Ok, guys, you don’t understand!!! What I have experienced last Friday at AIR was an absolute PREMIERE! And I wonder if love is in the AIR or if actually AIR is in love??? I know you’ll think it sounds like the same thing, and I’m sure you’re thinking who cares as long as I tell my story, right? But no, hold on… I actually do care and I actually need to wonder about this, because there is actually a big difference between both… Love is in the AIR may mean that there is love in the club; that everyone in there is a happy little clubber, hopping from room to room, enjoying the night, with a drink in a hand and a smile on the other. In my situation, love is in the AIR could mean that there is a new sparkle between the crowd and me, what I am doing, what I am playing, and that… love is in the AIR after all! AIR is in love, though, could mean something completely different… AIR is in love could actually mean that love was in the AIR, and then at some point something happened and then AIR fell in love……….. ? ? Otherwise, how I can explain to myself that on Friday night, when I played in the medium size room against Express 2 (in main room) whom are apparently huge, their room emptied and my room filled up to jam pack status? I sincerely do not understand… I have never, EVER, seen anything like this for me and my music in England before. I know, this may sound like I’m putting myself down a bit, but in fact I really do not consider myself like a big act at all in the UK. Not like it is in other countries for me anyway! So when I see many people in my room, enjoying my set at AIR, it’s like Christmas for me… because it’s like a big damn cool gift! Needless to say my nights at AIR (CODE too, before) were never a stable thing, success wise. I now got used to play, see the people fairly enjoying themselves and then sometimes seeing them start screaming all of a sudden, for no reason, or at least that’s what I would think at THAT moment, since nothing is actually happening in the track I’m playing at THAT moment, but then I turn around and BOOM! There has arrived Carl Cox, or Armin Van Buuren, or Tiesto, or Mauro Picotto, etc etc etc. And every time I am like, ok… 🙁 I know my music is complicated, it has nothing to do with Trance or Progressive or Hard House. Techno is not simple, and most of the people who are not used to it, they are afraid of it. And in England, I have had very few good experiences with Techno, actually. In fact, every time I play there I make sure half of my record box contains House and more melodic stuff (always in the limits of what I like and play of course) so that I can make sure to have the right records in case I need to get out of trouble… But on Friday…. My God! What a night my friends, what a night! I have played a real fun 4 hours set! But that same fun 4 hours set, before starting it, was making me soooooo nervous! Because the room was quite empty before I started, and while I was standing behind the resident DJ who was playing then I was thinking “what am I going to do for 4 hours with 10 people in the room and with the music I play??!”. Before going on I almost did a prayer! Ha ha ha!!! Anyway, all that stress was useless… As of my second record the room was already almost full. I played House for the first 30 minutes or so, and then had no choice but to go harder. Not because I had finished my stash of House records, but simply because they were going to eat my alive if I wouldn’t have speeded up the BPM and if I wouldn’t have gone any harder. And I was trying to be so careful, not to scare them too much (I was not in Spain after all), but then people were handing me their phones with messages saying can you please play hard? And I was like, HUH?? The world has gone mad or what? Since when, in that club, have I had to play so hard?? NEVER! And the harder I was playing the more scared I was getting, because I thought “ok this is going to be too much, they’re going to leave the room now”, but no… not at all. The only thing I was seeing was people jumping, screaming, sending kisses at me, smiling, dancing eyes opened, eyes closed, clapping hands, whistling and some almost crying for pity… I tell you, I have seen EVERYTHING but bad things!! And when I saw so many girls dancing I thought ok, perfect, this is working! On Friday I have seen girls dancing on my music like never before in that club! I only see girls dancing that way on Techno in Spain, Eastern Europe and South America. Elsewhere it gets a little complicated… And I have always said that girls are the barometer of how well my night is going. If they dance it’s good, because guys would either like my music and dance anyway, or the ones who actually don’t care for it would be there dancing anyway because girls are on the dance floor! Ha ha ha!!! Anyway, what a night! Wow wow wow! And every time someone from the club was coming up to me and saying that the main room was basically empty I was smiling but wasn’t really buying it and I was thinking “yeah right thanks for trying to be nice”… And when I finished my set and left right away to try and catch as much sleep as I could since I had to fly to Athens a few hours after, I passed through the main room and saw it myself… I was like, OH-MY!!! I felt bad for them almost, but hey, I didn’t do anything else but my job as best as I could! Speaking of best…. I have had at least 15 mobile phones handed to me saying “Best set I have ever heard” or “Best set I have ever heard you play” or “Best set I have ever heard in my entire life” or “Best set EVER!”. Ok, I know it all sounds the same, but that’s not my point… My point is actually what I want to respond to all these messages: Thank you! Because if the room wouldn’t have been so packed I would have never been able to play so well. I play well thanks to the people, otherwise I suck. I know that. My fuel, before Champagne even, is the people. If there are no people, I don’t know where to go with my music, don’t know what to play, I’m lost and I absolutely make no sense in my sets. This is why it takes me forever to do a mix CD. I never know what to play, in what order, because there is no crowd to lead me in my studio! So, thank you! Because you have been there, and seeing you enjoying it so much was making me be better and better. Before that fabulous night at AIR, I played at Turnmills on Thursday at the Stomp night. That too rocked! The little room downstairs was jammed and it was a really hot night! Trevor Rockcliffe and his partner Mark Graham are behind the night and they are doing really well and I am very happy for them because everything was really perfect and the night was fun and I got really well looked after and I was very happy. Saturday night, and in fact I am still on that long flight back from there, I played in Athens, at Umatic, after a long absence of 19 months! It was about time I’d go back. The night was very good, very busy, but I have to be honest, Athens and Thessalonica have nothing in common! I love both, but Athens make me work real hard every time I am there. Screams are rare, because they are older people, because some are evidently also there just to have a drink and do some meat shopping, etc. And so as Umatic is more like a trendy nightclub where I clearly see that some are there to go see and be seen, I never really have the reaction I want from ALL the people until late late late, but unfortunately this time I had to finish my set very early (it is VERY, VERY early for Greece), at 05:30, to go catch my flight. It was great though, let’s not get me wrong here, the night rocked, but if Umatic rocked then my nights at Decadence are out of this world! I love Greece, its people and its food. And it was really lovely to be back in Athens also because I already felt in the air cool vibe for the 2004 Olympics and the city looks more gorgeous than ever! Other than that I can say that I am looking forward to June very much. Except for the Chicago and Aria nights, which I am very much looking forward to, I am going to be in the studio the whole time and this time is going to be very precious and… very needed! I was supposed to play Belgium on June 18th, but the promoter (Dixie is his name) who is now officially on my agent’s black list, has very unprofessionally cancelled the bookings (it was going to be an Iturnem night with Preach and myself) after signing contracts and after having agreed to everything, just because flights were too expensive! Same story as Detroit for tonight (May 30th) and Calgary in February, after all. It’s so bad. But what’s worse in the Belgium booking is that on that night Stanny Franssen was going to play as well and we were both really looking forward to finally play together, and Stanny is still booked for the gig and has not even been told that Preach and I are not going to be there anymore, which is wrong, so I really hope there are and will be no flyers out with our names because that would be the end of my patience towards all the shady people in this business…….. and God knows how many I have encountered on my way in the past few years………………….. So, well, I can’t wait to be home and become friends again with my studio… Thanks for reading and see you around! Barbara
