On Saturday October 29th the Triad Dragons threw down their latest massive called Hallowfreaknween at the Denver Merchandise Mart. The night offered the full array of EDM genres from hardstyle and dubstep to progressive trance that would satisfy the pallet of any discriminating fan. The lineup included Dehasse, Lisa Lashes, Showtek and the headlining duties were given to the trance and progressive duo of Stefan ‘Bossi’ Bossems and Nic Chagall AKA Cosmic Gate.
StopBreatheBump had the great pleasure of sitting down with Nic and Bossi ahead of their performance… check out the interview out at the link below!
INTERVIEW W/ COSMIC GATE
I arrived at the denver merchandise mart around 11 to the realization that I had missed the all of the opening acts. It was disappointing that I couldn’t sample Showtek’s unique brand of hardstyle, but there will always be another opportunity in the future. As I entered Dehasse was closing his set with a very unpredictable lineup of tracks starting with some very hard dance and ending with ‘Avicii – Levels’. It may have been his way of bringing down the tempo but it felt very forced and I cannot imagine how inconsistent the rest of his must have been.
When Nic an Bossi took to the decks the odd and inconsistent vibe changed for the better as they began to take the crowd on a whirlwind journey to Cosmic enlightenment. The thick heavy basslines combined with gorgeous melodies and angelic vocals instilled a sense of energy and enjoyment back into the crowd as the unmistakeable sounds cascaded over them. Being that is was only an hour and a half set they cut through the filler and jumped in head first playing tracks like ‘Thing Called Love (Burning Bridges Remix)’, ‘Koko’ & ‘Fire Wire (Cosmic Gate Back 2 the Future Remix)’.
They carefully inserted ‘Flying Blind feat JES’, ‘Be Your Sound feat. Emma Hewitt’ and ‘Nothing Ever Lasts feat. Andrew Bayer’ (three of my favorite tracks from their new album ‘Wake Your Mind’) to bring down the tempo and I have to say it was a real pleasure to hear the new tracks played live. It was at this time when the true Cosmic Gate fans became apparent as they came to the forefront screaming the lyrics like they had been listening to them for years.
As they continued through to the second half of their set it reminded me why I have never been disappointed at any of their shows. After 13 years of making music together they perform like a well oiled machine – serving up a perfect recipe of their own productions/remixes with a splash of classics that always send the crowd into the frenzy. This night I was especially excited when they dropped ‘Exploration of Space’, ‘Find Yourself (Cosmic Gate Remix) and last but not least Delerium – Silence (W&W and Jonas Stenburg Remix)’.
In the blink of an eye the short 1.5hr set was over and you could feel the air go out of the building as the crowd yearned for more. It was short, but oh so sweet as Nic and Bossi left yet another indelible mark on thousands of partiers.
UK trance DJ Lisa Lashes immediately followed Cosmic Gate with some very high octane tunes in an attempt to maintain the energy levels in the room. She certainly impressed with her deep techy sounds and cheeky remixes of some absolute classic like ‘Cafe del Mar’. Sadly I don’t think she had the same effect on the crowd as a whole and with each track the crowd shrank as they were clearly all danced out. Despite this, credit must be given to Lisa as she didn’t bat an eyelash and continued to send it for whoever was willing to share the journey. Hats off for such a gritty performance and it would be a pleasure to see her again with a better crowd and environment.
In the end it certainly was one of the least impressive Triad Dragon events I have attended over the past 6 months but it had its highlights that did not go unnoticed by this concert goer. I know that Beta and Triad Dragons are really pushing to expand the scene to the younger generations but sometimes it seems that this effort is sacrificing the integrity of the events.
In the future I would love to see the two take a different route by organizing some smaller events with big name DJs and keeping the age limit at 21. This would weed out the non-fans who are there just to get messed up and I guarantee that it would result in a better experience for all parties involved – from the DJ to the dance floor. It may not generate as much $$$ but it would certainly go a long way of re-engaging the ‘older’ EDM fans who have been alienated by the ‘high school homecoming raves’ that have become the norm.
VIDEO
‘find yourself (cosmic gate remix)’
‘thing called love (burning bridges remix)’
‘cafe del mar’
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- SHARING IS SEXY
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