August 8, 2012

Recap: Gareth Emery at Governors Beach Club, New York

To say the least, Gareth Emery’s performance this past weekend at Governors Beach Club easily met and surpassed my expectations. Made Event’s heavy-duty lineup drew an enormous crowd of thousands across the NY harbor to experience this true blockbuster event live. Gareth Emery was accompanied by two of trance’s brightest young stars, Ben Gold and Blake Jarrell, Germany’s progressive house producer Jerome Isma-ae and New York’s own Zack Roth. This massive event was so BIG that it was broadcasted live to millions of fans from around the globe and within minutes of Emery’s performance #GarethEmeryNYC was trending worldwide for hours to come…

It seemed like it was the perfect evening for Gareth and his Garuda team to come into NYC. With the mix of the temperature hovering in the mid 70s, the limited clouds in the sky, and the stunning sunset right before Gareth took the stage it just felt like the picture-perfect night for a Governors rave. My friend and I landed on the island during Jerome Isma-ae’s set and things were definitely cranking on this side of the harbor. Although it was only my second or third time partying at Governors, this was the first time I saw the venue that crowded. Thousands donned the EDM culture attire, which you can imagine consists of the classic neon rave gear, glow gloves and go-go outfits, sunglasses, etc. Dozens of girls were vying for spots up on guys’ shoulders to try and get a better view of the action as well as your occasional guy or two that would crowd surf on by across the dancefloor. The EDM crazies were undoubtedly out and about this weekend at Governors and the crowd put out the perfect vibes throughout this monster event. In regards to production, Made Event and its partners supplied the venue with dozen of fog canisters that were constantly going off, the usual LED screen behind the DJ, laser lights and of course the glowing palm trees by the water. All of those involved in setting up the production for the show did a fantastic job making this party a unique experience compared to other parties at Governors Island.

As Gareth Emery was about to step up to the decks at around 8:30 pm EST he was met by thousands of fans that were chanting and screaming in anticipation. He wasted no time getting right down to business dropping a heavy Garuda inspired ID track which the people, including myself, went absolutely nuts for. He continued his opening with transition over to Alex Sonata’s track “Kansai” and onto his own production, “The Saga.” Gareth smashed his set out of the park as he transitioned through a variety of genres during his mix. It was definitely a versatile set which I expected since that is his particular style but it was an awesome experience to see him perform his craft live. His mix consisted of tracks from a variety of artists ranging from Pryda to Skrillex to Tiesto to Armin Van Burren to Darude and many many more. He brought his signature trance style to the table that he mixed well with some house, progressive and dub. Some of my favorite tracks of the night consisted of Morgan Page vs. Nari & Milani “The Longest Atom” (Morgan Page Festival Mashup), Above & Beyond & Gareth Emery Pres. OceanLab “On A Good Day (Metropolis),” and Markus Schulz & Ferry Corsten “Loops & Tings.” Gareth ended up closing out his two and half hour set by dropping bomb after bomb, which consisted of “Maximal Crazy” by Tiesto, and “Language” by Porter Robinson as well as his own tracks “Tokyo”, and “Concrete Angel” featuring the talented Christina Novelli.

It was clear by the time the night ended that everyone in attendance, including the artists, were all satisfied with the evening. Gareth tweeted after the show, “F**k me, I am blown away. Literally no words. I f**king love you guys. #GarethEmeryNYC still trending worldwide!” It was obvious he was overwhelmed by the turn out of the night and I think I can speak for the majority of those in attendance in saying that from venue production to the artists, as well as the vibes of us in the crowd, that this party will rank amongst the NYC’s best this summer.