there are absolutely no words to describe what John Digweed did to miami last night.
it will never be replicated, matched, followed up, or even remotely interpreted by another dj in our generation.
the rest of this review will come as soon as time and brain reconstruction allows.
each and every year i am completely compelled to attend digweeds party, and every year i am so glad i did. this year was no exception. getting to miami was quite an obstacle for me this year but all of the hours i spent getting there were totally worth it in the end. it was my intention to get to the club as soon as it opened but instead we arrived right around 10:30 to Hernan Cattaneo already getting things underway. he was playing delicious tech-prog at a very comfortable bpm, and getting things started nicely. of course i didn't recognize any of his tracks but somehow he mended them all together perfectly with flawless mixing. as soon as you walk in to vagabond you are greeted by a lovely bar and very cool air. the drinks were incredibly cheap considering this is miami during WMC. the first room you walk in to is a sorta red-lighted ambience room with gorgeous bartenders and again i must comment on the incredible low prices of drinks. talk about being fair. after entering we scoped the mainroom which i must comment several times on the incredible sound pulsating in the middle of the floor. it was so loud and clear in there i think i sauced my pants 3 or 4 times before the club even got busy. we chilled in there for about 20 minutes and my perma-grin was already set in stone as i've never heard Hernan (other than that AA Arena travesty back in 2005 where he and zabiela tagged for 20 minutes) play a proper set much less a warmup set for my favorite dj on this planet. comfortable with who i recognized on the decks at this point we decided to take a stroll around the club to see exactly what our surroundings were going to be for the next 7 or 8 hours, and my oh my was the outside chill area ever so delightful. complete with a water fountain with flames, plenty of seating and even top notch speakers relaying the sound from inside. so far we are very happy clubbers despite the fact the security guards seemed to be clocking us (or maybe it was just my brain) with every step we took. we hung outside for a few and i managed to get comfortable with everything, just enough to find those fun pieces of paper i had wrinkled up in my pocket. so me and lunchtray managed to douse ourselves and get this experience underway. we hung outside for a few then made our way back in to soak up some of hernans basslines and my goodness he was dropping such delicious grooves and (not in the style of JVM either) had us already shaking our rumps. we eventually crossed paths with chanty - i love you girl! and chuckc who i barely recognized but we managed to forget the past and have a blast. by now the club is filling up nicely and even diggers is strolling around (checking sound as im sure he does at every venue) and shooting shit with attendees and posing for the inevitable picture. he made his way up to the booth a few times to relay to hernan how good he was playing and that everyone was enjoying themselves thus far. another hour or so passed and our pieces of paper were in full gear and by then digweed was about to man-up. so i decided it was time for yet another piece of paper and without spilling anything i managed to dig out a couple more on the dancefloor and treated me and lunchtray to more 'fun'.... ok this is where my plot began escaping.... digweed takes over and you know with hernans warmup he wasn't about to take 3 hours to get going.. nope! he took roughly 30 minutes to ease in to himself and from there unleashed a hellish sound of rattling, click ridden filth that had me wondering where the fuck my brain just ran off to. about an hour into diggers set i completely lost it. his mixing was fucking on the money and the tracks he was dropping were perfect for the paper i ate, and i began my wonderful peak and had no clue what was going on. this coupled with the fact the club had completely switched from cool, to blazing hot and the light chick was working her magic with those lasers, strobes, etc... i fucking lost it early on. there was also this cleaning dude that kept bumping in to me every time he would come by and snag bottles, or napkins, or whatever, and my complete horror of him showed. every time he wiggled by i got closer to mike, lunchtray, and kim and by this point was the laughing stock of my group. but that was fine i felt safe with my homies. that feival fucker stalked me all night but maybe i can tie him in later.... so after 90 minutes or so of digs settling in, i was completely lost. his music already had me wondering WTF is going on. we headed outside for several breathers because the club was so fucking hot. the line for the bathroom - oh let me go off on that situation too - was already about 40 deep. the bathroom for the dudes was a disgrace. you couldn't go in there and do things you weren't supposed to, because there was no privacy. one stall that was always occupied. My God! Ugh! but near the bathrooms was a saving grace of blasting cool air that we seemed to retreat to 4 or 5 times throughout the night. anyway enough about the pissers... at this point in the night digweed was full mother fucking stride. his mixing is unmatched and the music he was dropping was just disgusting, and beautiful at the same time. he had us locked in the vortex 8) no matter how hot it was in the main room we kept circling back in there for more punishment. i remember at one point my legs were so dead and we sought refuge outside, and here we are sitting listening to him wreak havoc inside, so i jumped up and ran in there to douse myself in filth, and a few moments later i ran back outside, rallied the troops and demanded their presence alongside mine on the main floor. they will all tell you i was like a drill instructor at that point saying something like "all of you - Inside NOW!" luckily my compadres are like-minded clubbers and immediately followed my lead. so of course digweed was in hyper-vortex mode by now and everything he was dropping was SIMPLY FUCKING AMAZING. i saw some bouncer dude throw up a single finger to digs - which i thought meant one more track, but looking back it seems as if he was signaling one more hour - and thankfully and much to my liking there was much more to come. he kept dropping bomb after bomb after bomb and i think there was a point for about 30-45 minutes where i stood there, unable to move with my mouth wide open just trying to understand what the fuck was going on. the lights, the music, the endless smiles surrounding us, it was Heaven! right around 5am he started dropping the classics. mike knew what it was as soon as he heard it, but it took me a minute to realize We Are Connected was coming in. i swear i felt a complete union of clubbers had been formed when that breakdown came on and the robot voice talked to us. that track hit so many yummy chords within my soul i felt like i could have died a happy man right then. he played some other nostalgia too but that particular track left me all sorts of giddy inside. he went on for another 45 minutes or so with what seemed like on-the-spot edits of some of his old school favorites and ended with a 15 minute version of Dark & Long. by now i was totally begging for mercy and this 5 hour set seemed like it was about 10 hours. i was completely ruined and reborn all at the same time. it was about 6am now and digweed was presumably done, but of course he had to play an encore track. whatever it was, it was awful and i'm glad we made our way outside (actually i had to be talked in to leaving, and for those of you who know me can probably corroborate having to drag me out) (ie: chuckc ;)) but that encore track was truly awful so im glad we decided to vacate.
this is what it looked like when we left:
[IMG]http://www.mercuryupload.com/images/images/Digweed%20Aftermath.jpg[/IMG]
and here's some shots throughout the night (thanks to Chanty & Kim for the pics)
the fire water fountain [IMG]http://www.mercuryupload.com/images/images/Digweed%20@%20Vagabond%20%2803-29-08%29%2002.jpg[/IMG]
the fire water fountain again [IMG]http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/7690/wmc2008156wk0.jpg[/IMG]
before the plot was totally lost [IMG]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3762/wmc2008155li2.jpg[/IMG]
neoee [IMG]http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8927/wmc2008163wq1.jpg[/IMG]
one of the speakers that may as well be retired [IMG]http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/364/wmc2008167dm9.jpg[/IMG]
GOD making dreams and nightmares come true! [IMG]http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5294/wmc2008168kh4.jpg[/IMG]