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| Cream Ibiza Summer Special |
Date: Saturday 28th May 2005
Address:
Nation, Wolstenholme Square, Off Slater Street, Liverpool
Occurrence: Yearly
Hours: 10pm - 6am
Ticket Price: £18.50
Genre: Trance and House
Dress Code: Anything Goes
Capacity: 3500 |
| Line Up: Paul Van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Eddie Halliwell, Adam Sheridan, Felix Da Housecat, Jon Carter, Shapeshifters, Tall Paul, Gareth Wyn, Simon Paterson, Shakedown and Lee Ellis & Anthony Probyn |
Ibiza institution Cream marked the start of another summer of madness and debauchery on the White Isle with their traditional Cream Ibiza Summer Special in their spiritual home of Nation in Liverpool. The weekly parties in Amnesia always have the highest quality trance and house dj's, which is exactly what we got in Nation, with an exceptional line up that included Cream Ibiza ressie's Paul Van Dyk and Gareth Wyn alongside Amnesia regulars Nu NRG (live), Adam Sheridan, Eddie Halliwell and John Carter. And if that lot wasn't enough, we also had Ferry Corsten, Felix Da Housecat, Tall Paul, Simon Paterson, Shapeshifters, Shakedown and Lee Ellis & Anthony Probyn to keep us on our toes for the night.
Upon arrival at Nation at about 11:30, we could hear the bass pounding from inside and butterflies gathered in our stomach in anticipation of yet another chapter of clubbing bliss. We were quickly in the door and it was like a child in a candy shop as we looked at the display board in the middle bar to see what time everyone was on and try to decipher a plan to see everyone we wanted. We headed to the Courtyard first were Lee Ellis and Anthony Probyn were warming up to an enthusiastic crowd with Timo Maas - Ubick picking things just as we got in. It didn't take long to be enticed into the Main Room though, were Gareth Wyn was just about to finish with Motorcycle's latest offering Around You. Eddie Halliwell was due on next using a unique combination of four decks and two mixer's. He started of slower than usual, but picked things up gradually and Randy Katana - Fancy Fair started lifting the crowd as the chants of "Eddie, Eddie" rang around the Main Room. We could see Eddie was really getting into his stride
with some excellent use of effects and Inertia's The Chamber brought the Main Room fully to life.
But before we knew it was approaching 1am and we had to leave Eddie in full flow to head to the Courtyard for Nu NRG's explosive hour long live set, and they didn't disappoint. The Italian duo have built up a reputation of producing some formidable trance records over the past few years, and that reputation would only have been enhanced by their performance in the Courtyard. Their re-work of U2's The Streets Have No Name see's excellent use of the world famous guitar riff, which Nu NRG exploit to produce a breakdown of epic proportions. With a whole range of laptops and keyboards to contend with, they worked in perfect tandem to give an accomplished live performance which they enjoyed as much as the crowd, who were absolutely loving it. They went through a whole catalogue quality trance, with Astralis and Freefall, two of their best productions to date, providing us with the perfect appetiser for the main attraction of the night, Paul Van Dyk.
The German maestro arrived on to rapturous applause from the now packed Courtyard and as a helicopter intro rang around the Courtyard, the first beat from the first tune was met with a huge roar from the crowd. He seemed to get into things fairly quickly with his own mix of Deep Dish - Say Hello going down well as did Tranquillity Base - Getting Away. Ibiza classic Greece 2000 from Three drives was an unexpected surprise and it looked like we were in for another night of magical treats from the quintessential trancemaster. But for once it wasn't a flawless performance from Mr Van Dyk and his set seemed to dwindle slightly, and for a while it seemed like he may lose the crowd. But thankfully things picked up again with his own latest tune The Other Side getting things going again and Inertia - The Chamber, the second time we had heard it in the night, brought things back to the level of what we were expecting for the whole night. Marc Van Linden's mix of For An Angel brought the crowd right back up again and the Light Of Day mix of Condor - You Can (Kiss My..) was another unexpected surprise. He finished of with Way Out West - Mindcircus and most defiantly redeemed himself for his slight mid set dip.
It was now 4am, though it certainly didn't seem we had been dancing for over four hours already. We decided to drop into the always fun Annexe room where John Carter had just took to the decks and the crowd seemed to be well up for some quality house grooves. But after a quick dance there, the lure of both Adam Sheridan in the Courtyard and Ferry Corsten in the Main Room proved too hard to resist. We headed to the Main Room first where Ferry was about half an hour into his two hour set. We were soon caught up in his quality tunage with Purple Haze - Adrenaline living up to it's name, as the adrenaline flowed and the Main Room rocked. Then came one of those moments of absolute inspiration that optimises clubbing in every way. As Ferry mixed in Moonman - Galaxia, a rush of energy came surging through the crowd as people realised what it was. With one of the most uplifting breakdowns you are ever likely to find, the break was met with a thunderous roar from the crowd. As the break lifted and lifted before kicking in, everyone's hands were in the air, massive red lights beamed from behind the decks highlighting the whole room, providing a sight to behold. When it kicked in the crowd went nuts and even Ferry himself was punching the air in delight.
By now Ferry could do no wrong, but we had promised ourselves we would see Adam Sheridan too, so we dragged ourselves of to the Courtyard. It was a decision that was soon vindicated though as not longer after we were in we heard the luscious vocals of Ridgewalkers featuring El - Find, echo around the Courtyard. Adam Sheridan was clearly loving it as much as the crowd as he danced away to his own mix of Nu NRG - Dreamland. He also played Inertia's The Chamber, the third time we heard it throughout the night. Despite blowing one of the speakers towards the end, he managed to keep the crowd there, finishing with Jan Johnson's Skydive, much to the delight of the crowd.
But we had decided to sneak back into the Main Room for Ferry's last tune, which it seemed was going to be his own It's Time, which would have been a worthy last tune from him. But just as it seemed calls for one last tune were falling on deaf ears, Ferry really pulled it out of the bag, producing the Gouryella mix of Binary Finary 1999. He just started it from the main break, and it provided one of those magical special moments that will never be forgotten. As the break developed, all that could be seen was a sea of smiling face, some with hands in the air, some hugging eachother, some just standing there and taking in the moment. It was one of those realisations of just why we go to work everyday of every week, why we had left our house at 10am the previous morning just to be here and why, every now and then, it all comes together to provide the joy we were experiencing at that moment. As the break started to build the atmosphere started to lift and lift, as the break continued to gather momentum the pure energy produced was almost breathtaking. When Binary Finary eventually kicked in the Main Room went absolutely ballistic, and nobody wanted it to end. But alas it had to and as we left Cream into the bright morning outside, we knew we had just had a night we will be reflecting on for a long time. Roll on Ibiza! |
Venue: 9
Music: 9
Crowd: 9
Sound System: 8
Total: 35 / 40
Rating: Gold Award |
| Review written by:
Wayne Spelman |
wayne@uk-cl.co.uk |
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