IRC-Galleria

Long sets need long promotion. And long time to recover. And a long story afterwards too! New YearÂ’s Day 01.01.10 was probably my most special gig so far during my 18 year career. I must say it was also physically the most demanding. Harder than what I thought and I can definitely say that 23 hours is waaaay longer time to play than my previous 16 hour sets. Never say never, but IÂ’m quite confident that this will never happen againÂ… There were several other people who were there all the time and some hardcore music lovers who were dancing for 15+ hours. Maximum respect and a big thank you to all of you! You know who you are and it was amazing to watch you enjoy the ride all morning, day and night long. ThereÂ’s something really freaky and special about seeing a club in full action in the afternoon. This is Helsinki after all and not New York or Berlin. And to me this is proof that Helsinki is truly a special clubbing city.

Of course there was also some room for hick ups within 23 hours. Like the bass amplifiers turning off at 13:00 or beer being poured into the light desk blacking out all the lights. But with some good karma and some professional people, those were fixed quickly. It was also my first gig ever to get womenÂ’s underwear thrown at me. It might have been some hairy guy from Tampere, but a nice gesture anyway! It was also the first time ever I had the security demanding to play one more track and also the first time ever my booking agents told me to move less while DJing. It was good advice as 23 hours is a pretty long time to even just nod your head, as my neck told me sometime after 15 hours or soÂ… The mentally and physically hardest moments were probably in the late afternoon, when there was still many many hours to go but it felt like the party had already been going on for days. But it was the people and the music that gave me the energy and at 22:00 it already felt as if the party had almost ended:)

There were over 1600 people during the morning, day, evening and night with many of them visiting twice or three times. It was heartwarming to see so many old school faces after some time and amazing to see so many promoters, DJs and old school sceners (Chris, Taru, Kidi, Kimmo, Jani, Dallas, Oded, Asaf, Milla, Ippe, Huggu, Sam, Denis, Cia, Jari, Nikita, Jaakko, JariÂ…) on the dancefloor raving for hours and hours. It was also special to see so many familiar faces from around Southern Finland and even some people from around Europe making their first visit to Finland especially for this gig. And of course lots of fresh people bringing some new excitement and energy to the scene.

Production wise I of course can’t say how everything went as I was in the booth the whole time, but I heard that combining Redrum with Copacabana worked very well. Bars and toilets were feeling it at times but hopefully the smooth entry, enough chill out space, breakfast, a la carté and extra lights & decorations made up for the weak points. After all this was the first time anyone had tried this.

Musically it was quite an eclectic ride as I had hoped for it to be. Everything was totally improvised with the people, the moment and the vibe dictating my next track. Some old school prog in the morning, nu skool tech house in the afternoon, Ibiza terrace classics in the daytime, acid techno in the early evening, epic progressive house and trance classics in the evening, some early 90s trance and even a bit of rave during the late hours. Fave moments must have been the afternoon acid craziness with whole place shouting “ACIIID, ACIIID, ACIIID!!!” or Mory Kante’s Yeke Yeke at 21:00 when it looked more like 03:00! It was all recorded but let’s see if that will be shared at any point… Below you can find my Top 14 musical moments from the set.

If you want to re-experience the marathon chill out set provided by DJ Orion for the Ice Bar here is a link to the mix - 323 minutes, done on Dec 23rd with DJs birthday on the 23rd of February: http://bit.ly/orion323. To relive the moments here is what Finland’s biggets newspaper Helsingin Sanomat had to say about the event: http://bit.ly/hesari23. And here is link to some photos from the event: http://bit.ly/23gallery. And here is link to an eight minute Youtube video collague from the event. It’s more of casual compilation of videos from Peled Bros’ camera rather than a polished “official” event video. I hope the vibe comes through from it:)

DJ Orkidea 23 hour set - 01.01.2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9HItH2YPZ4
And here are some of the my fave tracks from that set:

Liberation: Liberation 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM0Q48b2qSY&fmt=18
Mory Kante: Yeke Yeke (Hardfloor remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdvx7AFsKrk&fmt=18
D-Mob: We Call It Acid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEdiOBz4zeM&fmt=18
Members of Mayday: Mayday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjEBTOgaubA&fmt=18
U2: Staring At The Sun (Brothers In Rhythm remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMGzvWZGyyk&fmt=18
Bent: Always (Ashley BeedleÂ’s Mahavishnu Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7n9gDylE6E&fmt=18
Underworld: Cowgirl (Bedrock remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdGIkMQYgHo&fmt=18
Guy J: Lemur (Henry Saiz remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7zManxIsU&fmt=18
Paperclip People: Throw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEe9uO80hDA&fmt=18
Quench: Dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPvhUpnocx0&fmt=18
Klatsch! - God Save The Queer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwneo7QQcwA&fmt=18
U2: New YearÂ’s Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXC0BW-mGD0&fmt=18
Der Dritte Raum: Hale Bopp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TScEWfQmgdk&fmt=18
Freeform Five - Perspex Sex (EwanÂ’s Hi-NRG Remix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpNR7-xtWeI&fmt=18
And as great things in life are always the ones shared and no success comes alone here are the ones I want to thank for making this happen:

Oded & Asaf: For co-promoting the event. You are the most professional yet the most passionate. These guys make things happen!

Tea & Severi: maybe the best show IÂ’ve seen from you! There were so many ups and downs and twists and turns and you supported the story of music soooo nicely with the visuals throughout the whole 23 hours.

Markus & Otso: for making the place feel like something else for a day.

Jani Tolin: for some epic graphics with a tongue in cheek.

LilÂ’ Tony, Staffan, Sami, Petsku and the whole Redroom staff: for full support before, during and after the event. Years and years of work for keeping the vibe of the city alive.

Tuula and Tarja & Copacabana piipl: for believing in this crrrrazy idea and helping us make it happen!

Juska: for 323 minutes of audio bliss in Ice Bar and overall support.

Eppu: for making sure the sound was as good as it gets. Not everybody would want to work at 04:30 on New YearÂ’s Day..?

Dallas, Federico, Hanna, Kassu and everybody else helping with putting things together.

Miller: for supporting the scene year after year and making things possible. Respect.

Anu: For everything.

And you, you and YOU for being a part of it. Thank you! Thank. You.