Venue: Mythos - Charlotte, NC
Presented by: Mirage Productions and Big Beat Entertainment

Mirage Productions and Big Beat Entertainment teamed up to bring the legendary Carl Cox to Mythos for his first-ever Charlotte appearance. Although arrangements for the Global Tour were made six months in advance, the Mythos staff overlooked one key detail. For every stop, Coxy had requested to be placed on a stage, and Mythos had placed him in their booth high above the dance floor where barely his head would have been visible to the crowd below. So an hour before the doors were to open, all of the equipment had to be moved downstairs and reconfigured. Due to a variety of technical problems that arose, the doors opened a half-hour late.

The venue began to fill quickly when music finally began to emanate from the club. Mirage resident and Atlanta favorite, Nasir, was slated to open the evening. Nasir played the role of opener flawlessly. He turned out a high-energy set that kept the growing crowd moving at all times. He was able to get his sound across to the crowd, all the while preparing them for what was to come. Although Nasir’s set was tainted with some sound problems and technical difficulties, he maintained his professionalism and turned out a great set. Finally, with the sound system perfected Coxy plugged in for the evening.

As the clock chimed 1:00 a.m., the three-deck wizard slowly surveyed the crowd before making his first assault. His equipment of choice for this tour includes three Technics 1200s, two Pioneer CDJs and a Rane mixer-all of which he controlled with his usual mastery. He began his set with some high-energy techno to get the crowd started off right. Twenty minutes into the first hour of a three-hour set, "Push up the levels and let the red lights flash," blasted over the sound system. The crowd went wild as they recognized Carl and Christian Smith’s collaboration "Dirty Bass"—one of the hottest tracks from Global.

Mythos was already filled to capacity, the main dance floor was a huge, moving mass of people, and Carl continued to drop track after funky track. He utilized his equipment flawlessly, gliding between the CDJ and the decks rarely using his headphones. Coxy would take the microphone in hand to ask the crowd, "Are you feeling it, Charlotte?" and then drop a bomb like "Simulation" by Tiga & Mateo.

After an hour, it was obvious that Coxy was on a mission tonight: he was going to take Mythos on a funked-up, ass-shaking journey. With each build the crowd would yell his name while begging for the beat to drop. Carl, sensing their desires, would tease the crowd unmercifully until they were about to break, then unload some nasty beat, and all the crowd could do was scream in euphoria as the bass lines shattered their bodies. Each track grew progressively harder; each build grew longer as Carl mesmerized the masses with his technical mastery and track selection.

Carl spent the evening having as good a time as the crowd. He was smiling and dancing the whole set. Many times throughout the evening he would get on the mic to reinvigorate the crowd by counting the beat "1, 2, 3, 4..." and then the boom would come.

Around 3:00 a.m. the crowd had begun to thin. In order to let everyone know that he was not going to fade out, Carl gave the sweaty masses another energy boost with Twisted Pair’s "Horny Hustle," which set the dance floor on fire. After a powerful three-hour set, Carl answered the encore chants with one more track before halting the enchanting evening.

For three blissful hours, Mythos was treated to everything you should expect when you see Carl Cox: flawless mixing, excellent set development and driving track selection, but there was something new—the sound. This new "Carl Cox Techno" does not have the "busy-ness" that it once had. About a third of Carl’s set was pulled from his CD case, many of which were produced by Intec label mate Bryan Zentz. The sound was still pure techno, but a raw techno that has been stripped down to its essential elements—the elements that make you move!

Special thanks go to Kevin and Maxwell with Mirage, and Jeff and Rich with Mythos

• Carl Cox @ Eleven50 - read the review
• Greg Adamson's interview with Carl Cox
• Jordan E. Lanier's interview with Carl Cox

Global
Mixed by Carl Cox
Track Listing:

1. Kickback - Natural Born Grooves
2. Turn It Up - Angel Moraes
3. Nation - Oxia
4. Treble & Bass - DJ Disciple
5. Beginnings - Tony Thomas
6. Drumz For Better Daze - Lovesky
7. Dirty Bass - Carl Cox & Christian Smith
8. Watch The Sun - Bryan Zentz
9. Magnetic Field - A N T
10. Trible Drumz - Groove Creator
11. Simulation - Tiga & Mateo
12. Rawk 007 - G.McAffer & R Wightman
13. Friction - Vince Watson

Ultimate B.A.S.S.
Mixed by Carl Cox
Track Listing:

1. Bushbaby - Jones, Dan
2. The Player - Cox, Carl
3. Destination Unknown EP - Green Velvet
4. Xirtam 2 [K-Hand Skip Mix] - Freq.
5. Moroccan Jack - Modwheel
6. Bad Coffee [Original Version] - Funk D'Void
7. DB Express - Daz Saund
8. Q-Works - Q-Factor
9. Run - DJ Funk
10. Discotamination - Kamaflage
11. Tops & Bottoms - Bizz O.D.
12. The Bells - Purpose Maker
13. Intesiven - Throb
14. Forklift [Luke Slater's Filtered Mix] - Beltram, Joey
15. Legion - Aphrohead
16. I'm a Disco Dancer (And a Sweet Romancer) [Dave Clarke Remix] - Just, Christopher
17. The Sound of Ultimate B.A.S.E. [Jim Masters Aspect Warrior Remix] - Stone Circle
18. The Sound of Ultimate B.A.S.E. [Original Version] - Stone Circle