When an international act that many people have been longing to see is announced, there is always a massive build of excitement and anticipation. I for one try to contain myself as if I put my expectations to high, it’s possible I may not be as happy with the end result if the act doesn’t perform how I thought they would. This show however, was not one to disappoint.

Although numbers were possibly 100 people short, the attendance was solid. One thing I had first noticed was the lack of ‘ravers’: I saw only two girls embracing gators and glow wear. I totally don’t have a problem seeing candy wearing, glowstick ravers and events, if anything I enjoy it – it shows a dedication to the music. That said however it really shows any naïve person that thinks hard trance enthusiasts are always dressed in phatt pants, gators and face paint are wrong. This night embraced a good friendly crowd, all there to have everything on offer and not interfere with anyone’s enjoyment of the night.

Solace and Josh built the crowd up as they know best, playing some uplifting tracks to heighten the anticipation of the Cosmic duo to take over the decks. By now the crowd was well and truly warmed up for the start of Cosmic Gate! I have to say I was quite surprised that they didn’t enter with one of their more popular tracks to get a massive crowd reaction; instead they planned on building up to that! Their set was slowly building yet keeping plenty of interest from the dancefloor. As you would expect, mixes were tight as they went ‘two for two’ and ‘one for one’ behind the CDJs. It was good to see them enjoying themselves too as they interacted with the crowd with big smiles on their face.

The first track that got a chant from the crowd was their mix of Emaar’s Stay and it wasn’t until the last half hour or so that they started cranking out their own major hits. First off the rank was Fire Wire. I tell you, it was good to hear this track being played after so many years, it gave me tingles and the crowd absolutely loved it, they went ballistic! They then cranked Exploration of Space, another track that sent the crowd into frenzy; talk about giving them a hammering! After a couple more it was the end of their set, but the MC wound them up to play another track… what one? I Feel Wonderful of course! I’m not a big fan of that track personally as I prefer the original Skydive by Freefall, but everyone else was loving it and singing along. It was a shame they didn’t play “Back to Earth” and “Somewhere over the rainbow” but nevertheless it was an awesome set.

All in all, it was a good night and probably a more intimate one than expected, not that that’s a bad thing in any respect. I think Echo and Earth did a good job at working at this one and I’m sure many happy punters are thankful of the chance to see possibly the best trance duo in the world.