This weekend, my favorite trance duo performed in Chicago to a very packed night at The Mid. I wrote about my excitement leading up to the event a few weeks ago --> here.
I wrote that after a couple of their sets were recorded from the previous weekend and starting floating around the Internet. The Beta Nightclub set from June 16th, and their Electric Daisy Carnival set from July 18th. Both were very similar, and had a very unique sound that proved Gabriel & Dresden had returned.
While technically they fall under the Trance genre, they play a lot of tracks all over the place. One of key parts of their sound is incorporating the current sound of dance music into their sets and into their tracks. So they'll throw in some Skrillex and Wolfgang with the vocals to their tracks and others on top of them.
Given those recorded sets from June, I figured that we would hear something similar in Chicago, and that was absolutely the case. Like I nerd, I stood there and recorded the whole thing, and have posted it to youtube. Even recording kinda seemed like redundant as those two other sets are much much better quality than what my camera could do. But, at least it gives us the opportunity to get a tracklist of the entire night and maybe capture a few deviations.
Here's the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL99ED182ED80E7349
The tracklist was pretty easy to develop given the amount of overlap. There are a few wholes in my list, though. Only 8 IDs! Not bad...
1. Justice & DJ DLG vs Gabriel & Dresden - Tracking Civilzation Down (Gabriel & Dresden Mashup)
2. Afrojack vs. Way Out West feat. Tricia Lee Kelshall - Replica Of Mindcircus (Dave Dresden Mashup)
3. ID
4. Gabriel & Dresden vs. Fedde Le Grand - Dust In The Control Room (Gabriel & Dresden Mashup)
5. tyDi vs. Mumbai Science feat. Boston - More Than A Gold Dream (Gabriel & Dresden Mashup)
6. Deep Dish vs. Wolfgang Gartner & Francis Preve - Say Hello vs. Yin (Josh Gabriel Mashup)
7. Benny Benassi feat. Gary Go - Cinema (Laidback Luke Remix w/ Skrillex Remix)
8. Groove Armada - Get Down (Henrik B Mix)
9. Gabriel & Dresden feat. Jes pres. Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (DJ Kue Remix)
10. Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man (Sander van Doorn Remix)
11. Clashback vs. Michael Woods vs. R.E.M. - Losing My Outset (Gabriel & Dresden Mashup)
12. Funkagenda & Adam K - Drift
13. 68 BEATS - Replay the night (Gabriel & Dresden Mix)
14. Moby - Wait for me (Laidback Luke Remix)
15. Enrique Iglesias vs. Fatboy Slim - Tonight (Dresden & Johnston Remix) vs. Star 69 (Acapella)
16. Calvin Harris - Awooga (Original Mix)
17. Andain - Promises (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
18. ID
19. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Myon & Shane 54 Bootleg)
20. Arty & Mat Zo - Rebound (Gabriel & Dresden Edit)
21. Gabriel & Dresden feat. Jan Burton - Dangerous Power (Original Mix)
22. ID (New?!)
23. Sied van Riel & Radion 6 - Radiator (Original Mix)
24. ID w/ Gabriel & Dresden - Tracking Treasure Down (Acapella)
25. Above & Beyond feat. Richard Bedford - Sun & Moon (Dave Dresden Re-Edit)
26. ID
27. Josh Gabriel pres. Winter Kills - Deep Down (Josh Gabriel Remix)
28. ID
29. Cold Blue - Lucidity
30. Above & Beyond feat. Zoe Johnston - No One On Earth (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
Leading into the weekend, Gabriel & Dresden announced on Facebook that they were going to premiere a brand new song that they had just finished. I think it's #22 on my list.
One thing that I found interesting about their performance was that they were both handling the controls during the entire night. Both previous times I've seen G&B in clubs, one of them would spin some discs, and halfway through the night, they'd switch. Granted this was in 2004, back when they still had vinyl.
For Gabriel & Dresden, I consider them to have 3 eras on distinct sound. There's everything prior to 2004, 2004 to 2008 when they broke up, and their current sound in 2011 now that they've been reunited. I wonder if they were spinning more as a concurrent duo towards the end in 2008, or if they were still separate as was the case in 2004. Well, they definitely feel like a cohesive duo today. :)
Overall, I had a great time. Even though it was packed, it wasn't crotch-to-crotch packed, though some people seemed to think it was. I still had room to move around, and rock out to the music. Of course, I stayed in the exact same spot for 3 hours. I didn't have to move through the crowds of people behind me.
The Mid has a very odd layout. The dance floor is split up into two halves. You have the front half in front of the stage that is completely clear and where all the dancing happens. The back half, is completely roped off and filled with reserved tables for bottle service. While, it seems perfect for those people who want to (or can) spend $500+ going to The Mid, and get a fantastic location in the club all to yourself, it's pretty horrible for us cheap (or budgeted) assholes who only pay for General Admission. The reserved tables choke out the flow of human traffic from the back to the front. The entire area surrounding that VIP is completely blocked off by bodies upon bodies of people trying to get somewhere else. You have to shove your way through, basically.
But whatever, it's a nightclub. If you want service or better treatment, shell out the cash.