Wow. That’s the best way I could think of to describe the concert I went to on Friday. Well, that or Fucking wow!

After work, three co-workers and I went down to the Heineken Music Hall to watch Groove Armada. I knew a couple of Groove Armada songs from when I was younger, the only one I could remember by name was “Super Stylin’”. So, I’m not really into them that much, but when I was asked to go it seemed like a fun idea, so I got a ticket.

I am SO glad I did. The show had a bunch of other performers, most notably Toronto DJ Deadmau5, upcoming DJ Kascade, and legendary British DJ Pete Tong.

When we got there, the schedule for the performers was posted everywhere. The show started at 9p.m., and went on until 6a.m. SIX A.M.! Oh my god. I know it was a DJ set, but they were still serving alcohol and everything, it was something you wouldn’t find in Vancouver. At least, not that I’ve seen.

We entered the hall and immediately I was impressed with the sound quality. No matter where we were in the giant warehouse like venue, you could hear the sound crystal clear. I’m no audiophile, but compared to the PNE, this was heaven.

Groove Armada came on the stage at about 11:30 and was pretty good. The crowd was into it, and my friends were into it too. The band didn’t look what I expected at all. I thought the female singer was going to be some big black girl by the sound of her voice. She was this spacey, platinum blonde skinny girl dressed in a skin tight jumper. There were also a drummer, and 3 guitar / keyboard players. They also had a male singer that came and went throughout the show. I liked it. When they were playing I really enjoyed it, but they weren’t the best part of the night. Highlight of Groove Armada was definitely when they played “Super Stylin’” and the crazy (in a good way) female singer.

After Groove Armada finished at close to 1:00 Kascade played on a side stage. When we going to the concert, I had confused Kascade with Cascada, who made the recent “Evacuate the Dancefloor”. I was excited to hear that, but duh to me. Fortunately, Kascade made “Move For Me”, a spacey techno song, that I’ve enjoyed at the clubs many times but never knew what it was. I made all my straight coworkers dance with me to that song, before we went out to grab some beers.

Everyone I went with primarily went for Groove Armada. When they were done, we had a conversation over whether we should leave or not. We decided to stay to see what Deadmau5 would be like.

I didn’t know at the time, but I had seen Deadmau5 at Sasquatch this last summer at the dance tent. The show at the Gorge was amazing, I’m sort of kicking myself for not getting into him since then. When he came on in his big dramatic mouse mask, the place went nuts. The sound was great, the crowd couldn’t stop moving, and he just played an amazing set. I was soaked in sweat and smiles by the time he was done at 3:30. Pete Tong was scheduled to play after Deadmau5, but my friends and I were beat, and decided to head home.

Honestly, I don’t listen to that much techno, or electronic music. Unless I’ve heard it at a dance club, I probably wouldn’t know any artists or songs. This wasn’t really my scene, but I had soooo much fun. It’s something I most likely wouldn’t have done in Vancouver, so it’s nice that I had the opportunity to do it.

Amsterdam is full of stuff like this. The next night (Saturday), David Guetta was playing. With “When Love Takes Over” being the official song of the summer (TM), I was incredibly tempted to go to that as well, but I had made other plans.

So, in conclusion, Topher was pleasantly surpised at how good the concert was, as evidenced by his still exhausted legs.

Check out the song “Move For Me” by Kascade and Deadmau5.

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