Last night, Beirut witnessed 2 giant DJs under one roof, or should i say sky. MixFM and Biel hosted Sasha and James Zabiela together for a night that would be, in my opinion, unforgettable and carved in each heart.

The expected lineup was as follows :
- Madjam (Opening)
- Ronin & Nesta (Warm-Up)
- Sasha
- James Zabiela
- Sasha & James Zabiela back to back
- Gunther & Stamina (Closing)

I was listening to MadJam on the radio as he was prepping everyone to the marathon night. Everyone in the crew was surely feeling a huge pressure but he made sure to drop it down and calm every radio listeners who were in hyper mode and expected, literally, the moon on this eve.

As I entered the venue, Ronin & Nesta were already on stage, warming up with some deep house tracks like they promised on their interview with MadJam. It was a smooth warm-up, then Nesta played some Tech House tracks just 10 or 15 minutes before the main act begins. The flow was nice and easy, it was the first time I witness both of them live. Warming up is a hell of a job and expectations /judging begin from that moment. Overall they did a great job.

The venue was about details, composed of a huge a 3 parts, steel structure. Every structure married with Sasha’s LED lights setup. You could see on the left and right side of the stage, semi arched steel supports wrapped with LED lights, and another U-Shaped one above the center stage, the whole reproducing the facade of an oriental architecture palace. The stage/booth was big and dominant in the center. Simple yet imposing.

Then the LED screens started booting (geek inside). All lights were being reset and ready to fire up to every beat dropped by the master, Sasha. Sasha took over Nesta & Ronin’s last track and then it started. The LED screens married with Sasha’s music like no other. Matrix like visuals, stroboscopic white lights and psychedelic colors danced along the music. Ahhh the music, the music was mind blowing. There was a small build-up feeling at the beginning (which is quite normal) but I wouldn’t agree with my friends’ review that it was preparing the grounds to James’ set. It was a main, deep and heavy progression, pure Sasha, just like his sets played in a multi-DJ performing festival. Sasha played with an amazing calm and concentration, and this is what I LOVE about him, he’s a Quiet Tsunami, ready to hit you anytime and take you to dimensions you’ve never been before. I was transported and blown away by every track he played and the visuals associated with it. Video’s will illustrate what I am saying.

Check out Sasha’s video taken by his Tour Manager Harley :

After 2 hours of mind blowing lift up, James Zabiela appeared with his toys and RCA cables and started plugging them in. The crowd was boiling at that point. The VIP lane in front of where I was (front row in the regular section) was filled with people. Zab took over Sasha’s last track and wanted to start but while being introduced to the crowd, MadJam said “This is a very special night Beirut, it’s James Zabiela’s birthday”, the crowd cheered and sang in unison “happy birthday” to him while a special cake “made of robots and James’ toys” entered the stage. He was surprised and didn’t expect this gift and stated he was “overwhelmed” by it, later on his twitter update. Joy was filling him up and he smiled, he smiled, he smiled, then took his yellow Kaossillator and bass-ed us in preparation to what was going to be, another trippy set.

You could see at that point, a space craft coming out behind the 3 panel LED display with 2 robots sitting on it. James played everything he was with zero limit. Sasha’s LED displays were on override, trying to sync with James’ Drums and bass, trip hop, progressive, electronica, tech house tracks. All that with his undying energy. It’s yet a mystery to where he gets all this from. His smile and look at you and warning hand waved high as to expect a sudden beat coming back. At every break and restart, the crowd would jump, I was jumping my heart out. Being out of breath wasn’t on my dictionary and I loved every second this guy brought to me. I was disconnected and transported and happy. His communicative smile and energy filled the arena with love and sharing. When “Enjoy the silent” was dropped, everyone sang and James opened up his arms to the crowd, what an amazing moment. I have no idea if people understood this dimension of his being and the music, but it was there and we witnessed it.

James played till dawn was peaking its nose over the hills of Lebanon, Sasha tapped him on his back and everyone cheered for what was yet another experience we were going to live. The 2 giants were going to play back to back. James contaminated his fellow master with his energy and smile, Sasha was smiling and cheering and clapping his hands. The quiet tsunami and the energy ball were going to do miracles together. The tracks played were amazing and full of LOVE LOVE LOVE. Everyone was jumping like crazy as Beirut was waking up. You could see the venue fresh and pumping like the event had just started. Everyone wanted more and more and more. The highlight of this moment was “Swoon” by the Chemical brothers. “Just remember to fall in love, there’s nothing else, there’s nothing else” and we were in love.

At 7am, Gunther took over the decks, it has been 7 hours of non stop Sasha, Zabiela and both of them. We were happily exhausted but wanted more. I was in another world and dimension.

Sasha proved again, to be the master in his art, my quiet tsunami that inspires me and makes me look forward to every DJing step I take. James’ was himself, an infinite energy ball who shares and loves everything he does with everyone around him. They are both, the most generous DJs I have ever witnessed in my life and I couldn’t have dreamt of an event like this one. My 2 favorite DJs under one sky, my homeland.

Beirut is undoubtedly the capital that never sleeps. It has proven, over the years that it will forever rise and never give up however injured it can get. It’s in our blood, it’s in our veins. The quality of this event was top notch, a flawless night that should be a standard to every promoter bringing the best in music to this country. MixFM have won their tour de force and I congratulate them for that.

Writing this review made me relive the whole night with all the surprises it brought.
This night is going to be one hell of a night, everyone’s going to remember for a long while.

Cheers

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At some point, the set was going Tech, and it suddenly blew us off with these huge bass beats. That was the point of no return for the rest of the evening. It was a mix of Tech/Progressive/Electronic Tech/Tech Tribal tracks making us move like no other. If you felt pain in your legs at that point, just listening to the beats and the bass lines lifted you off the ground. I couldn’t stop dancing and it was a blast being in front of the DJ booth at the front row.

Their Back2Back collaboration was so synced. It showed how easy communication was between them and how experienced legends are. Communication with the crowd, sounded good to me. I didn’t pay much attention to what was happening behind me, if the crowd was dead or not but since they started the “Heavy” part of their set, a lot followed and were in sync with the surrounding.

I expected to hear the Ladytron track, Sasha remembered the feeling it gave at his last gig and I was glad to re-live that ! Depeche Mode’s finale was “There are no words to describe that” with the sun coming up. I felt this journey went on extremely quickly. I couldn’t get enough.

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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