Venue: Henderson's Arena - Atlanta, GA
Presented by: Mirage

That's just what this party was...MASSIVE. I mean, you wouldn't believe the venue. People that were there can attest to that. It was huge! It was just as big as Liquid Groove's North Atlanta Trade Center. But I'm happy that our production companies are picking bigger venues to accomodate our ever-growing scene. Not that big venues don't have their problems. The Trade Center was unbearably hot for Sasha, Digweed and Rabbit in the Moon and Henderson's Arena was great, if you could get over the horse and cow manure smell (supposedly, it's a horse and cow show corral). I'm not complaining though...both venues gave us enough room to wander around and dance. You don't have to worry about bumping into other people and I don't have to worry about being whacked in the head with a glowstick.

This June 10th show was everything I hoped it would be and more. Mirage brought us the best talent of the U.K., the U.S., and Atlanta. There were really two stars that rose above the rest that night: our own Red Shift and Leon Alexander.

Red Shift....you wouldn't believe how happy I am for them. Darryl and Brad...famous! I was visably distraught when I missed their first live show in Atlanta during Christmas. Gene Carbonell gave me the review of that performance, though. He said they rocked the place and that it was so gratifying to see Darryl and Brad up there, going crazy on their equipment. So you can imagine that I was so excited to see them. Excited enough, that when they came on, I was on the other side of that gigantic venue and I literally ran to the stage (pushing people down) in 3 seconds flat. Red Shift worked our locals into a frenzy and for good reason. They played an incredible set. It takes a lot to make me dance these days but they did it for me...I danced the entire length of their set, only pausing to talk to people about how amazing they were. It's strange, though...if anyone knows Darryl and Brad, you'll know that Darryl is the shy one and Brad is the outgoing one. Not onstage...Darryl goes crazy, banging his head and getting into the music and Brad looks like the quiet, angst-ridden musician, hypnotized by the music he's making. What a paradox. I was so impressed by their performance. I've heard their tracks (I have all of them) and I love them all (and believe me, I'm a difficult person to impress with music) but hearing it all live was a different story. The only complaint I have is their set was too short...but I guess that comes with being a live act. That's okay, it was short and sweet and truly unforgettable. They will put Atlanta on the map.

The other great set of the night was delivered by Leon Alexander. Before this event, I had heard his name but never expected that kind of performance. Luckily, I was onstage to watch him play and watch him play closely. This man knows all the tricks in the book when it comes to trance. His entire set consisted of Cass and Slide'ish type songs (my kind of music!) and his mixes in and out were beautifully constructed. My mouth hung open the entire time as I watched him manipulate that mixer and his mixes like I've never seen before. He played a favorite among me and my friends, "Sorry mate, you've got the wrong house" by Two Right Wrongans. God, what a DJ! A lot of stuff he played was also reminiscent of Oliver Lieb, another favorite of mine. And Leon Alexander was so giving too...he gave me and my boyfriend the record, "Love the Bomb", Leon's mix of the Max Graham track. Wow! I was in a never-ending trance, watching and listening to this guy. Mirage, please bring him back!

The rest of the DJs that played that night were very good as well. The infamous Pete "Shaker" Bones was great and had everyone dancing. Many people were overjoyed when Los Angeles' Christopher Lawrence (deemed "America's best Trance DJ") got on the decks. I beg to differ. Although I realize that I'm an East Coast girl (our trance and house are influenced more by the subtle sounds that come out of Europe) and Christopher Lawrence is from the West Coast (think, hard banging trance), I still don't like his style. Okay, I admit it, I have a few of Lawrence's records but he needs to change his set up a little bit. To me, that hard, trance gets old after a while. He needs to integrate a few more melodic tracks into his set, in my humble opinion. Don't get me wrong, I love it when Jimmy Van M. plays that wicked, hard stuff but he also changes his set around a bit, placing more "musical" tracks in there. But that's just my opinion. I understand why people like Christopher Lawrence...it's easy to dance to with its hard, pounding beats. But I have to say that it gets really boring after a while.

The night ended in the main room with Spirit Child from Charlotte. All I can say is: strange music. His combinations of songs were a little on the weird side. Personally, I didn't like it that much but I saw a lot of people that were still dancing full-force while he was playing. Then I saw a lot of people laying around on the faux-grass, too tired to even care what was going on. Can you blame them? It had to have been about 8 or 9 in the morning! Mirage had delivered us a tireless night.

Throughout the hours of the morning, I made sure I wandered in and out of the "chill-out room" and the jungle room. The chill-out room was interesting, to say the least. It included 4 tiki torches and a couple of lawn chairs. Kind of a weak chill-out area but it didn't matter because the DJs were really good. I had the chance to hear Gabriel and Graham play (was Graham on the flier?). It didn't matter because these two tag-teamed a great, mellow set, mixing "Underworld" tracks into intelligent jungle. If you ever get a chance to see these two 20Hz Cartel DJs, do it. You won't regret it. The jungle room (where the cows are paraded about on normal Henderson's Arena days) was packed. I'm not a jungle fan but I could see by everyone's reaction they were pleased by the line-up, which included MC Knctrnl, AK1200, Wally, Kaos, Method One, Doc Roc and MC Duh. Lots of West Coast jungle DJs showcased their talents at the Massive. I listened to a bit of AK1200's set which I didn't really like. I remember buying his CD, "Fully Automatic," which was actually good, but he fails to impress me any time I see him play in clubs. Every other time I wandered into the jungle room, there was an MC (don't ask me which ones) and I wasn't really into that. I do remember hearing Method One and Doc Roc, whom I really liked but that was cut short to travel into the main room. *sigh* I guess I need to educate myself in jungle a bit more. I'm okay at reviewing trance/house/breaks acts but when it comes to jungle, I lack the skill and knowledge. Cobradoll, would you like to help?

All in all, this was an uplifting and wonderful night. The venue was cool and gave us enough room to maneuver...and the DJs' and live acts' performances were outstanding. Another successful night for our beloved Mirage.

Prepare to Assault
Compiled and mixed by AK1200
Record Label: Moonshine
Track Listing:

1. "Watershed" - The Shooter
2. "Category 4" - AK1200
3. "Five Tones" - Undercover Agent (Brockie And Ed Solo remix)
4. "Cold Steel Pressure 99" - Sketchy (White Crane remix)
5. "Carbonite" - Special K
6. "Return" - Majistrate
7. "Bass 2 Dark '99" - L Double
8. "Human Soul" - Special K
9. "Dreamz" - Bamboo
10. "Pornstar Style" - AK1200/Danny Breaks (VIP mix)
11. "Aerosol" - Kingsize
12. "Northern Lights" - The Maytrix
13. "Migraine" - Vertigo
14. "Pins And Needles" - Triple X