Published via Ecency

EDIT: now WITH the homemade video inside

A month ago, I received this text message (can you believe it? an original text message, not a WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram chat!) from a friend: "Edje, on May 5th I am throwing a 24-hrs party. I booked Etapp Kyle house set especially for you! In case you have nothing to do?" Whether that message was honestly true or not, I didn't ask him, but this feels like an honour.

4th of May, quite late in the evening, I arrived back home from a wonderful Hive BuzzParty event in Graz. Somehow fresh, but somehow also quite tired. Ate way too many Schnitzel, the Wiener kind. At the same time, connected with great HIVEeans. But that adventure is for another post. The morning of the 5th, when I woke up, I felt like not doing anything that day. Am in this rhythm to wake up too early, while too impatient to sleep another (smaller) round. A few pots of coffee down, unpacked, two chapters of my latest book swallowed, I decided: "WTF, I go and listen Etapp."

You know. I loved his Techno sets from before, until about 5 years ago! Heard him play for the first time in Berghain; As you may know, my most favourite club in the world, the one in Berlin. At another occasion, I had the privilege to hear him play a very long set in the chill-out room, a massive basement, in the same club. Again, goosebumps everywhere, since this guy also touched my heart with his ambient and atmospheric techno side.

These days, he wants to play House sets only. Not much of a House fan myself, but still, I was intrigued. A text message was quickly sent to my friend. "Time and Place?" In reality, the message was a bit longer, but not by many words; I was still too tired to type more than 10 words 😆 Almost quicker than the speed of light, his response! "16 to 19 hrs Etapp plays. I put you on the guest list right now." When someone does the latter, putting me on guest lists, I know I am in for the ride since it is simply not done not to use such a privileged spot. These days, the whole world wants to get into parties for free. Something to do with high costs. As well as not having to wait in a queue. Also, the freedom of movement that usually comes with being an official guest, being allowed on stage, backstage and whatnot. At BRET - the club for today - no stage or backstages though. Free drinks, yes. I was treated very very very well by my friend. He simply started to offer me drinks from the DJs fridge. How nice of him 🙏

I arrived a bit late because on my way towards the event, I heard someone shouting my name. A friend from the past was sitting on a terrace. Some chit chatting, some serious convo, all ending with me sending her to an outdoor event not far from where we were. A close friend was playing back2back. I suspected a disco/house/techno-ish set. Wanted to hear that one as well! But but but Etapp was what I set for. And I was already late. Needed to run run run .. or better said: Touch those pedals and the electrical system of my bicycle will do the rest, all the heavy lifting, so to speak 😉

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^{image: at the back entrance door}

BRET. What can I tell? It is a place I do not go to very often, but whenever I am there, I am positively surprised by the atmosphere. Not only does the building give a great vibe, from out as well as inside - the latter matters mucho more to the former, that is a given. The people make the difference. Always a positive and high-energy crowd. A place where we can hear yelling to support the track being played regularly. Some to more of them going nuts on the dance floor whenever they hear something they like. Not many places have such a crowd. Ok ok ok, it is also a crowd that can be quite easily pleased. When they go nuts, hands in the air, jumping up and down, hair flying all over, drinks kicked to the ground, usually some popular track can be heard through the sound system. "Hitjes", we call it. Easy to move crowds with. Not my cup of tea. But the atmosphere! Yes, that is my cup of tea. Therefore, all good 🎉🥳

Today, Etapp, from what I heard in the first 2 hours, was pretty ok. Honestly, I wasn't too pleased with the many vocals he added to his DJ set, but he was working hard to try and create unique sounds. Mixing 2, sometimes 3 records at the same time, running them like that until yet another record had to find its way into the mix. Darn skilled he is, my Techno master.

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^{image: the master driving the decks: Etapp Kyle}