Main Room Yoji Biomehanika (big room trance set), Scot Project, Johan Gielen, Riley & Durrant, Oliver Klitzing The Courtyard Yoji Biomehanika, Lab 4 Live, Brisk (Stimulant DJ set) Sterling Moss (3decks, efx & 909), Alex Kidd & Galaxy FM Nu Breed Comp Winner I was really looking forward to this night, as in clubland its quite a rare thing to have all these people playing under one roof. After a mad trek to Liverpool in the musical funbus, we booked in at the Travel Inn at Albert Docks & left to find Nation in the city centre. No stress from the security on entry & we were in. Not sure who was playing in the hard room at that time so we went entered the main room where Riley & Durrant were tearing it up with a push anthem & some other fantastic melodic tackle. The DJ's on the night have influenced Yojis sound in some way (Scot Project/Reelop-Oliver Klitzing etc) so it was great to hear it unfold. No steady build up as thats not what Yoji is about, all in all - well constructed anthemic sets with peaks & troughs to twist your melon in a fine style. With the line up being spot on every hour throughout both rooms I found dashing in & out of them catching as much of the sets as possible worked best. Johan Gielen (ID&T Dutch trance god & one half of airscape) played an excellent set of uplifting trance & techy elements, ending with the thin white duke remix of Mr Brightside by the Killers - an amazing remix, he peppered his set with 'Johan Gielen in session' samples too which was reminiscent of his radio show on ID&T - nice. Oliver Klitzing played full on percussive hardness, techno isnt something im fully onto but this was different - Pink Floyd in the breakdowns & back into business, a bit like some Marco V elements but on some kind of hard wonder drug - the course of the set was interesting & the room was jammed. Scot Project started out techy & soft compared to the rest of his set, his trademark elements were everywhere, magical riffs, mad key changes & techno & a whole load of new material I'd not heard before (highly detailed hardtrance constantly changing elements that make an unpredicatable groove) along with some favourites, the best being a remix of Born Slippy that through that system is the hardest track Ive heard all year, I had previously though that he had lost his 'hard' edge in some way, but I was proven wrong - he was more than on form & I cant wait to see him again. Yoji's hard set was his trademark interesting, uplifting, progressive elements, techno & hardstyle, melodic & pure hard, - nice to hear hardstyle disco through a quality loud system too - it went off bigtime. His set in the main room was almost as full on but an overall more melodic feel, the crowd went mental to the breakdowns on Gouryella/Ligaya (Yoji remix) & many other obscure tracks, I heard Samurai too but Im not sure which set I heard it in. Brisk played the last set in the hard room, & wasnt what I expected, it was Brisk style and very very hard dance, hardtrance with hardstyle-esque kicks but not chuggy as many sets in this genre are. Pure quality with some familiar sounds in there I couldnt put my finger on, except the new rock hard remix of Felix Dont You Want My Loving that got everybody on one - I hope he gets to play some more of these sets in some main hardcore arenas, it would make many stop & take note. In the main arena something that had me curious was the advertised tag team B2B between all the DJ's that had played that night-such a mixup of musical genres that worked fluidly. Between Yoji, Alex Kidd, Scot Project, Oliver Klitzing, Brisk etc.. they played some stormers - Video Killed the Radiostar stood out most for me, & it peaked right to the end. All in all an amazing night that blew my socks off, futuremusic for sure that made lots of music Ive heard of late seem very dated. No attitude from anyone in there, everyone dancing & smiling which was fantastic to see, I havent stomped like that in quite a while! A breath of fresh air! - We need more nights like this! Shouts to: Andy Freestyle, Sam, Taff, Rich B, Dancing Tom, Big Worm, Tugie, Paul Brisk & Annabel
