Darude & Kristina Sky Recap

For all of the old school raver’s and Dance Dance Revolution fanatics, last Saturday was a trance filled night that Darude led us on before we hit the ‘Sandstorm’! But before the madness Phoria’s very own Christopher Terrance and Erika K set the mood for the night. If you missed out on the calm before the storm, never fear! You can listen and relive Erika K’s set and jam out while driving to work.

Up next on the decks is a rising star in the trance scene, Kristina Sky. After experiencing her set last Saturday it was no wonder that Armada and Ultra had her signed up with their labels. The transition between her and Erika K was in sync, keeping the cool beats going for the first half of her set, then brought in the FIRE. Kristina Sky brought the crowd to the dance floor, everyone dancing their feet off, and brought the feels when everyone sang along to ‘Reload’ with her own trance spin. It was hard to believe that we had another 2 hours, because Darude was just about ready to blow our minds.

For those of you who only know Darude because of ‘Sandstorm’, I hope you all realized that he is more than just that hit single. He started off the night getting groovy with Oliver Helden and Tiesto’s newest collaboration

‘Wombass’ getting the crowd excited for what was in store. When he threw down Eric Prydz ‘Generate’ my fellow Asian, Airec Syprasert, and I went nuts; Darude really knew how to work the crowd up! I got the chance to talk to fellow attendees of the night and many were surprised with Darude’s set because they only knew him as the creator of one song, but in reality he is so much more than what we make him out to be. Darude continued to destroy us with massive tunes for the rest of the night and then we heard what we had all been waiting for…DUNDUNDUNDUN. Screaming. Dun dundundun. That’s right, it was finally time for the ‘Sandstorm’! I can’t even begin to tell you how many people were breaking out their DDR moves in the back and caused an earthquake.

With that Darude took his leave and let Kristina Sky take over the decks, then to Michael Bricker, who debuted his very first trance set! Bricker opened up with MaRLo’s ‘Ignite’ and threw down other tracks such as ‘Dark Matter’ from Standerwick, ‘Rebound’ from Photographer, and my personal favorite ‘Cusp’ from Seven Lions. Although he doesn’t normally play trance, Bricker closed out the night strong!

Thank you to everyone that made it out last Saturday night and get ready for our next Phoria event on December 26th, Jerome Isma-ae OPEN TO CLOSE!

Facebook Event Here
Tickets here: http://bit.ly/phoriajeromeotc

Gabriel & Dresden OPEN TO CLOSE CLASSICS ONLY Recap

By Stephanie Q. and Airec S.

Phoria had the pleasure to host a Classic Only night with San Francisco’s own (Josh) Gabriel & (Dave) Dresden. The anticipation was killing many last Friday; nothing could have prepared us for the ultimate night of classics only with 7+ hours from Gabriel & Dresden at Ruby Skye other than lots of Redbull. A few lucky TranceFamilySF meet & greet winners got the chance to enter Ruby Skye before the madness began, starting out their night even earlier than those who arrived at 9pm! We don’t know how they survived the night, but major props to them! We would definitely like to know their secret, because we was definitely destroyed by the end of the night! But for the rest of us un-winning peasants, we still had the time of our lives even without getting the preview experience from the dynamic duo.

The lucky winners who got to meet Gabriel & Dresden!

It may have been the beginning of a long night, but Ruby Skye was packed with classic lovers: the bar was lined up with people waiting to begin the party and the dance floor was packed with those ready to dance their feet off! Unlike any other night we’ve been to Ruby Skye, the club was for once not filled with an influx of drunken young adults, but rather with fellow passionate trance lovers that were only there for the music. Gabriel & Dresden brought their A-game even while they were opening up the club, warming up the dance floor with a cool melodic, minimal and progressive sounds, bringing in even the shyest of dancers to bob their heads and dancing in place. It was funky, groovy and the two DJs knew their home crowd and gave us what we wanted. The night may have started out early but oh how we all danced our hearts out.

The music that accompanied us through the night was not only filled with classics but contemporary tunes from Pryda, Deadmu5, and many more. Once the club approached the 2AM mark, the crowd thinned out and was composed only of fans who weren’t just weekend warriors. G&D rewarded us remaining classic trance lovers by turning it up and tugging at our heart strings with classics that we thought we would only hear from relic CDs and iPod Minis!

The two legends played tracks like “Mind Circus”, their remix of “Read My Mind”, old-school-trance-Tiesto’s “Into the Dark”, “Tracking Treasure Down”, and many more. G&D transported our minds, along with the crowd, to another world that was once thought to have only lived in the musical past; one of the best tracks that revved up the nocturnal crowd was “Southern Sun”. This trance classic got everyone to sing their lungs out as words that were once forgotten spewed out of everyone’s mouth to match the vocals of Carla Werner.

Taken by Stephanie

If people thought the sing-a-longs would stop there, the night continued with a crowd surged karaoke of “Beautiful Things” and “As the Rush Comes”. They even closed out the night with their remix of Above & Beyond’s “No One On Earth”! That blew our minds away and ended the night on a perfect note. We’re pretty sure we speak for everyone who stayed until 4AM when we say our voice is still recovering from bellowing out lyrics of the past. We all definitely left with a smile on our face and not regretting how destroyed we’d be feeling the next day.

Not to discredit other DJs whom have graciously spun at any other Phoria night, but this Classic Only night was a sort of magic that only classic tunes could conjure, making it was one of the best nights Phoria has every hosted. The majestic feeling of everyone in attendance was real; there was no emphasis on drops or breakdowns, just beautiful music that surrounded us with love. It’s a surreal feeling to be in a room with so many trance fans who were embarked on a musical journey piloted by G&D.

This unforgettable night was filled with a lot of group hugs, kisses, and simply the love for trance. Words just can’t explain how beautiful of a night we had. The people in Ruby Skye that night started out their trance-voyage as strangers, but slowly became a family of Phorians in the end. Without you, the fans, none of this would have been possible! We wished that everyone could have joined us, but we at Phoria understood if you couldn’t. However, if you were there then please spread the word on how amazing that night was.

Hopefully y’all could join us next week for another night of a different kind of trance magic with Simon Patterson, John Askew plus Derek Pryce, Erika K & Iridescent on July 24th!
Tickets: http://bit.ly/phoriasimonaskew
Meet & Greet: http://bit.ly/psymonaskew

Airec and a friend with 1/2 of Gabriel & Dresden

Stephanie with 1/2 of Gabriel & Dresden

Paul Oakenfold, TyDi, & BT Recap

By Airec S.

Phoria was stacked with a triple headliner last weekend at Ruby Skye. It was an intense weekend and the packed/almost sold out nights were there to prove it; a rightful San Francisco greeting for three of the best names in trance.

Paul Oakenfold started off the weekend with a bang on Friday. I arrived a little after midnight and walked into a swarm of people jumping and grooving to the amazing sounds of Oakenfold. I was listening to his set from EDCLV 2014 on my way to work earlier that day, preparing myself for what was to come. Boy, did all that preparation go to the trash. Walking into Ruby Skye Friday night I was almost blown off my feet. After the first three songs, I knew that this set was going to be different then the last time I saw him in the Vegas desert.

There was just something magical about this set. It was the right mixture of trance. Oakenfold played contemporary remixes of songs like The XX “The Intro,” and weaved in-and-out darker trance and a little bit psy-trance. The organization of the different types of EDM kept us on our toes as we jumped up and down, pumping our fist in the air. Oakenfold would bring us up with some uplifting songs and then crash us with some hard-hitting trance.

My favorite parts of his sets were THE CLASSICS!!! Boy, he definitely helped me live my childhood rave dreams (the ones I had when I pretended I was at a rave when I was attending 8th grade dances) by playing remixes of “Southern Sun,” “1998,” “Big Sky” and that one song, I think it was . . . umm . . . DARUDE SANDSTROM!!! Everyone was in disbelief when we heard the mesmerizing da-da-dada melody of the classic hit. But when that da-da-dada dropped, everyone made the bounced.

It was nice to see a good mixture of people on Friday night. There were old-school ravers, new-school ravers, clubbers, EDM lovers, trance purest and even glovers giving light-shows. It was great to see all the people Oakenfold had in attendance. It didn’t matter if the person was there wearing fluffies, glowing cat ears or an expensive button down t-shirt, everyone was there for the music of Paul Oakenfold. And that was beautiful.

Also, a shout-out to our very own Niko Zografos and Jonny Atom for closing out the night. I know it must be hard following a big DJ like Oakenfold, but these two guys did it. Starting their set off with an energetic remix of “Beautiful Things,” their B2B carried that same energy that Oakenfold left off with and kept the club packed till the late of the morning.

By Stephanie Q.

Making an appearance at Ruby Skye for their tour last Saturday, double headliners TyDi and BT took the stage and gave club goers the time of their lives.

As one of the TranceFamilySF meet and greet winners, I had the opportunity to go behind the scenes to not only meet TyDi, but also play Jenga with him! TyDi explained that he would always play with his friends and would Instagram it, so at a show a fan brought in a sign that said ‘Play Jenga with me!’ and his manager loved that idea and began incorporating it into their future meet and greets. It may have seemed serious at some points during the game, but we had an amazing time hanging out, cracking jokes at one another, and playing Jenga with TyDi! Amazingly chill and funny guy and so happy that I was able to make it out to meet him!

Once entering the now packed dance floor, Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘The Hanging Tree’ creeped up, setting an eerie tone, but soon fired up the pace getting everyone dancing and singing along to throwback pop/rock songs like Oasis’ “Wonderwall” and The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside”. These classic throwback songs hit the hearts of those who grew up with them, looking as if there wasn’t a person in sight who didn’t know the lyrics of both. TyDi threw down other bangers with “Buenosaurus” by Heatbeat and his own tracks “Apollo” featuring Cameron Walker and closing out the night with “Redefined”. I have to admit, compared to his set from last year at Ruby Skye, Saturday’s show was a bit more poppy than what I was expecting. Despite the small drawback, the crowd (as well as myself) had a great time dancing easily to TyDi’s catchy tunes.

Next up was BT, the “Godfather of Trance” opening with one of Above & Beyond’s latest singles “We Are All We Need”, then playing his own tracks with “Skylarking” and “Love Comes Again”. Although BT moved away from trance after the beginning of his set the crowd fell in love with him and his wide variety of music, getting us to flow with “Palm of Your Hand” by Speed Limits and Jaco then ending the night with his own “Flaming June”.

Without a doubt, TyDi and BT gave Ruby Skye a night to remember and reminding us that trance is growing and constantly changing. As much as I love trance, I was definitely not disappointed with the variety both headliners had for us that night.

If you want more trance in your life, check out Phoria’s next event with Adam Ellis at Slide on Friday, May 15!

Guestlist: http://bit.ly/phoriaellisgl
Tickets: http://bit.ly/phoriaellis
Email phoriaevents@gmail.com for VIP Bottle Service

Ben Gold Recap

By Stephanie Quiambao

Stepping into Ruby Skye, you immediately feel the deep pounding of steady beats from Ari Kyle. Being the opener for the headliner of the night is always a difficult job, but Ari Kyle played a calm yet upbeat set. A notable mention was when Kyle played “Let there be light.” The classic was not only a crowd pleaser, but it ensured everyone a night of great music.

With a steady stream of people starting to fill up the dance floor there were groups already dancing and having the time of their lives with one another and others standing off to the side enjoying the ambiance of the music. As the time began to near 12:00, Ari Kyle began to lift up the mood with faster beats that got even more pumped up.

Then, it was finally time for Ben Gold to take the stage. Ben Gold definitely did not hold back on us! He rocked that deck and played his latest single “All Or Nothing” featuring Christina Novelli, and other hits like Cosmic Gate’s “Falling Back in Love”.

Throughout the set, Ruby Skye became more and more packed, with there barely being any space to move around. It was unbelievable how many people came to not only have a good time, but also for the music. Looking through the crowd there wasn’t a face that wasn’t smiling; Ben Gold’s trance set was reaching out to all of us to create a journey of emotions from being happy to be alive to being happy to be reunited with friends that we haven’t seen in months. It was a roller-coaster of feels.

Towards the end of his set, Ben Gold transitioned into what Phoria is all about: uplifting trance. The club became more high energy, fast paced, and most importantly uplifting. It felt as if there was no coming down from the high that Ben Gold gave us that night and there was nothing that would stop him.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Closing out with nostalgic hits like “Big Sky,” Ben Gold did not disappointing us one bit as he brought us down from the trance journey that he navigated.

We hope everyone enjoyed the night! To not miss out on any of Phoria’s events, make sure to grab your tickets for BT and TyDi this Saturday, April 25!

Facebook Page: Phoria presents BT & TyDi

Tickets: http://bit.ly/phoriabttydi

Email phoriaevents@gmail.com for VIP Bottle Service