Sven Vath

It was so crowded and you had to fight your way to dance. But the mood was great and peaceful and Sven made great music. I danced until dawn and had an unforgettable night.

DJs, I find, get away lightly with their live performances, as a lot of their work is pre-prepared and pre-recorded, so I was extremely excited to see Erol Alkan when I heard that he predominantly plays his music live, using sample pads, his laptop, kaoss pads, and synths. From the moment he walked out on stage, it was evident that he had years of experience behind a DJ desk, as he looked totally at home as he played a funky riff on his synth and inserted a sample to get his first track going. It was incredible that he managed to hold an audience with a track that we’d never heard for his first song, in fact, it was an improvisation on the spot we later found out, and if had everyone dancing and cheering, and he even replayed the hook several times as everyone was enjoying it so much.

After Erol launched the club Trash, he made a huge name for himself as a DJ, as it’s now one of the most influential clubs around, and he managed to get huge names to Dj and perform there. He was great at getting the audience involved in his show, and when he wasn’t busy mixing and creating music, he was dancing along and shouting out for us to do the same. He played his incredible Daft Punk remix, and held out a microphone to symbolise that everyone should join in, which of course we did. The atmosphere was incredible from start to finish, and his talent blew me away.

Dave Clarke is one of the world’s biggest techno DJs, and when seeing him live, it is clear why. While his stage presence leaves something to be desired – he barely glances up from his deck for the entire set – the impressive visuals and light show going on behind him more than compensate, as well as allowing the audience to get more involved in their own dancing and enjoyment of the set without having to focus on the stage. Playing through a mix of his own material, from his nearly 2 decades’ worth of material, including cuts from classic mix albums like “World Service” parts 1 + 2, as well as mixing in the work of others (I’m sure I heard a snippet of Busted in there somewhere), his set manages to get any crowd moving. As a contrast to most of the world’s biggest DJs, Clarke does all of his mixes live, and this added spontaneity adds a brilliant energy to the set, allowing him to sense what direction the crowd want and take them there with ease. Clarke is famously against much of the hedonistic drink and drugs culture often associated with rave and dance culture, but his impressive skills plus well designed visuals mean that you don’t need to be under the influence of anything to have an amazing time