Review: Danny Howells // Benny Benassi

Posted by Cube on Jul 2, 2010 in Events, House, Progressive, Review | 2 comments

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On July 1st 1867, two colonies and a province of the British Empire unite into a single country, which they so originally called Canada. 143 years later, we Canadians still celebrate this day as our national day. Some by seeing an old pack of bones coming from England to visit Ottawa and plant a tree, others by taking advantage of the day off in order to have a good time. First stop, Stereo, on June 30th: Danny Howells

I wanted to see him perform live for a very long time, missed his gigs in the past for various reasons. The wait was definitely worth it (unlike Paul Kalkbrenner who made us wait 3 years, cancelling twice, only to give us a crappy 1h30 set of his own productions).

Very few DJs can spin all night long, and Danny Howells is one of them. For almost 10 hours he dropped beat after beat, taking us on an extended trip to lalaland.

Go back a few years and remember how your teacher made you write your first narrative essay. Start off with the introduction, triggering factor, outcome, climax, conclusion… or some sh!t like that. Danny’s set was basically that – starts off slow, plays around with the crowd for the first few hours. He teases you like a freshly baked apple pie, making you crave for it, but not giving it to you. And just when you expect it the least, he throws it to your face, stuffing you with it, giving you the most euphoric sugar rush you ever had.

The sound was amazing as always, the girls were good looking and the guys were shirtless (it’s Stereo after all).

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On July 20th 2007 (what’s with this guy and dates anyways?), I prepare to step foot in one of my first raves : Benny Benassi at Stereo. After 3 years of raving I get to see him again, this time at our beloved Beach Club in Pointe Calumet.

The crowds at the Beach Club and at Stereo are two different worlds, worse than apples and hockey sticks. It was therefore pretty obvious that for a mainstream crowd, he would go with a mainstream set.

And that’s exactly what we got. 1:30 of mainstream electro-house. His transitions were awful most of the time and instead of spinning for 2:30, which was originally planned, he shortened it by 1 hour. The crowd consisted mostly of drunk kids stumbling over you and overworked dudes showing off their titties. And let’s not forget the overly euphoric / full of red spots / hairy dude continuously showing off his belly next to the stage.

Yet, with all that being said, I actually had a great time there. Great friends, the weather was nice (caught a small shower but no biggie), and it had been ages since I haven’t heard some mainstream. I guess change is good every now and then, cuz in the end, what matters is to have a good time no?