Other DJs on the Liquid stage

The problem with the main stages during the night-time was that it was almost impossible to get a decent photograph from any of the artists. They were up on a huge stage, surrounded by flashing lights and lasers. Another problem was that if you tried to stand further back and use the zoom, there's be décor and all sorts of other psy stuff getting in the way...


However, I did managed to snap a couple of acts, I'm glad to say. But another problem was that the line-up kept changing (understandable, considering one of the stages was out of action from Monday to Thursday), and the pieces of paper stuck on the bar invariably got blown off or was not updated. I took a photo of the line-up at one stage so that I could keep checking the LCD screen on my phone, but within a couple of hours it had already changed. From the above, I remember being wowed by the progressive D-Tek and Naked Tourist, and finding some of the trance coming from Para Hulla (whom I'd never heard live before) quite original and refreshing. I remember being scared by some really twisted dark stuff around midnight which may or may not have been Olli, but most of the night was a bit of a crazy blur...

Naked Tourist (above) wowed the crowds from about 4:30 onwards on the Thursday morning, accompanied by the most amazing fire-juggler I have ever seen (more about him, including several MOV files, later). This was one of the sets of the night, to be sure.

The evening before, we had been treated to Ticon, Chromosome, and another amazing set by D-Tek. This was a great progressive set with some quite awesome basslines. One song - Reeboot I think - had me in ecstasy.

One act that was easy to photograph was X-dream - especially with Jan's wife and new member Ariel (now sporting a shocking head of red hair) coming out towards the front of the stage in her tight leather pants. I was not keen on the latest We Interface album, on which Ariel features heavily, missing the old trippy stuff like Trip to Trancesylvania, but it certainly works live - albeit sometimes a little cheesy. One track - The Frog I think - got the crowd orgasmic, although I was desperate throughout for them to play Imagine the Whole World was on a Trip which unfortunately they did not play. Although I did manage to get a snap of Jan in the café afterwards.