Venue: Eleven50
Presented by: Eleven50 and Liquified

Imagine a set up for a perfect club night. Imagine a venue that’s crowded but with an overall positive vibe, a turbo sound system set up right in the middle of the dance floor, an amazing visual presentation and an overall darkness permeating the club to create an incredible night. Then imagine a dj set that started off great and slowly ended up becoming a lackluster performance. Put all these things together and you will get Dave Seaman at Eleven50 on February 16, 2002.

The club was extremely crowded due to an Eleven50 promotion that night. Though there was the inevitable pushing and maneuvering of people trying to create a space for themselves on the dance floor, I think everyone was just looking to have a good time. Of course there were some elements of the cheesy, the mean, the bad and the rude. A special thanks goes out to the guy sitting behind the booth who would not give up the empty seat he was saving for his friend after I inadvertently injured my ankle. You’re the best.

The sound system was intense, a little bass heavy and concentrated solely to the dance floor on this night. There was no sound from upstairs or from the back of the club by the entrance. Long white streamers hung down as decorations right above the stage. Looking around more, my eyes drifted to the visuals in the eye of the ceiling. It was as if I was watching a voyage through time. I remember seeing projections of a hula show, the view of the earth from space and amazing purple mountains.

Resident DJ Brandon Sutton was on the decks when I arrived. Though I must admit I did not hear all of his set, I do remember thinking he did a good job opening the night. It was not too crazy so that Dave Seaman’s set would be difficult to start, but not too relaxed either so that the crowd would lose interest.

At about 12:40am, Dave Seaman started the night banging. It had an edgy, techy, trance vibe to it. I was digging it. After realizing that I can only see through the glass of the dj booth and not hear through it, I ventured downstairs to promptly begin getting my groove on.

I was really excited. His track selection was perfect and his mixing was awesome. The club was lit mostly in dark blues with occasional spurts of red and purple. My entire senses attune, I had no idea where the night could lead.

About an hour later, I had figured it out. It was right about when he dropped the Bedrock Mix of Luzon's "Baguio Track" that the set started taking a turn more to the progressive side and less to my personal liking. The crowd seemed really into it, however. It seemed like people enjoyed hearing their older favorites mixed with the newer ones. The lights became brighter, flashier and more multicolored. The dancers brought out long glowstick strings and started passing them out to the crowd. The visuals became less concrete, more abstract. It felt like this big conspiracy to try and get me to have an incredible night, and though the rest of my body wanted to, my ears would not allow it.

Pretty soon after Seaman played the Mezz remix of Jayne Hanna "Lost Without You" we were out the door. I tried valiantly to get the people I rode with to tough it out till the end but to no avail. We officially left at 3 am. Reliable sources tell me that he ended sometime between 3:30 and 3:45, with an encore of The Chemical Brothers’ "Star Guitar."

I don’t think every club night is meant to be incredible. If it were, then those extra special nights would not stand out as much. For me, it was not one of those incredible nights, but it was a whole lot of fun. Judging the crowd, I would say others felt quite the opposite. C’est la vie.

• Current feature on Dave Seaman

Renaissance America
Mixed by Dave Seaman
Track Listing:

1. Godspeed (Hybrid Remix) - BT
   
2. Under The Water (Starecase Remix) - Brother Brown
   
3. Rainmaker - Novacane
   
4. Forsaken - Highland
   
5. The Flow (Nalin & Kane Remix) - Laguna Seca
   
6. Voices - Desert
   
7. Twin Town - Ian Wilde vs. Timo Maas
   
8. Escape - Cascade
   
9. Run - Ecane
   
10. Unity (Helsinki Sunday 6am mix) - Orkidea
    
11. Anomaly (Albion Mix) - Libra