DJ T. tour blog: Week 21 & 22

DJ T. tour blog: Week 21 & 22

10 December, 2009 | 6.31AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: dj t, dj t blog, get physical

In this week’s blog, DJ T. plays his way through two of his least favourite cities in North America, does a beach gig in Hawaii, and abandons the region for an altogether more bright and kooky destination - Singapore.

The city’s world-renowned Zouk club awaits, but first he needs to make it through Miami’s silicone back alleys, and the plain streets of Washington D.C..

I launched into the last 10 days of my North American tour with mixed feelings. Miami, Washington and Hawaii – couldn’t be any more different, right? Although I tried to keep an open mind, I already had my expectations and preconceptions: Miami, especially, was all the way down on my list of favourites.

To be honest, I had actually boycotted the place since my last, exceptionally unpleasant gig at the WMC (Winter Music Conference) four years ago, while Washington was a bland and blank slate to me – I only knew the news and TV version and very little about the local club scene. Last, but not least, there was Honolulu … well, what could be so bad about spending four days on Waikiki beach and adding to the exotic flow with my own flavour of rhythms and beats?

But first things first – Miami became the greatest surprise of my tour to date. Insight of the month: Miami is NOT the same as South Beach – it’s all too easy to forget that this city boasts a decent-sized downtown and centre. Up to this trip, I had always ignored this urban centre; it almost felt like entering a cultural wasteland the moment you left South Beach via one of those narrow land bridges.

Actually, it’s the other way around. In many ways – and just like Ibiza’s tourist hotspots – South Beach and Ocean Drive have become caricatures of themselves. Nowadays, it’s (almost) all about looking great thanks to botox and working out or about parting tourists from their hard-earned cash.

A development that has become even more obvious and noxious since the massive implosion of the real estate bubble. Considering the huge – and very early – impact the crisis has had on their city, many locals have rechristened Miami ‘ground zero’ of this phenomenon. The spark and shine is gone, big shots join the small fry and very few can afford to keep up appearances and the overt decadence so alluring to the world‘s rich and beautiful jet set crowd.

But let’s not stomp all over this has-been beauty any longer. To be honest: I had plenty of fun during my brief stay and met a very entertaining crowd through an old friend from Germany. One of them even let me crash in his penthouse!

Check the opening picture for my view of downtown Miami from his rooftop terrace … Nevertheless, the real surprise proved to be my DJ gig at the Electric Pickle club. I had already heard rumours about the Aquabooty crew; they were supposed to be the only serious crowd in town willing to swap commercial South Beach sounds for a European-style underground flavour.

After my previous Miami club experience I thought: well, seeing is believing – let’s put that to the test! But once I stepped into this cosy place in the hip Design District, around 0.30am, it took me just a quick room scan to realise that I had arrived at a decidedly ‘un-North American’ club and that I was in for a real treat.

DJ Andrés favoured just the right slant of laid-back, but sexy Deep House – a sound great Berlin clubs might serve up to get the crowd into the mood and something that would have cleaned the floor (or at least irritated the crowds) at most of my recent North American venues – if I hadn’t thrown in the odd crowd pleaser every once in a while. 

Here, people had already latched on to the groove of the warm, bass-heavy soundsystem and had no choice but to follow the DJ on his sonic excursion. After a brief, but equally refreshing intermezzo by Aquabooty resident Will, I surged into my extended set of 100% uncompromising sounds – a rare and welcome exception on this tour. So, thanks to the Aquabooty crew for this crazy night to remember … and for showing me another side of Miami!

After Florida, I went back up the coast to Washington D.C. – and the briefest of stories. During the journey and a quick dinner with my friendly driver, talk reverted to the Burning Man festival – a topic that kept resurfacing throughout my tour, trailing me like an invisible shadow. Hm, maybe it’s trying to tell me something? Soon after, we arrived at the Eye Bar.

To be honest, the layout of this venue isn’t really suited for clubbing. The moment I stepped in, I felt lost. When I arrived at the tiny DJ desk, where the two supporting DJs were squeezed in behind, there wasn’t even enough room to stow my bags. So I had to wait in through traffic for half an hour, like a FedEx messenger without a cause, before I could unpack the tools of my trade and launch into my proper set.

The next obstacle: there was only one, muffled monitor and – to make matters worse – it was placed on the side I use for prelistening via headphones, the side always protected by a custom -25db earplug. During the subsequent hour, I dug out all the tracks that had cracked even the toughest crowds of my North American tour.

As a result, I witnessed an ever-emptying dance floor until – two hours later – I found myself playing to just a handful of people, most of whom were draped across the sofas or huddled the bar area. So, sorry David – if there is going to be a rematch, both of us should up our games, alright?

From the trough of clubbing despair to yet another peak on this musical, rollercoaster ride, Honolulu proved to be – by far – the most emotional stop of my tour so far. A year ago, a colourful troop of interested locals and continental escapees had banded together to run a club in a former recording studio.

In some touching way, the inner circle of friends and acquaintainces around these Asylum after hours, who party and live together like one big happy family, reminds me of the crazy, off-the-wall surrogate family I hung around with during my 1990s in Frankfurt.

Our driving thought: let’s get through the week as quickly as possible, then cherish every single second between Friday night and Monday morning to celebrate our beloved music – and ourselves – like there is no tomorrow.

While the official part of the night on Hawaii treated me to an explosion of energy and fun, I still had my true highlight coming up. Like any self-respecting party clan, the locals don’t stop once the club closes, but continue to party through the following Sunday.

They simply pack kids, dogs, soundsystem, drinks and other sustenance and relocate to a remote stretch of beach, set up their equipment underneath a pavillion and continue to dance long into the night.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist another peek (after a brief beauty sleep) and decided to spin a few more tunes for the remaining crowd. Did I just say a more few tunes? My short guest stint segued into a few hours of music; it became the soundtrack to an afternoon we all won’t forget.

Come sunset, the insatiable clubbers still hadn’t had enough, so they simply opened the club again for more silly antics and plenty of face-pulling. I’m already counting the days until my next stop on this beautiful island. And next time, I’ll make sure to stay a bit longer!

You’re supposed to leave the best for last, right? With Honolulu, I also took my leave of North America. Two eight-hour flights whisked me away, via Tokyo to Singapore, where the Zouk Club – still #1 among Asia’s party spots thanks to its international renowned and rich history – was already waiting for me.

In 1991 the club was built into the remaining foundations of three dilapidated 1919 warehouses. To this end, the original walls were completely restored and received a visual overhaul: in an international homage to Ibiza’s landmark clubs, they were white-washed to resemble the island’s characteristic Moorish architecture.

Since then, the club’s three venues (dedicated to different genres and styles) have been rebuilt and refurbished several times to reflect the numerous – and successful – reinventions Zouk has undergone since its inception. Now, 19 years after the launch, it remains a strong magnet for international crowds – an exceptionally long lifespan for the club scene.

The reason behind Zouk’s perpetual appeal? For one, its founder and remaining promoter. In his small island state, Lincoln Cheng counts as an icon, someone who has travelled all of the world’s seminal nightlife and event meccas (Woodstock, Studio 54, Paradiese Gara, Hacienda) and injects this inspiration into his own club.

To me, Zouk has become a firm fixture on my tour schedule: whenever I grace the Pacific realm, I try to stop by for a gig. And even if – this time around – the venue wasn’t filled to the brim, there was still something magical about the night (hopefully, the audience felt this, too!).

Following a spontaneous whim, I played what was probably the most eclectic set of my tour so far. After warming up with one to two hours of contemporary tech house, I launched into a whirlwind ride of diverse styles, epochs and beats – considering the discerning crowd, this was definitely not without risk – but in the end, I found myself rewarded by smiling faces and a great hands-in-the-air finale. Thanks, Zouk. It’s been a blast!

DJ T. - The Inner Jukebox Worldtour 2009

December
04.12.09 - Zouk, Singapore (SG)
05.12.09 - Stereosonic After Hour@F4, Melbourne (AU)
06.12.09 - Stereosonic@Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane (AU)
10.12.09 - Lala Land, Byron Bay (AU)
11.12.09 - Ink Nightclub, Auckland (NZ)
12.12.09 - Chinese Laundry, Sydney (AU)
18.12.09 - Lot 33, Canberra (AU)
19.12.09 - Poison Apple, Ladida, Melbourne (AU)
25.12.09 - Club Heaven, Seoul (SK)
26.12.09 - Warehouse, Tokyo (JP)
31.12.09 - Underground Club, Hannover (DE)

January
01.01.10 - Tribehouse, Neuss (DE)
07.01.10 - Rooftop, Dubai
08.01.10 - Haus der Kunst, München (DE)
09.01.10 - Airport, Würzburg (DE)
16.01.10 - Public Club, Istanbul (TR)

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