Venue: Twilo - New York, NY
Presented by: Twilo

Close your eyes and imagine heaven on earth...where everything is perfection. Perfect music, perfect sound, and perfect faces surround you. You open your eyes and see flawless female forms slinking around you and DJ gods dancing next to you. Your ears take in the most amazing, mesmerizing music in the world. Your body and soul are on a eight hour journey. This is heaven on earth...Twilo.

The words above may seem like a romantic exaggeration to you but I assure you, it's not. I was lucky enough to experience Twilo on New Year's Day: Jimmy Van Malleghem, Sasha, and John Digweed.

The night was flawless. We arrived at Twilo early because we were so afraid of a long line. As we walked to the front entrance, there were only fifteen people standing outside and it only took us ten minutes to get in. As we entered the front door, we walked through a dark hallway, filled with flashing lights. We walked around the corner into the main room and found a club not much bigger than Lorretta's. We were a little confused. For some reason, Twilo always seemed larger than life but it seemed too small to be so famous.

There is an upstairs and a little lounge room (where people mingle) next to the main room and that's about it. But the main room causes your mouth to drop open in complete awe. The DJ booth might as well have not even been there, it was so low to the ground (that's a good thing). There are four large screen TV's surrounding the dance floor. Stadium seating lines one side of the room while tables and chairs line the other. The club had a huge, glitterly sign hanging from the ceiling that said "TWILO 2000."

My friends and I sat lazily around until the beloved Jimmy Van M. came on the decks. Suddenly, people came out of the woodwork onto the dance floor (as if they sensed the magic in the air). Jimmy played the darkest, dirtiest trance set I've ever heard in a club. The melodies and beats were absolutely wicked. It was almost as if I had entered a Headbanger's Ball...people weren't dancing, they were actually almost thrashing! But it wasn't as annoying as you would think it would be because their energy charged the entire club with electricity.

Soon it was time for the masters of epic trance to begin their set. Digweed went first and as I looked into the booth I began to worry because Sasha was nowhere to been seen. I almost felt ashamed because I started to have flashbacks from the Liquid Groove party. "Oh God, what if he doesn't show?" I began to worry. But Sasha saved himself as he finally walked happily (but sleepily) into the booth.

Most people reading this have probably not seen Sasha and Digweed together. If you think they're good by themselves, you HAVE to seem as a duo. I can't even describe it. They envelop you in this amazing blanket of beauty and don't let go (hours after I left, I felt elated). It was magical. I went to the booth to see the muses at work. Sasha was so friendly and sweet...he invited me to interview him the next day. Unfortunately, I had to leave right after their set. He talked to me about how tired he was (he played several clubs in England the night before) and how sorry he was about the Liquid Groove incident. A perfect English gentleman (reminiscent of Nick Warren). I was even more estatic to say hello to Mr. Digweed who was very shy.

Sasha, at one point in the night, was so into his companion's music that he joined all of us on the dancefloor. It was such a strange feeling to be dancing next to Sasha (the man responsible for my obssession with this music) on the dancefloor. "Wow," I thought, "he and Digweed are just regular guys, not the gods I make them out to be." As I reflected on this, three model-like women surrounded Sasha and I saw him write down a number on a bar napkin. Well, so much for being a regular guy.

It almost seemed that Digweed played more than Sasha. Everytime I glanced up at the booth, Sasha was looking off into the distance and Digweed was hard at work. Yet, only Sasha's name was flashing on the big-screen TVs. Once again, Digweed was not getting the respect he deserved.

I hope everyone is able to experience Sasha and Digweed together...I predict that you will very soon ;). Again, words cannot describe that night at the beautiful Twilo. Don't believe me? Even Sasha (who I'm sure is an authority on clubs...he's been in most of them) said he had a hard time choosing between Space in Ibiza and Twilo as his favorite club (Mixmag, Dec. '99). Their Northern Exposure CDs, as beautiful as they are, just don't do them justice. Hearing them live is the only way to go.