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Reviewer: Richard Brown
Cosmic Gate
German hard dance heroes Cosmic Gate brought their trancin' fun-fare
to Australia for the first time this February, and a jumping Friday
night at Rise was the spot for their Perth appearance.
On entering the Rise one could feel plenty of exuberance in the
air, as the predominantly youthful crowd wasted no time taking it
to the dance-floor. Resident Simon Barwood supplied his usual brand
of uncomplicated, anthemic hard-dance, aimed squarely at getting
fists pumping and people jumping; if driving NRG is your thing,
the Rise is your kinda joint. This was obviously the general consensus
among the punters on the night, as an energetic and excited vibe
was most evident immediately.
When Cosmic Gate finally took control, the crowd was ready for
lift off, and for the first forty-five minutes or so all was good,
as the relentless bass-line supplied the soundtrack for what seemed
to be turning out a great party. However disaster suddenly struck.
Just as the German duo were pushing the frenzied crowd into a state
of complete euphoria, THE SOUND CUT OUT! At first both the DJ's
and the partiers could only smile in bemused disbelief as Nic Chagall
and DJ Bossi continued to pound out their set with only two speakers
echoing around the largish venue. However as technical staff frantically
tried to put things right, time continued to tick by, and a sense
of a desperation began to set in as numbers in the club continued
to dwindle. One thing that must be noted is massive respect should
go to Cosmic Gate for continuing to soldier on. A lot of big time
acts would have gotten the hell out of dodge, but Chagall and Bossi
steadfastly kept mixing, and even implored the somewhat deflated
crowd to keep dancing throughout.
After about an hour with zilch progress on the technical front
I exchanged an ironic smile with Nic. The poor guy looked like he
was trying not to cry, when all of a sudden fortune finally smiled,
and the sound system kicked in like thunder. A massive roar resounded
through the club, and people surged back into motion. The DJ's were
as ecstatic as the punters, and set to work making up for lost time,
putting together a furiously energetic selection of tunes.
It was a champion effort to get things soaring again, and the airing
of several of Chaggall and Bossi's production efforts, such as Raging
Storm and No More Sleep, received a tremendous reception. Personally
I found the set as a whole a bit samey, and felt that more variation
could have been offered from the standard hard trance build-up-soar-lull
cycle. The mixing was smooth and faultless though, and it must be
said that the majority of people in the club seemed to be heartily
enjoying things, as they went hard till the very end. And pleasing
the people is of course the aim of any good DJ.
Cosmic finished their set with blinding renditions of their two
biggest hits: Exploration of Space and Fire Wire. The crowd was
crazy for it, and as the applause rang around the Rise, there was
a sense of mutual gratitude and appreciation between DJ and dance
floor, as what could have been a train wreck of a night, had been
turned back into a jumping party.
Richie Brown
Richie Brown
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Cosmic Gate
Friday 7th February 2003
Presented by Rise.
Cosmic Gate
These masters of trance have long cemented their place in the upper
echelons of the German hard trance sound with massive club hits
like 'Firewire', 'Back to Earth', 'Exploration of Space' and remixes
for Rank 1, ferry Corsten and Dumonde to name a few.
Josh O'Dwyer
Simon Barwood Choice
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