Pete Tong’s WMC

Pete with his wife at his WMC pool party

Friday 27th March

I got to Miami last night after the long trek from Calgary and was pleasantly surprised to see the streets of South Beach packed. No one really knew how the Winter Music Conference would be affected by the credit crunch.

The Surfcomber was the venue I chose for Pete’s Pool Party. For the last two years this has been home to the Radio 1 Pool party where I have broadcast my show live. That was not possible this year due to budget restrictions and the current economic climate. However the station did send a production team over to capture the highlights of WMC 09 for broadcast later.

We had a progressive looking line up this year and the experience of the past meant we were able to evolve the production as well with a huge cover over the sanded area to give some relief from the sun and rain!

From 1pm til 11pm we had sets from Heidi, Erol Alkan, Cedric Gervais, James Zabeila, Tiefschwarz, M.A.N.D.Y, Steve Lawler, Dubfire and Timo Maas and many commented it was the best pool party of the week. It’s amazing to see an event so up for it without doing the obvious!

Eye of the storm: Pete enjoys the Miami sun

Later that night I returned to Mynt with Christian Audigier, a party we have co-hosted for many years now. I came to the conclusion some time ago that if you are going to play a VIP club in South Beach (they are all VIP clubs!) you might was well do the best and owner Romain Zago has had a very successful run at this club despite some fierce competition.

It’s the personal touch that wins. It was a mad Champagne soaked affair, my guest Mark Knight went down with food poison but my tour buddy Deadmau5 stepped in at the last miinute - thank you mate! It will be interesting to see how all the VIP clubs fare this coming year as big table spending is the number one casualty in the clubbing credit crunch.

Saturday 28th March

As a performer the Ultra Festival can thrill the pants off you and frustrate the hell out of you at the same time.

Organisation has not always been their strong point but the event does put you in front of a huge crowd in a magnificent setting.

Past experience is key in planning your appearance. This weekend I was playing in the huge Carl Cox arena.

Carl has also learnt by experience and pretty much runs a festival inside the festival in which his people control every aspect of production and backstage.

It’s a well oiled machine and a fantastic space to play in with a stadium size Funktion One soundsystem.

Eric Morillo does the God stance at Ultra

Following the underated Elio Riso, it was feverish in there and by the time I handed over to Eric Morillo it was still only 5pm.

I can’t say the same for my brief appearance on the main stage a few hours later. Deadmau5 had a nightmare on Friday evening when the organisers reduced his exclusive headline set to an underwhelming seven minutes!

I just don’t understand the logic behind these short sets. Mine was 30 minutes behind a wall of equipment being erected by the Prodigy, oh well, at least Above & Beyond told me it was rocking out there, if only I could have seen it! 

This was followed by a 40 minute gap of dead space before the band were ready, which culminated in Paul Van Dyk’s headline set being reduced to 25 minutes...happy days. I can only hope they learn for next year.

Sunday 29th March

Conference week is not complete for me until I play Space Terrace on Sunday morning at the legendary Yoshitoshi Party.

It’s one of the few places in the world that is pretty much a 24 hour legal party zone. Alongside the host Sharam, Cedric Gervais, Louis Puig and Nic Fanciulli we mashed it!

Dubfire also joined in as unfortunately his appearance at the Circa Loco party at Nocturnal was cut no thanks to the fire marshal. 

The view of the terrace dancefloor from the DJ booth as the sun rises and the inside crowd join the terrace regulars is of a sea of weathered faces that are euphoric having made it through the marathon Winter Music Conference week. This is the end my friends.

Zabiela cam from my pool party

James Zabiela filmed this video of himself dropping Underworld ‘Two Months Off’ at Pete’s Pool Party at WMC 2009. Look carefully and you’ll spot a cameo appearance by Tongy and Phillipp from M.A.N.D.Y..