EVENT REVIEW
What: Bigfish Cream Halloween
Ball II Cream of Thrones
Where: World Trade Convention
Center, Pasay City, Philippines
When: 8:00 pm - Oct 25th,
2014
Allowed age group: ? - 18 - ?
Cream
Halloween Ball is the longest annual dance costume party here in the Philippines. The famous clubbing brand Cream is situated in
Liverpool, UK and Philippine’s leading dance ambassador - Bigfish acquired the
rights in 2000 to host their Halloween parties since then. Some of Cream’s most
popular resident DJs; Above & Beyond and John O’Callaghan were also booked
here before for the said event.
Pre-show analysis:
I
just don’t where to start right now but I have one thing to say before this
party was about to unfold. I wasn’t really prepared for what was about to come,
I had my ticket booked 4 days prior to the event and it costs me much money
just to able to attend, but I always have some spares if ever I thought something
is sure worth to spend for. The changing of dates and the late announcement of
the lineup keep me waiting for all such but eventually I just decided to go!
The lineup is not the same as to what the
promoters had plan on their mind. Actually I was able to found out that Bingo
Players was the first one they originally booked for Oct. 25th, but
then they eventually changed his gig schedule here for the grand opening of
Club Haze last Oct. 23rd . So I was thinking to myself that time as
to why there trying to booked an Electro House DJ because since 2005/2006 Cream
events in PH was all about the Trance guys coming here. Last month I’ve made a
blog about the Innovation white party because I thought that would be the last
trance-y lineup that Bigfish could offer since they are also focusing more in
the “new trend” right now.
The Cream Experience:
I
had my flight booked for CEB-MNL-BCD which means that I will just be having an
8-9 hrs. of layover in Manila and luckily the venue is just 10-20 mins from the
airport thus the time was really not that much of a hustle. The plane landed in
Manila around 10:00 pm and one of the concerns I had was to either bring my
hand-carry inside the venue or not, I know there is a luggage or baggage
counter at the airport but I have to pay a 300 PHP for 8 hrs. just to let
someone guard my things. My flight schedule was not connecting from one city to
another which means the check-in counters aren’t supposedly available for me.
Well
enough of that sh*t and I just decided to let my bag brought with me. I was
kind of not familiar at the Terminal 3 where the plane landed and I also noticed
there were some people offering me a ride but the amount of money you’ll have
to pay is pretty much ridiculous! So I found one where the yellow metered taxis were located with their flag-down rate at 70
PHP which was decent enough (I was trying to find a 40 PHP taxi but those were
too far away). The usual traffic jams in Manila is not new to me anymore and
finally arrived at the venue around 11:00 pm and noticed that there were 2
events held at the World Trade Center that night.
Bigfish
Cream was located at the corner hall and they were bouncer checked up on
everyone getting inside. I knew what they were trying to confiscate stuffs from the
people just like last time so I secretly hid my lighter under my shoes HEHE!!
After checking up my big bag and do some scuffling on me, I went to the ticket
booth area to buy one myself at 800 PHP regular price. I just don’t what’s the
real reason behind as to why they hadn’t released some pre-sold tickets for
this event maybe because they were just too busy having some contracts with any
ticket outlets all around the Philippines but this is just my speculation ok!
Anyway as I went inside the hallway, there was
some sort of Greek or Roman column design
on the edges. Bigfish Cream had the famous TV series Games of Thrones as their theme this year and Bacardi as their label-sponsor inside. I also don’t have a halloween costume
for this event, but its still nice seeing some people with their really cool costumes! Bigfish resident DJs Chris Raeuber and Ian Sndrz had their opening
set played with a combination of Electro, Progressive, & House tracks. There was one track
that really caught my ears though, the moment they played Cygnus X - Superstring which by the way is one of my favorite
anthems of all time especially the Rank 1 remix yet it was different but still
good! Some of the tracks I still remember being played in their set were THIS!, Tremor, Knock you Out & Zero 76,
etc…
Well
the usual time for the main acts to show up would be around 1:00 AM so before that I
was just doing some back-and-forth to get some drinks for myself. I was at the
front row of the barricade patiently waiting and put my bag on the ground
because it’s just too uncomfortable to carry all the time. After 2 hrs. of waiting, lights dim down and the signal for the
main show was about to happen courtesy of a video being shown at the LED
screen.
I
don’t know what technical errors happened for that intro but of course it’s
really not an issue for me. My camera still sucks as usual though. The first of the main act doing his job on the deck was
the DJ/Producer from UK - Ben Gold, his introduction was also accompanied by
the ever energetic Bigfish's very own MC Lavoce.
If the first 5 tracks were some
sort familiar to me then I’m going to be tracklisting his set via my cellphone. Though there were some that I wasn’t able to list down either
familiar to me but forgot the names or I just never heard it before. I guess
those unfamiliar tracks were from his new album #Goldrush which is also the same name of his new record label under
Armada. He finished with a 2 hrs. set
courtesy of his now #Goldrush trademark sound (Trance, Electro, Progressive,
House, etc…) which by the way is very similar to the Garuda sound of his mentor Mr. Gareth
Emery who’ve greatly influenced him in the earliest stage of his career.
After
Ben Gold finishes his set around 3:00 AM hence the last of the main act - Tenishia
was about to come up. This is the 2nd time they had their gig here
in the Philippines yet only ½ of duo from Malta was able come to this event
though. This is also the first time I’ve a heard set from them which he mixed
all sort of genres ranging from Vocal Trance, Progressive and even Rock n Roll! He was able to deliver a banging set for the crowd even though they weren't complete that night!
MC
Lavoce has also done his job again of hyping up the crowd which is very
entertaining for me by the way and the Bigfish head crew Mr. Ricky Daker were
also giving away free bottle water to the crowd. I’ve also tracklisted
Tenishia’s set which he ended around 5 in the morning, one of the opening DJs -
Marx Monterola was the one doing the closing set but unfortunately I was
heading at the airport at that time for my 6:30 AM flight (the moment I arrived
at the airport, my trip to BCD was cancelled by the airline and move to 4 in
the afternoon).
This
was surely an unforgettable event and Bigfish has done it again for keeping the
Trance scene alive here in the Philippines. After all the EDM trends that’s
happening here in our country, Bigfish still remains true to their style
somehow ; believing that there are still loyal Trance fans like myself that
they could offer appreciation and enjoyment from our own standards of taste in
music.
TRACKLIST
Note: This tracklist
is not fairly accurate but at least I gave it a try though
Ben Gold’s set:
1. Hardwell & Makj - Countdown (intro mix)
2. Armin van buuren - Save my night (Mark Sixma remix)
3. ID - ID
4. Heatbeat - Buenosaurus
5. Cosmic Gate feat. Eric Lumiere - Falling back (Mark Sixma
remix)
6. ID - ID
7. Armin van Buuren feat Laura Jansen - Sound of the drums (Bobina
remix)
8. Orjan Nilsen & Cosmic gate - Fair game
9. ID - ID
10. W&W - Lift off
11. Ben Gold - Escapade
12. Armin van Buuren feat Gaia - Empire of Hearts
13. Andrew Rayel feat Jonathan Mendelsohn - One in a million
14. ID - ID
15. Armin van buuren & Andrew Rayel - Eiforya (Ben Gold remix)
16. Gareth Emery feat Bo Bruce - U (W&W remix)
17. Andrew Rayel - Dark warrior
18. Mark Sixma - Adagio for strings
19. Heatbeat - Bloody moon
20. Paul Oakenfeld feat Cassandra fox - Touch me (Beat Service
remix)
21. W&W - Ghost town
22. Gareth Emery - Tokyo (Ben Gold remix)
23. ID - ID
24. ID - ID
25. ID - ID vocal
26. Ben Gold feat the Glass Child - Fall with me
27. Dash Berlin feat Emma Hewitt - Waiting (W&W remix)
28. Ben Gold feat Christina Novelli - All or nothing
Tenishia’s set
1. Andrew Bayer - Once Lydian
2. Hardwell feat Amba Shepherd - Apollo (Dash Berlin 4 AM remix)
3. Andrew Rayel feat Jano vs Ummet Ozcan - How do I know vs The
Box (Tenishia mashup)
4. Avicii - fade into darkness (ID remix)
5. Orjan Nilsen - Late Anthem
6. M.I.K.E. Push - Astrolab ???
7. Tenishia vs Sandro Silva - Where do we begin vs Epic (Andrew
Rayel mashup)
8. ID - ID
9. ID - ID
10. ID - ID
11. Gareth Emery feat Lucy Saunders vs W&W - Sanctuary vs Invasion
(Andrew Rayel mashup)
12. Tenishia - Benedictus
13. Tenishia feat Ana criado - Ever true (club mix)
14. ID - adagio for strings
15. Queen - we will rock you
16. Armin van buuren - Eat Sleep Rave Repeat (this is not a mashup
; he owns this track LOL!)
17. Cosmic gate feat Eric Lumiere - Falling back
18. Heatbeat - Buenosaurus
19. Armin van buuren - Ping Pong (Kryder & Tom Staar remix)
20. David Gravell - Supernova ???
21. Orjan Nilsen - Violetta
22. ID - ID
23. Armin van Buuren feat Trevor Gurthrie - This is what it feels
like (W&W remix)
24. Andrew Rayel - Dark Warrior
25. Heatbeat - Bloody moon
26. Gareth Emery feat Bo Bruce - U (W&W remix)
27. Queen vs Armin van buuren & Ferry Corsten - Brute
Wants to Live Forever (Tenishia mashup)
28. Andrew Rayel - Lethal Silence (this is not a mashup ; he owns
this track LOL!)
Exception Music Festival 2014 is NEXT!
