Man, this weekend was the most interesting one this year. Or shall I say the most random of the year? Due to the difficulty findng a decent flight to Moscow from northern UK, my flight schedule was a bit weird and I had to fly into Manchester, where Joey picked me up, We then went to a little Travelodge outside Warrington for a quick shower and change. As we checked out, we realised that the poor woman in reception must have had ideas as we were there for 45 minutes and came out all fresh, haha. On to the metropolis that is Warrington and we quickly found out that there is no parking in this town, you have to find a spot outside town and walk back in. Finally we came to the venue after a quick Indian with Jimmy Bell & Co. Just as we walked in, I told Jimmy I would love to do a party in Manchester as my good old friend Alan Hartley from Twisted Elegance has gone a bit weird. What happened? Alan walks in to the club just as I said that - too random!! Anyway, he was really nice and him and his friends kept sending Sambuca shots to the booth so I was having a ball up there. Even though it was not that busy early on it gradually got better and was great the last hour. I maintain that the new 24 hour licensing laws in England is killing the clubscence aling with the smoking ban, but I think I will go back here in spring as it’s got potential.

Reef, Warrington December 7, 2007

Ian Carey - Get Shaky (SB)
Sound Conducterz - Hold You Ya Head Up (SB)
Yves Larock - Zookey (Africanism Allstars)
M& S - No No No
Dirty South - Let It Go
Sterling Void - Alright (Chris Lake)
Sugababes - My Love Is Pink (SB)
Supermal - Come Feel The Love (Dave Armstrong & Redroche)
McCall, Emanuel - Gotta Get Through (Smax & Gold)
Britney Spears - Gimme More (SB)
Samim - Heater (Vandalism)
Hooked vs MJ Cole - Watertight
K Klass - Let Me Show You (SB)
Robbie Rivera - One Eye Shut (SB)
Armand Van Helden - Je T’Aime
Bob Sinclar - Together (Friscia & Lamboy)
Robin S - Show Me Love (SB & Gold)
Rob Boskamp - Get Ur A** Up
Ian Carey - Keep On Rising
StoneBridge - Put ‘Em High

The next day, Joey got me to Birmingham airport for my Moscow flight. I was a bit tired, but still buzzing from all the laughs the day before. As I had to change in Frankfurt and Moscow is three hours ahead of UK, I came there arounf 11 at night and got picked up by this great tour manager, Paul, that spoke amazingly good English. Good old Oleg came to the hotel for a chat with Leonid Rudenko (yes, the Summerfish man) and it was all looking like a great night. As I was taken to the club, I was informed that Opera don’t like anything tough and unknown and you need to play like max 2 minutes of a song to keep them interested and finally, that you get taken off if you fuck up. Jesus, what a great inspirational speach just before a gig. Syke ‘n Sugarstar had lasted 30 minutes and poor Richard Grey only 3 tracks so I decided to play two full hours and went in there on a mission. After long and hard thinking, I decided to open with my remix of Ian Carey. I played the whole thing of course and then Wawa’s mix of Jojo as it has a sample of Toto that these guys must love. Still no owner in sight, but then the left monitor went silent and I had to pull the right one closer. Looking for the sound guy, I opened the door behind the booth and it was full of gorgeous Russian dancers, all topless - how weird was this gig?. And when it couldn’t get any more random, the CDJ decided to die in the middle of SOS. I mean not stop, it just died. This could have been the end, but I decided to get them all clapping and pretend it was meant to go silent. Man, it worked, sometimes you have to be a bit lucky. After one hour without any owner in sight, I started to relax and the end was pretty much like any other set lately. Great gig and after we went to the American Bar & Grill, a must after a good show in Moscow!

Opera, Moscow December 8, 2007

Ian Carey - Get Shaky (SB)
Jojo - Anything (Wawa)
StoneBridge - SOS
Nowak - Stand Up
McCall, Emanuel - Gotta Get Through (Smax & Gold)
Britney Spears - Gimme More (SB)
Samim - Heater (Vandalism)
M& S - No No No
Mr V - Put Your Drink Down (Bob Sinclar)
Bob Sinclar - Together (Friscia & Lamboy)
Leonid Rudenko - Summerfish
Morillo - Dancing (Fuzzy Hair)
Bob Sinclar - Everybody Dancin’ (Maverick & Eddie Thoneick)
Solitaire - You Got The Love (MS Kidology)
Armand Van Helden - Je T’Aime
Robbie Rivera - One Eye Shut (SB)
Amy Winehouse - Rehab (Soulcast)
DJ Antoine - This Time (Klaas)
Robin S - Show Me Love (SB & Gold)
Soulmaniax - What Is What

totally agree about the liscensing laws and smoking ban Stone - its ruined the dynamic of the clubbing scene across the UK, and its a ba**ard finding a track long enough to allow you to go out for a smoke - and a pee on the way back before the next drop lol

This is why Dubfire blessed us with the Summer mix of Axwell's I Found You. 11.46 of pure relaxation in the bathroom and still plenty of time to cue up the next one