My *Official* Delta Heavy Review

this is pretty long, but i'd appreciate your comments, as i may do some tweaking before submitting this...thanks!

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Delta Heavy: S&D @ Buzz (Washington, DC), 04/14/02

Although doors opened at 9pm, we weren’t able to get to Buzz until 11:30, due to the fact that we had attended the Delta Heavy show the night before in New York and were a wee bit tired. Nonetheless we rallied for the night’s festivities, which I had anticipated to be a better night than the NY show. Although the NY show was a good show in its own right, the venue (The World) and the sound system had some problems in this awkward venue, not to mention the fact that this formerly WWF venue had very, VERY few women’s restrooms.

On to the DC show.

When we arrived at 11:30, the jungle room was kicking, much to my surprise, as I had heard that this area would be closed. The main room was already packed, although we were able to push our way to the front and carve out some bouncing room. We had missed JVM’s set, and Digweed was already on the decks. To my surprise, the setup was opposite the normal Buzz setup: the DJ booth was now set up on the back stage area, and a wall of speakers blocked off the normal DJ booth. The back stage area was now the “front.”

Buzz already has an amazing sound system, but the V-DOSC system that Delta Heavy brought in had amazing clarity and range of sound. Though it was a little too much at The World in NY, the Buzz venue could take the thunderous sound it produced. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

“The V-DOSC system was developed in Paris, France and implemented in the U.S. by SOUNDVIOLATION.COM specifically for the Delta Heavy Tour. Designed to ignite a club venue's walls and to virtually explode across an arena floor with thunderous quaking waves, the cylindrical wave line array speaker system will have you dancing like you never had legs.”

The enormous screens with lighting and visuals by Imaginary Forces were in full effect, laid out across the stage, with the DJ booth set up directly in front of the middle screen. If you have seen (or will see) any of the Delta Heavy shows, you know the lighting, laser and visual production show. It features lots of yellows and blues and purples, and gives off a totally tribal effect, with the tribal-y masks and lots of yellow fires. Also at the Buzz show, which was not so prominently featured at the NY show, were the amazing lasers, something for which the Buzz venue is known. At times, a beautiful array of lasers shot out from the front right corner of the stage, stretching all the way to the back, and it gave the impression that it was creating a horizontal “wall of light.” The lasers were my favorite part of the whole visual production. I rarely got the see what was happening with the giant disco ball at Buzz, due to the fact that the reverse setup now put me in front of the disco ball, and I would have to look behind and up to watch it. And I was way too busy watching the DJ’s.

Speaking of, how amazing to see these two together again. One thing I noticed both nights was how much of a good time SASHA appeared to be having. While he spun, he was grooving and bouncing, smiling ecstatically, and just overall appeared to be having an absolute blast. When my friend lifted me up onto his shoulders and let me bounce up there for a while, Sasha got into it as well and bounced “with me” in a sense. I got a thumbs up from him, which made my night. Digweed’s style was more subdued, but you could still see that he was having a great time.

Sasha dropped lots of twisted vocal trance tracks, while Digweed spun more wicked tribal beats. The duo played off of each other perfectly, and the mixing was just about flawless. SASHA really stole the show, though, and had some unbelievable build-ups and breakdowns with some gorgeous, GORGEOUS tracks, which I cannot wait to be released. I was very surprised, as I have always been more of a Digweed fan. Being the novice trainspotter that I am, the only track I spotted was Moby – We Are All Made of Stars (Timo Maas Remix). However, I recognized several tracks from both nights as having been on the WMC Essential Mix, taped at the start of the Delta Heavy tour, and confirmed with friends as having been dropped at the Philly show as well. I have a strong suspicion these tracks dropped by Sasha are some of his new tracks, yet to be released, such as “Wavy Gravy.”

THE TRACK of Delta Heavy, however, is this amazing, GORGEOUS Sasha track that he plays out for over 12 minutes or so. You know it when you hear it. It is melodic trance at its best, and trust me, I am NOT a usual trance fan and would never have thought I could ever say those words. This track has high melodic beats with wavy background crescendos. It is truly inspirational, a heavenly and ethereal track. Magical. Indescribable emotion. PURE BLISS.

Never in my wildest dreams, however, did I think that Buzz would dare close down at 3am, much earlier than its normal 6am closing (though that is the normal Friday night closing, and this was a Sunday night show). We got two encores but the place was still packed like sardines and BEGGING for more. When the tear-down crew unplugged the mixer, however, we knew that this night, this amazing and incredible night, was over much, MUCH too soon. Of course we post-partied but the feeling of frustration was almost too much to bear. Nonetheless, the Buzz show was nothing but pure bliss, a triumphant night for Delta Heavy, electronic music and music lovers everywhere.

Written by Millie Byun

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Ok, so that was my *official* Delta Heavy (Buzz) review, which you will see published on the Formula PR website, complete with pictures (I’ll send the link when it’s put up). On to my *unofficial* comments.

Delta Heavy: S&D @ The World (NYC), 04/13/02

We arrived at 12:30 or so to an insanely packed venue. This was my first time at The World, and I had heard horrendous things about the place. Well, the V-DOSC system that Delta Heavy brought in was just a little too much for the small dance floor area at The World. If you stood too close to the speakers, your throat just might have exploded. And there were just WAY too many people for the venue, particularly for myself, because I need to have lots of space when I dance. The most comfortable I was all night was when someone picked me up on his shoulders and I kinda bounced there for a while. But it was so wonderful to meet up with many of my NY friends. I even convinced a friend to make an impromptu trip with us down to DC for the double-header weekend.

As mentioned, the women’s restrooms were a serious problem and set me back a precious 20 minutes or so. Additionally, the music was not as intense as I was expecting; perhaps my expectations were so insanely high that they were unrealistic. I even dare to say that it was monotonous for several hours. It was only the last hour and a half of so that I finally felt that the music was complete and utterly insane and thrashed me around. That last 90 minutes or so, S&D really threw it down and ended the night in a frenzy. The 6am closing again was super early by NY standards. Thank god I was going to the Buzz show as well, otherwise I would have been very frustrated and disappointed by the Delta Heavy experience. The venue does affect the overall experience, and I knew that Buzz would not disappoint me.

If you have listened to the Essential Mix from the WMC (the kickoff of the Delta Heavy tour), you have basically heard a set extremely similar to the NY set. The Buzz set was a bit more diverse, but you WILL HEAR the Sasha tracks I tried to describe earlier.

Early closings and lack of encores (or lack of enough encores) seem to be a theme throughout this tour, as I know the Philly show ended at 2am, DC at 3am, and NY at 6am (this may seem late enough but not when NY nights are used to 8, 9, and 10am closings, á la Twilo and Vinyl). The tear-down crew is pretty brutal, unplugging the mixer and tearing down the stage immediately, while the crowd is still yelling and screaming.

Do you wanna go somewhere and make out?

[wes lee]

Great review Millie ... sounds like DC was rocking!

Blame -- How could you?? After everything we've been through ...

-wes

[bfp]

good to see you had a good time millie!!

cant wait till they come next month..

i just hope in my opinion, sasha doesnt drop that many vocal tracks..


holler at me

you didnt tell me that you were going on a trip. Im going to avalon in boston on fri. wana go!!!!!!

Originally posted by Madam Millie
I even dare to say that it was monotonous for several hours.

ditto
- David