Adios amigos!!

[Briggsy]

I very much doubt i'll be on at all tomorrow (well, today now I guess!) - i'm at work in the morning, then taking my dad for an eye operation in the afternoon, then setting straight off to Majorca for a week.

Hopefully they won't bomb Majorca while i'm there. A terrorist bomb by the ETA group went off today 5 minutes away from where my apartment is. Thankfully, I didn't fly out today because i'm flying with Thomsonfly - and they turned to planes around to come back to the UK, and diverted two others to Ibiza. Hopefully, things will be back to normal tomorrow

I'm off to BCM while i'm there to see Judge Jules, Sander van Doorn and Vicky Devine on Monday, and Armin and Nick Rafferty on Wednesday for the Cream night. Possibly Des Mitchell on Tuesday too. I'll definately be staying away on the Sunday though because Westwood is on :pinkman:

Sooo, adios amigos! See you when I get back

[Number2Fan]

Buen Viaje

Tener unas buenas vacaciones Briggsy!

ENJOY THE SUN (and westwood)

[Briggsy]

Buen Viaje

Tener unas buenas vacaciones Briggsy!

ENJOY THE SUN (and westwood)

Yo ciertamente, muchas gracias

[Number2Fan]

Oh I'm very jealous! Have fun! I wish I was coming too!

[Max Kane]

Have a good un mate, hopefully the ETA situation has been resolved by the time you fly.

[Briggsy]

Bonjour amigos!

Had a safe and smooth flight out here - ETA have been quiet so hopefully that´s the end of all of that. Apparently, they´ve caught 3 of the 5 bombers - although there have been 8 bombscares in total since we´ve been here (although they´ve not affected us). They were all hoaxes - the Spanish Police are just being, understandably, very cautious at the moment. The road where the bombing took place is 2 minutes from our hotel - the road is still closed and there are flowers laid all over the pavement.

Anyway, on a lighter note - the weather is amazing! Blazing hot sun, and even at 4am, its still very hot! The hotel is really nice with a stunning sea view. Unfortunately, because of the credit crunch, its very quiet over here and some of the bars and clubs are closing as early as 11pm - and the ones that are staying open late are all playing similar, commercial chart dance music to pull people in. Even BCM has gone cheesy

I saw Judge Jules at BCM last night - his mixing was spot on, but his tunes were awful. Nearly every tune was a bootleg - and about 4 of them contained Michael Jackson vocals. He´s also had some Radio 1-style Judgement Mondays jingles made - and constantly kept playing them over his set. I lost count of the amount of times he played a "DJ Judge Jules - Judgement Mondays at the BCM" jingle over his set - and looping it in time to the tune. Absolutely shocking - and after that, I don´t care if I never see Jules again in my life. On a plus note, the one tune that did get a great reaction was Simon Ross´s "Waiting For The Hype" bootleg. Unfortunately, Jules spoilt the start of it by playing a ghastly accapella over the intro.

Tristan D played before him, and although he was very commercial and cheesy, he´s a very talented DJ. His mixing is very tight, and he´s not afraid to try risky mixes. Armed with some decent tunes, I could see him having a bright future.

Armin at BCM tomorrow - so hopefully that will be cheese-free and he´ll have some ´real´tunes

I´ve got the worst sunburn ever on my leg and ankle - my whole ankle is bright red and is agony to walk with - so i´ve stayed fairly close to the hotel today. The time is flying by though - i´m half way through the holiday already and it seems like i´ve only been here for 5 minutes

Anyway, i´m off to lay by the pool, so i´ll catch you all when I get back.

Adios

[simonross46]

On a plus note, the one tune that did get a great reaction was Simon Ross´s "Waiting For The Hype" bootleg. Unfortunately, Jules spoilt the start of it by playing a ghastly accapella over the intro

That did bring a smile to my face, even if the start didn't go so well haha. It was done as a commercial crowd pleaser really so it's good to hear that's exactly what it's doing Thanks for tapping back, apart from your manic sunburn issue it does sound like you are having a quality time over there

[Quadrant]

You bastard, Briggsy.

Lazing around the pool, Armin in BCM, hot sunshine.

I hate you!!

[Chrissie Brown]

Glad to hear you're having a good holiday, it doesn't surprise me to hear that the bars etc are quiet, guess credit crunch is the main reason and the bombings don't help either.

Armin's set at Global Gathering was class. However even Armin played some cheesy bootlegs, but not as many as Jules played. Despite the bootlegs IMO Jules's set was good and the crowd responded favourably. Anyway have a great time @ BMC tonight. No doubt when you have recovered you will report back on the night.

[Briggsy]

Bonjour everyone!

Well, i'm back! Kinda glad to be back in a way - but i'll miss the scorching heat

As mentioned, Jules was absolutely awful on Monday and i've now well and truly given up. I'm never going to pay to see Jules again. Tje only time I shall see Jules now is if he's just coincidentally on the same line-up as other DJ's i've gone out to see.

Armin, however, was absolutely amazing on the Wednesday night. Over the last year or so, every time i've seen him, he's been average at best - he's seemed to be unsure of his style and a little all over the place compared to Armin of old - however, Armin was at his best on Wednesday - no various genres all mixed into one set, no over-saturation of vocal tunes - just full-on, peak time melodic Trance. He ended his set perfectly with Claudia Cazaku - Freefalling, Darren Tate vs Jono Grant - Let The Light Shine In and his own 'Burned With Desire'. Superb! They sounded amazing over BCM's, best in the world, Funktion 1 sound system.

On Tuesday night, I went to a non-Trance night called "KissDaFunk" at Boomerang nightclub, which is highly unusual for me. Rob Tissera, Herd & Fitz and The Trophy Twins were on the line-up (although only Mark Trophy turned up for some reason). Every DJ was really good actually - however, Mark Trophy was superb! I've never liked The Trophy Twins on Radio 1 - but in the club, Mark Trophy was brilliant. He started off with some really deep, bass driven (often tribally) House music - and then finished off with some progressive Trance. He was cutting samples in and out, layering parts of tunes over other tunes, and generally just being very risky by trying things out - and it sounded really good. I was pleasantly surprised. Superb set.

On Thursday night, I was talked into going to see Michael Burien and DJ Sammy at BCM. Although Michael Burien in very good, I was expecting a pure cheesefest from DJ Sammy. What a shock I had! Michael Burien is very good - he plays very deep, dark, warm-up style music. Not really my cup of tea - but still a good and enjoyable set regardless. DJ Sammy - well, he's actually very similar in style to Michael Burien - very deep and dark and doesn't play anything even slightly like his productions. The only difference in DJ Sammy's style is that although he plays a similar style of music to Michael Burien, he tries to keep things more 'crowd appealing' by playing mainstream accapellas over underground tunes - such as Robin S - Show Me Love and Moloko - Sing It Back. Magalluf is very commercial and cheesy now - so I dare say that was a BCM thing to keep the crowd happy. I'd be intrigued to hear what he plays in a less-commercial clubbing town.

The only downside is that Magalluf and BCM has changed so much since I went in 2005. This year, there seems to be a bit of desperation - it was peak season, yet it was very quiet - there weren't many people there at all - so it seemed like they were trying to pull people in by playing the same music in EVERY club and bar - and its all very commercial and corny. Back in 2005 when I went, BCM was definately a lot more like a "proper" dance club and there was a lot more variety throughout Magalluf.

The hot weather hasn't changed though