Party reviews

James Monroe

Well, I went to the Crypton club at about 04:00-04:30 at the end of the set of Leoni (a local DJ/artist), not so sure of what to expect. Few people were dancing and nothing special musically, there was no real party vibe…and then….James started his set. What can I say, from the first track he played you felt that you were in the right place for a change and the music seemed to come out of the speakers five times louder. I considered myself lucky to have heard a few tracks from the previous DJ because I could compare with James’ set. Whatever James played was psychedelic with a lot of background distortions, not a single melody and seemed to get the maximum out of the sound system. I did not manage to recognise but a handful of tracks but I am pretty sure that he was playing a lot of Slinky Wizard, Stoop & Fidget, Bus- Flying Rhino stuff in general.

The club was far from full, I think about 400 tickets were sold but this worked out well. There was enough dance floor space for everyone and we needed it for sure.

Very few people seemed not to like James’ set and my only guess is that their mind was not in a proper psychedelic state. OK, mixing was not always superb and I guess that he can play even better but in comparison with the crap music we hear at parties almost every week, I think that no one should complain. The party went (with Monroe playing) on till 9 o’ clock leaving everyone exhausted after a few hours of non-stop dancing.

Overall, a great party – probably one of the highlights of this party season in Thessaloniki.
 
 

GMS

GMS were eagerly awaited in Thessaloniki since they twice cancelled party appearances in the past. According to the flyer Riktam and Banshi would play a live set followed by a DJ set by them. In the end only Riktam showed up, he played a crappy 1,5 hours (live??) set and left the party immediately.

The DJs after Riktam (Doc and Kostas) tried to create a party atmosphere but did not manage to do so. I hate to see the dance floor being full of people ready to dance and not being able to move their feet due to bad (inappropriate timing) music. Of course, it is not only the DJs’ fault, I am quite sure that they had to play for a longer period to fill in for the GMS joke.

Most people were also disappointed because apart from the crap live performance Riktam, the party organiser also raised the price of the ticket to 6,000 drs. This price is too high for Greek standards especially when bringing just one foreign guest in a one-stage club with minimum decoration.

I don’t know if it was also the party organiser’s fault but in general, GMS do not show respect to people that pay to see them play at parties (who are the same people buying their music).

In comparison to the party with James Monroe (same club, Crypton), there were more people at the club but other than that no other comparison can be made. A crappy party that you would definitely forget quickly.