Barcelona Music Conference 2010 entrance: everything was in place!

Just when I was planning my trip to Ibiza in 2010, like I did last year, a friend of mine showed me this amazing line-up in Barcelona and I decided this would be it instead. Paul van Dyk, Eric Prydz, Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz, DJ Chuckie and many others, all in 2 nights? That was just too good to pass up!

This event looked too good to be true and to be honest I was actually quite worried I wouldn’t get to see any of these great DJs. A couple of days before the show a lot of controversy started to rise, when the organization decided to move this party to a much smaller club, near the beach. Local people wondered how the hell the club would be up for this, as this was right after the Love Parade tragedy and they were concerned with their safety. Furthermore, there were so many big-name DJs that people feared they wouldn’t play for a crowd of 4 or 5k instead of the expected 30 or 40 thousand (how could they pay them?). The organization mentioned this change was “due to the request of some of the DJs in search of a better sound system” which sounded VERY strange (to put it softly) and apparently the original place (Fira de Barcelona) was never asked to hold that event (there is however a follow-up on the BMC official site mentioning the opposite). I guess I will never know the truth!

With all that going on, I was really scared that I would show up in Barcelona and not see any of the DJs there, but actually… they all came, except for Above&Beyond who had their flight delayed and had to be later on in Ibiza, which didn’t really concern me and wasn’t anybody’s fault really.

So the party was at Club Sotavento , a pretty cool club right near the beach, in downtown Barcelona. Getting there was very easy by subway and entering the club was not a problem either. You could get in and out on the first night (impossible on the second night due to the stamp-system they used) which made sense since it was, after all, a festival (from 5 pm till 5am!) and everything went smooth. I actually thought this was one of those rare occasions where everything can go wrong and actually nothing bad happens and you realize how lucky you were to be there and just enjoy. Apparently, future events will not be in Barcelona, which is not a surprise considering how the organization thought that the city “did not support them”. Mad respect for keeping the original line-up even for 5.000 clubbers and for planning for future events in other Spanish cities after the huge blow on their reputation (their Facebook page was filled with anger).

Here is my report of both nights:

NIGHT 1 (6/August/2010):
Frank Caro – 5pm
Flaix Team – 7pm
Brian Cross – 8pm
Antoine Clamaran – 9pm
Jaime Alguersuari – 10.30pm
Eric Prydz – 11.30pm
Armin van Buuren – 1.30am
Markus Schulz – 3.45am

We arrived before 11pm and Jaime Alguersuari was playing. The club had a nice atmosphere already and the DJ did a good job warming up the crowd. He is actually a small Spanish celebrity, as he is a racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver in history. He was a fan of loops and big tunes and the crowd loved all of it- he played one of my classics, Coburn’s “We interrupt this program”, which was cool.
Up next was my current favorite DJ and producer, mr. Eric Prydz. That was a big relief, as I was still very concerned that no big name DJs would show up at this point. This was the third time I have seen Eric, after being blown away at Wonderland in Ibiza and attending Pryda night, in London. Eric played a very different set this time, which was more into his Cirez D side I would say. I was disappointed to not hear most of his bombs but it was still very good. I noticed Eric said on Facebook later than night that he really enjoys not being the headliner so that he can play something a bit different and that was indeed what happened. I heard for the first time this “old” track called Grand Canyon and he finished his set with his popular mashup of On/Off with the vocals of Photographic (Depeche Mode).
Next was Armin van Buuren. The place went totally nuts when Armin showed up on stage, not caring for what Eric was doing anymore. When On/Off was playing, people were chanting Armin and they were all just really excited (and I was a bit offended). Armin wasted no time, starting with his banging trance right away, much to the delight of the crowd. The room got really busy of course, filled with Tranceaddicts. Armin played his usual set with many of his productions and the crowd was very happy. While I enjoy his track selection, I don’t really follow his work at the moment so I didn’t recognize most of the tunes.
To finish things off, Markus Schulz got the spotlight, to carry on with Armin’s mayhem. I just saw Markus for a couple of tracks unfortunately as I had to go, but I am sure it was a great end to a great night.

NIGHT 2 (7/August/2010):
Albert Neve – 7pm
Mart-T – 8pm
Andy Moor – 9pm
Above&Beyond – 10pm
Juanjo Martin – 11pm
Chuckie – 0.15am
Groove Armada – 1.30am
Paul van Dyk – 3am

I was sad to not watch Andy Moor and Above&Beyond, but I was planning to just arrive after 11pm. I did hear that A&B did not make it, as they were playing in Ibiza later that night, but my trance fix would be given by none other than my hero mr. Paul van Dyk, so I was a happy man.
I was very curious about DJ Chuckie and when I arrived he was about to start. To my knowledge he has been voted the best dutch DJ for several years and while I am not a big fan of the “Dirty Dutch” style, he really knows what he’s doing with the mixer. He mixes 50 tracks per hour, grabs the microphone and interacts with the crowd like crazy and still has time to give us some great music in the process! He has some cool moves too! A great entertainer. I was definitely impressed by his DJ skills and will see him again whenever I have the chance.
Next came Groove Armada. Damn one of the guys is TALL. Mixed reaction for these guys. I loved the last 30 minutes of their set or so, with acid house and overall just banging music, but the start was very very boring. That was actually the best thing that could have happened to me, as I left the main floor for a bit and managed to meet and take a picture with my hero Paul van Dyk! One of those moments that you will never understand how lucky you are, I guess… the night was already unforgettable and Paul wasn’t even on stage yet!
Paul van Dyk took over at 3am for a 1h30 set and this was yet another great night, after an amazing closing at Cream/Amnesia last year. He just knows what to play like no other DJ and he actually spotted a big flag saying “As the Rush Comes” (Motorcycle’s hit) and played this classic, which was one of the best moments of the night with the people waving the flag. I love trance crowds, they are just so uplifting and you can really feel the energy and the joy. PvD played some of his tracks of course and mainly Vandit tracks, and finished with the Time of Our Lives. He then gave autographs very quickly and left in a hurry, but smiling the whole time.

All in all, this was one hell of a Festival. On paper it looked too good to be true and personally I was very scared that it wouldn’t take place, but in retrospective it’s one of those things in life where you just look back and realize you are one lucky son of a gun. Unbelievable.

Some pics of the Conference…

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