Pleasure Island
Pleasure Island, Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Finally, the event of summer 2011 was here! Pleasure Island: Czech Republic landed on August 27, 2011 – a magical saturday to end summer holidays, on the airport of a small city called Roudnice and Labem!
Although, the weather didn’t seem like summer on that day, the skies were dark, and everybody started to realize that tonight, will be rainy. I personally tried to ignore that fact, saying to myself that not even a tornado could ruin this perfect party day for me. Soon after noon, I started my journey to this event by taking an express train headed for Prague. This part of the trip took me about one hour and a half. Everything went well, and the weather was looking still dark as it was when I got on the train in Pilsen.
There was a lovely suprise waiting for me in the hall of Prague train station. I’ve never seen so many trance people together. Lots of people there, wearing all kinds of trance context t-shirts. It was clear that today, the trance stage will be the most visited.
I met my friend there, had some lunch, and we were on our way to the subway which took us to the bus station where a special event bus was waiting for us. We arrived with a whole bunch of other people there, and the bus was really there as promised. My friend smoked his last cigarette in Prague and we got on the bus, completely chilled, because we knew there is nothing that could stop us from reaching Pleasure Island now.
The mood in the bus was perfect, everybody kept talking and smiling – perfect party mood. Some alcohol drinks came by too, the weather was still looking pretty grey though. The bus trip took about 35-40 minutes. The irony of all this good mood was, that when we got out of the bus on the airport, it started raining, first slowly, but as we were making our way toward entrance, it really started to pour down on us. I met a lot of friends standing in front of the entrance, so I joined them for a quick talk, and then I was going for the press accreditation booth right away.
It was here, where a massive problem occured. The lady in this booth (she was acting really bitchy), told me and many other press reporters, that we are not on the press list! That we need to wait and that she doesn’t have the final press list yet! We all shared looks like "She has got to be kidding me!" So, there we were, standing in the rain with hundreds of other people (because the normal entrances weren’t open) and waiting for the promoters to fix their mistakes.
I got my ticket from the booth, and my watch was showing 16:25 PM. The festival was supposed to start at 16:00, entrances opened in 16:30 PM, and people slowly started pouring in. I got in with my friends, in 16:40 PM. All my clothes were wet, but I really didn’t care, I was in and I was ready to dance! Exchanged my money for tokens (1 token = 2.50 dollars) and there I was! Having my first drink on the bar, neart the Trance Stage tent. Had a little chat with my friends, and I started dancing as one of the first people close to the stage.
Eddie Sender was the first DJ, and he really didn’t take his set lightly. Techy sounds from the beggining, massive tracks, party fever was raising fast! By the end of his set, the tent was half-filled with people, all of them raising hands, to deep beats which was Eddie throwing at us. Hats down for him!
Next on, was the great Ummet Ozcan! I was really looking forward for his set, never heard him before, and all that I’ve heard about him was, that he is usually the best from the whole event. Well, now I have no doubt about these talks. Ummet is the man! He completely anticipated the tastes of the whole crowd! Tech-trance all the way, but with nice vocal tracks, some lifty moments came by too. I mean, there was nothing that I wouldn’t like in that set! It was a pure bliss, all the way! Only thing that was wrong, was his set time, was placed too early in the lineup, shoul’ve been somewhere about 3:00 AM.
I’ve had to take a small break after Ummet and visit the bar and toilets. When I made my way out of the tent, I was stunned by the weather. No more raining, and there was a beautiful sundown, shining all over the area (photo included). I came back to the Trance Tent, and Jochen Miller was already ripping it up! Man, he can really go crazy behind the decks. Various dance creations, shoutouts to the crowd, yep, he’s a showman. His set was very energetic, yet a bit too mainstreamish for my tastes.
A big question mark (for me) came up after Jochen Miller. Next on lineup, there was Sied van Riel, never heard any of his sets before, so no expectations from him. Some progressive tech trance probbably? Well, Sied really made his set that way, kicking it off with special remix on a classic by Ferry Corsten, "Out Of The Blue". Crowd went ape-shit for this classy track, Sied won the crowd’s hearts with that right away. The rest of the set was pretty decent, keeping it in a progressive way.
What came up next? Something unstoppable came on. Aly & Fila’s set, never heard anything so uplifty yet with such killing beats! Lovely melodies, perfect break downs, sweet vocals. I’ve really enjoyed that one. Probably the second best set from this event. These two Egyptians really know how to tear it up!
I’m not really sure, what to say about Gareth Emery’s and W&W sets. Those were completely different from all others. Gareth started with some strange house tracks, some weird remix on Faithless’s "Insomnia" that just ruined this classic. His set got better in the half though, when he kicked off the trance part with his single, on which he collaborated with Ashley Wallbridge, called "Mansion". He also played some nice classic sets in the end, thumbs up for that. But W&W? Their set was exactly the same set you can hear at every gig they are playing on. Same tracks, same everything. Really didn’t like their set, and I rather went to the mainstage for Axwell’s set. His set suprised me, it wasn’t mainly about house music, some trance showed up in his track list too, and I really did enjoy that one!
The festival was in its final stages, and on every stage in the area, the biggest "butchers" came up to the decks. On the Trance Stage, this position was given to Artento Divini. By that time (4 AM), every muscle in my body was in pain, begging me to stop dancing. Especially my left knee and calf, those two were really giving me a hard time, I could barely stand on it. We made our way to the front of the Trance Tent, I pressed most of my weight on the railing there, and there he was, Artento, just few meters away from me starting the hardest set of the gig.
I don’t know how, but somehow I forced my mind to ignore the pain in the leg, and I started jumping and dancing over there like a mad man, I just couldn’t stop. Artento’s set was amazing, heavy beats, few vocals, techy melodies, many good break downs, and many good "hands-up" tracks. Artento has been crazy about his set, probably the same way as we were (photo included)! I lasted till the end of the set (I just had to get that picture with Art!) and when I was walking out of the tent with my friends, I could barely walk. Holding on to my friend I made it to the taxi, and we were heading to the train station…
Final Thoughts
The whole Pleasure Island was something worth remembering till the end of my life – probably the best party of my life up to now. 13 hours of pure trance party! I would like to give big thanks to all the DJs for giving such outstanding performances! Even though the weather could have been better, and promoters should have been prepared better for the possibility of rains.
8/10 for this gig!
Reviewed by: Zdenda Břečka
Event courtesy: United Music
Photo Gallery
Check out the entire photo gallery from Pleasure Island – courtesy United Music.
