Global Gathering: Poland
Stadion Zuzlowy, Gdansk, Poland
Saturday, July 9, 2011
A festival that globally gathers thousands of EDM lovers every year, the brand recognised worldwide, Global Gathering started Polish summer festivals with a big bang. Being the 4th edition with 7 different stages, 62 artists and a new venue. Though not without problems, we made it and yes, it was worth it!
All previous editions of Global Gathering took place at a racing track in Poznan. This time organizers decided to move it to the newly built PGE Arena Stadium. Unfortunately the venue didn’t pass the safety tests and 5 days before the party we received information about change of the venue to a cinder track. It made me a bit worried, around three times smaller place and cruising between the main stadium and the other tents…
Ravers changing stages to see different artists didn’t have an easy life with lots of stairs and no proper light on them. But we were there for the music so let’s not moan anymore.
The first artist we saw was Markus Schulz. He was a busy man, playing at two Global Gathering parties in one night.
Right after his set, he jumped into a plane and travelled to Ukraine. His set time was 9 PM to 11 PM, way too early in my opinion. Lots of tracks from ‘Thoughts Become Things II‘ and other bangers were played, the crowd reacted enthusiasticly for "Katowice", even though this town is at the other side of Poland.
After two hours of a banging progressive set, Martin Solveig appeared at the main stage. No offense to all the house lovers, but it’s totally not my thing, so we moved to the ‘Andy Moor pres. AVA Takeover‘ stage where we caught the last minutes of Mike Shiver, followed by Andy Moor. Trance at its finest and tent full with trancers.
Sadly I left Andy Moor’s to get my place at the main stage. As always it was extremely crowded, everyone wanted to see Armin, but it seemed like the organisers were testing out our patience.
When Martin Solveig got off the stage I heard familiar sounds, but it wasn’t trance. Rough guitars and the angelic voice of Sharon den Adel in "Within Temptation’s" ‘Our solemn hour‘… "What is happening?" I thought. I looked up and saw an amazing laser show. Definitely one of the highlights! And there he was, charming smile, famous pose and lots of energy. I don’t know how Armin does it, but he never disappoints me with any of his sets, it is always a pleasure to listen to.
I was extremely happy to hear one of my favourite tracks lately; Protoculture’s – "Sun Gone Down". But it wasn’t the only bangers Armin played. it was tune after tune. After the 7 hours I experienced at Armin Only these two passed like few minutes, sadly.
The next artist was Gareth Emery. I’ve never seen him before, but heard lots of good things and they were all true. It took me a while to get in the right mood, but the last 45 minutes were pure bliss.
At 4:30 AM finally, came the moment I was waiting for. Imagine a fan of Elvis who suddenly has a chance to see him live… Okay, maybe I exaggerated, but that was the way I felt when I heard that Kai Tracid started DJing again. I grew up on his music, "Your Own Reality" was probably the first trance track I fell in love with. I know each track produced by Kai, every lyric and each beat. I’ve always wanted to see him play live, but first I was underage, then he just disappeared from the EDM scene.
When Kai started his set I felt like I was in in a time machine, like I was 13 again. I knew almost each track that was played. It was my dream come true and when Kai was playing his own tracks like "Too Many Times", "Liquid Skies", "Life Is Too Short" and "4 Just 1 Day", I was in heaven, I don’t remember being more happy than at that moment. I can sometimes have tears in my eyes during trance sets, but this was the first time ever I was crying the whole last 20 minutes and it wasn’t only me. My friend saw me crying and said: "Stop crying or I’ll start too and men don’t cry!". In short, it was the most magical, beautiful, blissful and happiest one and a half hours of my entire life.
So another Polish edition of Global Gathering is added to the history books. I want to apologise to Marco Bailey, Moguai, Bjorn Akesson and Mr. Pit for not being at their sets. This is the only thing I hate about such festivals as Global Gathering, choosing who you’re going to see can be heartbreaking.
On the other hand a big "thank you" to Markus, Andy, Armin and Gareth for making it a musical treat and mostly to Kai for showing me that music can make us catch a glimpse of heaven.
Reviewed by: Beata Borgosz
Edited by: Matt Lees
Event courtesy: MSM Events
Photo Gallery
Check out the entire photo gallery from Global Gathering: Poland – courtesy Marcin Żytecki.
