught a bit of the carbon lounge during eteson's set, which was OK.

the running order was remy, armin, schulz, eteson.

i don't think schulz is that huge just yet. he's got a long way to go before he joins the big league. although i think his proggy sound may make me think that; pretty boring on saturday i thought. armin played a much more energetic set and he just dropped the tempo right down. hardly what i would expect of a big league DJ.

yet he banged it out at crasher not so long ago, in an earlier timeslot.

[Max Kane]

Markus playing after Armin is never really gona work, their styles aren't really compatible when they follow on like that, Schulz is the finest DJ in the world at getting a place warmed up, everytime he's played an earlier set he's blown me away, having him on after Armin doesn't do him justice. Obviously other issues meant that this was unavoidable but I'd still be dissapointed if I had paid to go.

I think Schulz is just about as big as he can get at the moment, his compilations sell by the truckload, his radio show is massive, a string of Internation dates, excellent producer & the person that really brought 'progressive trance' (at least in it's current guise) to the masses.

His position in DJ mag chart may not have him as highly as his draw is, if i'd have been attending the night it would have been primarily to see Markus play

[bigsteve]

Markus playing after Armin is never really gona work, their styles aren't really compatible when they follow on like that,

Totally. Why did they schedule them like that? Thats just crazy

[Max Kane]

Totally. Why did they schedule them like that? Thats just crazy

They've done it once before, it always seems to happen when Armin is playing elsewhere,.

He played up at the Syndicate in Blackpool Saturday as well so i presume he had to leave early to get there, what makes it strange is that it was Gods who booked him for that event as well & they didn't really have anyone all that proggy play the other venue. They compromised both nights to rake in the cash

[bigsteve]

Its happened sometimes when I've seen Jules too. Because he's been playing 2 (or sometimes even 3 venues in one night) he's not fitted into the line-up correctly. Needless to say the tempo alters dramatically over the course of a couple of tunes.

However, to put a DJ on that is predominately prog, after a set ending with trance, must just kill the atmosphere dead.

I've harped on enough about Fergie at GK@Newcastle in 2005 a lot, but he emptied an arena within the space of a tune. The atmosphere never returned all night I don't blame the DJs, it who books them and puts the schedule together. If they were forced to announce set times/running order before the night, I'm sure they wouldn't get away with it so easily.

[Max Kane]

Schulz has played after trancier DJs a few times & over the past year or so he has altered his sound a little to incorporate a few more peak time tracks, but personally if i'm seeing Schulz i wana hear him play Prog Trance, & play it his way, which obviously means there's no way he can follow Armin & please people.

Something we're never gona stop though in all honesty, promoters will always cash in whenever they can

[Briggsy]

In Godskitchen's defence, I don't think they actually played any part in the booking of Armin at The Syndicate. I think this was one of those events where Godskitchen just put their name to an event to help spread their name - without having much input into anything else.

Its no secret that Godskitchen are trying to conquor other areas of the UK now - they've dominated the Midlands, and now they want to branch further out. They have Slinky to compete with in the South, and Goodgreef in the north. Putting their name to events help to spread their name in those areas - particularly with Global Gathering around the corner.

I've said this before though, and i'll say it again. Godskitchen have a habit of booking specific DJ's and putting them on at the wrong times. In cases like Saturday, where DJ's like Markus Schulz usually play before a certain DJ, then if those DJ's can't play in the time slots they're well known for, then they shouldn't be booked at all.

Every time i've seen Jules at Godskitchen, he's had the early slot - and i've always been left disappointed. I've seen Jules twice at Godskitchen in the last year, and both times, he followed on from Mark Eteson, and was on before Armin.

The sensible thing would have been to put Armin on after Eteson, and then Jules on after Armin. That would have flowed perfectly - but unfortunately, the pound signs were rolling again - Godskitchen know that if they put Armin on later, people will stay longer - so that means more income at the bar.

Also, I think Godskitchen MUST start listening to the complaints on their own forum, rather than banning anyone that speaks out. People aren't happy, and are making valid suggestions that go ignored. If I were Godskitchen, i'd be panicking a bit now. The last two events haven't been a sell out - in fact, Saturday was the quietest i've known it for a long time. The idea of going monthly was supposed to be to keep people interested by giving bigger line-ups, but less frequently. That hasn't happened - we're seeing the same DJ's in short spaces of time (Eddie twice in 6 months, Armin twice in 6 months, Sander van Doorn twice in 6 months - yet no appearances at all from other DJ's that have been successful at Godskitchen - the likes of Jules, PvD, Marcel Woods, etc. They keep playing it safe. I highly rate Goodgreef - they try many new DJ's such as Mark Norman, Randy Katana, Sean Tyas, etc - they've given many DJ's their UK debuts. They also have A-listers now and again such as PvD and Jules, and they also bring through unknown DJ's - they have a blend of everything. Their prices are also reasonable at around the £12 mark. Godskitchen have charges us £19 to see Armin, and £21 to see Tiesto. Granted, they don't come cheap - but those prices are taking the piss for line-ups which are nothing special. It wouldn't be so bad if the drinks prices were cheaper (£3.30 for a bottle of water - its not even a well known brand!) - plus £3 to park the car. In the case of the Tiesto night, you're talking £27 for just a ticket, one drink of water, and to park your car. Rip off!

If the club starts struggling to pull people in now that its monthly, i'd start to worry about its future - surely it can't survive running like that. They've only got themself to blame too.

[Max Kane]

The Gods forum has had many polls regarding the switch to Saturday nights, Friday always came out on top by a mile, then the threads got deleted. The Armin/Schulz night last August which ran on a Friday was a road block, I think about 50 people got in on the door after they extended ticket sales & the place was near a sell out prior to the evening even getting started.

Still they didn't listen and went back to Saturdays which are poor by comparison, since the switch to Saturdays I feel the lineups have been poor, probably because rather than going all out once per month to get a mega lineup they've settled for lesser lineups & bumped the ticket prices up.

Gods was at it's peak when they did a night every single Friday & particularly in 2004 when Armin was monthly resident. You were guaranteed one good night per month with Armin playing in different time slots & playing different sets, the other three lineups were nicely mixed, there would always be a hard house night on & usually a big name house DJ would play a night aswell.

March 2004 lineups went like this....

March 5th

Oxygen Arena - Andy Farley, BK, Anne Savage, Nick Rafferty, Jez & Charlie, Shan, Hinsley

Nitrogen Room - John Kelly (4 hour set), Chris Turner (3 hour set)

Carbon Lounge - Paul Kershaw, Dave Oldershaw, Jim Ryan

March 12th

Oxygen Arena - Marco V, M.I.K.E (Push), Gareth Emery (GTR), Jon O’bir

Nitrogen Room - Tidy Boys, Hinsley

Carbon Lounge - Rae Chic, Chris Turner

March 19th

Oxygen Arena - Paul Van Dyk (3 hour set), Jon O’bir

Nitrogen Room - Pete Gooding, Tom Neville, James Algate, Chris Turner

Carbon Lounge - Paul Thomas (6 hour set)

March 26th

Oxygen Arena - Absolute Armin (9 hour set)

Nitrogen Room - Fergie (4 hour set), Misstress Barbara, Petrae Foy

Carbon Lounge - Chris Turner, Disciples of Sound, Mark Gillespie

I went to the last three nights there & all were magnificent & all were packed solid. Why Gods felt they needed to change things when they were consistently putting on parties like that is beyond me

[Briggsy]

The Gods forum has had many polls regarding the switch to Saturday nights, Friday always came out on top by a mile, then the threads got deleted.

Yeah, same old story mate. if anyone speaks out on the Godskitchen board, then they get banned and the threads deleted. They're not willing to listen to feedback - they think they know the industry that well that they don't need advice.

So many people have said that they don't want Oakie or Erick Morillo at Air again - yet they still get booked. Tons of people say that Morillo plays the same tunes every time he goes, and they're tired of it. As for Oakie, nobody likes him any more anyway.

Why Gods felt they needed to change things when they were consistently putting on parties like that is beyond me

I agree entirely mate. At the end of the day, its all just down to this global domination thing. Air, relatively speaking, is "small fry" to them now. They've got their fingers in many, bigger, pies such as Global Gathering, Escape Into The Park, etc - and even when they're not directly involved with anything, they still have their name linked to it - such as Saturday's event at The Syndicate. They just want to make as much money as possible, from all parts of the world.

The fact that they never take any notice of what we want, and the fact that they stick to "safe" line-ups - such as A-listers or media-hyped up and comers such as Sander van Doorn or The Trophy Twins, etc prove that they just want people through the door. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with those DJ's - all i'm saying is, they know they're currently "flavour of the month" DJ's because they're being hyped up on the radio, in magazines, and around the industry. When did Godskitchen last take a risky approach by trying somebody new like Randy Katana, Alex Morph, Menno De Jong, etc? They don't - because they're not being hyped up! Goodgreef HAVE taken gambles with those DJ's - and as a result, they're consistently filling out venue's in the north and gaining a good reputation. They brought through the likes of Tylor-Leigh, Greg Downey, Barry Connell, Eddie Halliwell and Adam Sheridan. Who have Godskitchen brought though? Just Jon O' Bir. Fantastic!.....

[Max Kane]

As regards bringing DJs through I think Gods have done ok, Jon O'Bir was the most talented resident DJ i've ever seen week in week out, warming up for PvD one week then Sasha the next takes some doing.

Now they have Eteson (whom I don't rate as Highly as O'Bir) who seems to be much more adept at the closing sets, I feel his warmups are kinda ABC sets, just playing slow trance instead of building it up.

Gareth Emery also got his big break at Gods & has gone on to be a successful DJ.

Fergie was championed by Gods as well, they can't claim to have made him but they helped his cause a lot. Other DJs have made UK debuts at Gods but they're never gona be going out a limb to find new jocks, they'd rather just play safe & get in the numbers, even if they have to pay over the odds for someone they know that they'll fill the place.

I honestly can't see someone like Randy Katana having much of a pull at Gods to be honest, credit to the smaller clubs for booking these guys as they're fantastic, but Gods has it's place at the top & seems content just to book the same old people, until punters stop going they're just gona carry on cos it's making them a mint.

Gods used to be a lot more expansive with their lineups when it was a weekly night, I saw loads of DJs there that they'd never book now & they were also one of the first English clubs to book Menno de Jong, Sander van Doorn & Marco V.

[Uberduck]

I would have to agree with the majority of the above comments. The last two Gods events I went to at Air have both been packed out, which obviously shows that they've got the pulling power they need to maintain their 'Superclub' status. These were however, during the festive period so capacity is more or less a certainty as long as they have some decent names on the bill. The sequence of the DJ's was pretty poor though with Jules playing early and had to play tracks not dissimilar from tough house music.

I think the most representative and recent of these examples would be the BIC event. We've already chewed the fat over the reasoning behind this and the fact they screwed the Slinky fans over with the Dav Gomrass stuff seems a good basis for this lacklustre attendance.

The lineup was pretty well organised comprising of:

Mark Eteson

Second Sun

Ferry Corsten

Paul Van Dyk

Eddie Halliwell

Marcel Woods

That seems pretty much what'd be expected. The numbers were WELL down though and I'd hate to guess by how many but it'd defo be in the thousand/s. For such an established club to make such a cock-up is a schoolboy error.

Surely though for a club with such music experience you would have thought that they would have learnt the importance of getting the progression in style/hardness spot on. How can they get it so wrong and piss so many people off and still not listen. Its not as if we're un-educated in our music knowledge is it?

I'm having a good rant and rave as Man U have just gone out of Europe with a lacklustre display