This past weekend was the most awaited kick-off of the party season here in Beirut city. The one and only James Zabiela was about to rock our world on Friday July 24th. However, things did not quite go as they should have, and James couldn’t make it on Friday due to traveling circumstances. James got stuck in Istanbul, as he missed his flight connection to Beirut due to heavy delays at Heathrow airport. He then faced one of his biggest dilemmas, by taking the most courageous decision of rescheduling Beirut for the next evening and canceling his gig at Global Gathering (UK) with Carl Cox & Friends.

He flew back from the UK to Beirut, on the 25th to be there with his Lebanese crowd cheering up for and with him to his music, energy and talent.

The gig took place in an open air improvised club, surrouded by robots and a beautifully created space scenery to fit the theme of the artist.

His set was one of the most massive yet heard in Beirut city. It started with an improvised countdown to planet Z with a track fuly loaded of synths, vocoded vocals and pads. This tune made sure to put us in a lift-off mood for a memorable journey. James played progressive classics, mashups and his proper remixes. Every track was his own, tweaked and tortured by the many machines in front of him, be it a NanoPad and his Kaossillator effect pad. His first 2 hours, were massively dominated by breakbeats and percussive breaks, bringing back the beats even heavier at the end of the phrase.  The rest of his set was tribal oriented, juggling between percussions and breaks in and out to make you want to dance your heart out. He knew when to throw a vocal track and which one to choose, among Depeche Mode, Bjork and Radiohead, to name a few.

The evening couldn’t be any better, the stars and sky were partying with us in this open air venue that anyone would envy us.

His performance ended on a beautiful improvisation with pads and synths and a “Thank You” sentence looped in, to land us back safely on earth after this beautiful journey. James had spent 2 days without sleeping in 4 different airports, yet his energy was at its top and he kept on smiling throughout the whole gig !

Respect to you James, for this awesome gig, this great energy, talent and courage. We all wish you a huge recognition among the masters of House legends, because you are a legend who believes in the passion of music, who shares and spreads it to the world.

This evening (and weekend) will remain one of the most memorable adventures of Summer 2009.

Thank you JZ :)

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