<<<First - apologies for any cross posting. Second Apologies for being so late on this review...>>>
Call me "spoiled", call me "rotten", call me "an idiot", but don't call me "late for dinner". This was our, (my wife Magda and I), third time at the more than annual "I Love Techno" festival. Our first year, we witnessed the best live PA I've ever seen (Speedy J) along with Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin, Technasia Live, Marco Carola, G-Force, and all the yearly residents (Carl Cox, Sven Vaeth, DJ Rush). The second year, we witnessed a the festival take a very "rave" angle - as we saw American influenced rave styles and attitudes penetrate the large festival, as well as seeing acts such as: Slam Live, Chris Liebing, Umek, Richie, and the regulars. The lineup didn't look as "star-studded" (if there is such a thing in the world of Techno [techno as a subgenre of Electronic Music, not as a genre]), but looked very interesting for my wife and I, as we are followers of the hardest of techno - and acts such as: Adam Beyer, Marco Carola, Marco Bailey, Redhead, Tomaz, Filterheads live, Rino Cerrone, and Bryan Zentz live, were something we knew we'd enjoy. Organization of a 35,000 person event has got to be stressful. That being said, the first time we entered the Flanders Expo in 2000, we were most suprised at the ease of which we gained entrance, checked coats, and we able to move around. In 2001, the tides turned, and the security was backed up upon arrival, coat check was terrible (both waiting in line, and getting someone to help you), and the general policing of the rooms was uncalled for - but with all due respect, it was less than two months after September 11th, and there was still an unseasy feeling about large events flowing through everyone's minds. This year's event promised to be different than the other years, simply because the ownership of the promotion of the party had changed hands, into a corporate conglomerate (SFX) and we were unsure if that was going to have an effect. When we arrived at the Flanders Expo, we walked right up to the gate, right into the first holding area (which was set up a bit differently than in years past), and you were in a huge room that was empty (obviously for holding a ton of people inside, while waiting to be searched and for coatcheck. Coatcheck was clearly labelled, and went by in a few minutes. Searching was quick and painless, and in less than ten minutes we were inside the Flanders Expo Orange room, and ready to get the night started. Compared to an hour and a half of standing in line last year, I'd have to say I was presently suprised (again!). We first sought out Stanny Franssens (g-force), who happens to be a close friend of the person with whom we were staying, so I'm going to have to admit my biased approach to his mixing, as he's a really great guy. Track selection was superb, with a bunch of Zenit, Genetic, and Primate records (all labels that Stanny has a bunch of records on). Stanny has always had a groove about his sets, mixing hard tunes, with really groovy ones - to end up with a nice funk to his hard edged techno. If you've ever heard Stanny's production, his sets are very similar to what he produces. Due to jet-lag and some early jitters, we didn't yet get into our groove (dancing), though it was no fault of Stanny's. After Stanny (who played in the Blue Room [similar to past years, there were five rooms named after colors, all adjoined to the main room - but this year three of the colored rooms were sponsored by labels] or Cocoon room), we made our way to the Red Room (sponsored by the Belgian label "Session") to hear (appropriately enough) Redhead. I'd never seen him before, and was expecting something similar to Marco Bailey (as Redhead and Bailey team up on alot of EPs). I was really impressed. The early party jitters were easily abandoned, and the product of Belgium's Northern neighbor (use your imagination here) helped us to get our dance on. After an hour of redhead, we went off to hear Justin Berkovi (in the Blue Rooom) play a live set (which we'd really enjoyed in 2000). Berkovi's selection and deliverance really couldn't match the energy we'd felt with Redhead, so after 15 minutes we headed back into the Red Room, to catch the end of Redhead's set. If you've never seen him, he is a very short guy, and we couldn't even see him over the decks from where we were (except by way of the camera screens that were around the room showing the DJ). At this point, I began to notice the detail with which the rooms had been laid out, reminiscent of how they were in 2000 (very carefully planned, and aesthetically pleasing). In 2001, the promoters of the party had just sold the name, so the care and planning reflected that. The Red Room had about 15-20 large projection screens that were showing the DJ performing, and they were on either side of the room to the left and right of the dj. They were quite impressive, and were set at a slight angle which gave the viewer the impression that the DJ was higher up than he really was, and that the gargantuan room was bigger than its already large size. In the blue room, there were a dozen or so large spheres (probably around 30-35 feet in diameter [that's about 10 meters for all you metric people]), that would slowly glow different colors, but later on in the night, they were a static color for a period of time, and each one would independantly flash a constant different color at a very rapid rate (i.e. - they were all blue, but one would flash red, and then another random one would flash red, at a very rapid rate) making me blink two or three times to make sure I wasn't imagining it. As Redhead finished his set, I was amazed at the sincerity of the people, as the room began to get full for Adam Beyer. More than once, I was knocked aside or accidentally hit, and every time I was met with sincere apologies and a smile. This was no testosterone fest for sure. Everyone was here to have a good time, and not interfere with the time of anyone else. Adam Beyer took over to a huge cheering crowd that could anticipate his skill. Cruising through Drumcode and Code Red classics (at least to me he had a brilliant selection of hard techno, and mastered the three tables. A true three deck mixer - the crowd ate up the sounds, and it was during Beyer's set that I really realized the intensity of the sound at this year's event. Usually, the immensity of the rooms keeps the sound from sounding crystal clear (with all the space that just reverberates the low-end). There must have been a real sound engineering genius at work at ILT 2002, because the sound was crystal clear at almost every point in the room, and it was extremely loud - but EQed so well, that you could still hold a conversation. Beyer, ripped through some newer session tunes (as he was playing in the Session sponsored room), and despite some issues with one of the cartridge heads, he spun a fantastic blend of dancefloor stompers, and DJ tools - with his typical style. Our American companions split from us just before Beyer finished so they could see Underworld, but we stuck around for an amazing finish, and then sped off to see Marco Carola end his set. Marco Carola was playing in the Blue room (cocoon room), and this was the only part of the night, were I felt a bit out of place. Until this point, I hadn't felt any of the arm-crossing, pompous attitudes of the American parties I'm so used to. This was no comparison to the level of jade that is felt at an Amercian party, but nonetheless, it wasn't as friendly as the former environments we'd been in, so we saw marco play a Question track of his followed by a Timo Maas track (that's right, I trainspotted a Timo Maas track), and we left to see Filterheadz perform live. Filterheadz were performing in the Orange room, which was unsponsored, but when we got there it was full to capacity and they weren't letting anyone in. We wasted 15 minutes waiting to get in, and eventually just went to see Bryan Zentz do a live set (much to my ire, as I'm a huge fan of Filterheadz, and I was curious as to what they would do with a live set). Bryan Zentz didn't appear to have any of his "crazy" gear, for which I'd known him many years ago. He used to "make" instruments by combining all kinds of acoustic instruments with electronic pickups, and sequencers. At ILT he was using a laptop, and a few MIDI controllers. Good Music, but the wife desired a bit better, so after about 25 minutes of watching Bryan do his thing that was a bit like Berkovi's earlier set (both were a shade under the energy level of the djs we'd seen - good music, but there was enough good music at this event to allow us to be VERY picky). We went out in the main area, where they had placed a new room for this year - made out of partition baords, or somthing similar - and sought out a famous Belgian snack, "Stoovlees met Frietjes" (otherwise known as "fries with Stewed meat"). In Belgium, Frituurs are abundant in all city squares and street corners, and provide the french fries topped with mayo and stew. It was time to meet back up with our American counterparts, so we wiped the mayo from our lips, collected our friends, and headed off to see Marco Bailey. I'd seen Marco Bailey at ILT the previous year, so I had this set vision of what it was going to be like. I knew he'd play the kind of techno I really like, but he wouldn't be quite as good as Beyer. Since Marco Bailey is Belgian, he got a huge reception from the crowd. He started off with some sessions tunes (which really pleased me, as I'm a huge fan of the label that Bailey co-owns/runs), and played Drumcode 16, hybrid 5, a few invasion tunes, some more drumcode, purposemaker 8, some rino cerrone records, code red 6, session ten, a tune from another Belgian label "Traction" that was a remix of DJ Hell's eat more house (remix by Thomas and Filterheadz), and a bunch of other tunes that I have since forgotten. It was stomping. The people around us kept looking at us for confirmation that it was as good as they thought it was. Fast paced mixing, a little cut up, with a generous amount of effects and character. While he was playing, Bailey kept waving to the crowd, smiling for the cameras, and shaking people's hands (who were backstage). He was non-stop energy, and it really got us four Americans hyped up (Kenny, Amy, my wife Magda, and I). I knew going into I Love Techno that there was one act I would definitlely not miss. Magda is from Poland, and since there aren't too many prolific Polish techno artists, we have some contact with Jacek Sienkiewicz, as we know his brother. The records Jaciek has been putting out lately (both on his own label "recognition" [www.recognition.pl], and on other labels like trapez and cocoon) has grabbed my attention, even though I've been buying less and less minimal-techno records. His production work is very layered, very melodic techno - in the same vein as Rob Hood, but with less Detroit feeling and more post-communist Warsaw. As he took the stage, I was expecting the tempo to drop a bit, but I was hoping the melodies and chords would make up for it. The tempo never dropped. He came out, and pounded the doors off. With his own style, he played much harder than anticipated (not like the dj sets we'd just come from), but it was a really nice change of pace. Beautifully produced synth chords and snappy percussion set the tone for an hour of complete dancing. Every year at ILT, there is a standout live show - and Jacek was the standout for us. That was the pinnacle of the night for me, and when he finished, I no longer cared who we'd see for the last set. Trudging through the crowd to see DJ Rush didn't sound like fun to me, and Amy was hellbent on seeing Pascal FEOS, so we'd stayed in the blue room. Pascal suprised me when he started off banging, but slowly settled into the tech-house of Kompakt, Perlon and Playhouse - which is what I'd expected. Normally a bit soft and boring for me, it was a great cool-down set for us. The mixing was VERY tight, but the set was lackluster to me after a certain amount of time. The long night was catching up, and we were all still suffering from adjusting to a different time zone, so we called it a night about a half hour early (party went until 6). I may be spoiled, but I have yet to find an atmosphere in my own country, where such a great number of people can happily congregate for the love of a music we call techno. After all of the questions about the quality of the event this year, we are very confident that any following years will be just as good, if not for the people alone. I don't care if it falls into the categories of things that are looked down upon (read:rave), it was damned fun, and never once did I feel intimidated or overwhelmed. Do YOU love techno?
