Although 4 Strings is considered a leading trance DJ, with frequent air play and mass appeal, I don’t think anyone was quite expecting what I saw as I arrived at Heaven. The line for Chemistry, quite possibly THE Chemistry of the year or certainly of late, was astounding. While the club was reaching capacity, the line stretched all the way round the Midnight Chemist and past Empire! And at four people deep, this was no mean feat! My sympathies go to all the folks that were turned away or decided it wasn’t worth it as security came round informing everyone there would be a three to four hour wait in the queue. Outside, tantalising tunes pounded their way through the walls telling the waiting crowd that in there is where you wanted to be.

Once inside, I was greeted by wall to wall punters and a rush of hot, humid air, but the atmosphere was a party one. Kontrol and NRG had done a fantastic job of warming up the crowd and the dance floor was packed out. Possibly because there was no where else to stand.

At 12:40am 4 Strings stepped up to the decks and dropped a boxful of reverberating trance beats on the expectant crowd. Warming up with an uplifting Paul Van Dyk tune he got enthusiastic behind the decks, revving the crowd up and waving his arms with the music.

Not long after was what the crowd had been waiting for, not unexpectedly, Take Me Away, one of his best known tracks, literally took the crowd away with a 1000 strong crowd dominating the chorus and a sea of hands raised to the spiky, blonde haired DJ at the decks. We got a peek at his new track later among some more uplifting trance and Diving. There was hardly room to move, let alone dance, but somehow I managed to squeeze a little bit in. With the temperature just a tad warm though, that probably wasn’t such a bad thing.

At 2:30am Heaven’s humongous mirror ball descended on the stage as Let it Rain started, but came down just a little far, with the MC trying to hold it off of the unsuspecting international’s head. Luckily someone noticed and lifted it back up. The same MC took a sticky beak into the record box and later declared there was at least another hours worth of tracks there, and that yes! 4 Strings would do a massive three hour set!

Getting back into it with a couple of breaks that promised it harder and faster, 4 Strings launched into some wicked hard trance. The crowd was still going strong at 3:30am when this reviewer decided the heat was getting a bit much and that she should probably catch up with all the friends that got ditched earlier in the line. A wicked night to be had by all (that made it in) and hats off to 4 Strings for a fabulous set.