The time had come once again for Echo to bring the power of trance to the Adelaide masses, and this time it was courtesy of Public Domain’s own Mark Sherry to take the stage at Earth. Following the recent success of trance at Future Music Festival, punters were champing at the bit to hear the sweet uplifting energy of trance. This was to be another fantastic night, and Echo did not disappoint!

This event was a joint venture between Echo and Earth, with them both celebrating birthdays; Echo its 4th and Earth its 4th. The fact that a production crew has made trance work in Adelaide for four years straight is a massive achievement, especially considering where this genre once was. Echo has seen more and more punters coming out to hear trance sounds. I must admit, upon having another look around the club, Earth really is one of the better venues in Adelaide. It is spacious, well laid out, and it can cater for a huge crowd. The only down side is that when you’re moving between the first and ground floor, there’s a cross over in sound. It’s not until you are well onto the floor that you can perfectly hear the music for that arena. Aside from that, the venue is well designed.

On arriving it was good to hear something upbeat and not too hard, too early. Howlett was doing a great job up first, the perfect lead in to Josh. Before settling in for Josh, however, I decided to head upstairs to hear DJ Wheelz. He was killing it with some old school house from the early 90s, something I was not expecting to hear, but boy did it work. He could mix and programmed the set very well, blending the tracks together perfectly. This once again proves that, at the right time, old tunes can work perfectly in today’s clubs. It was great to hear a classic like ‘Release’ again. It’s been ages since I’ve heard that one on a club system!

It was now time to head back downstairs to hear Josh, who was picking up the pace as she always does. People were starting to filter out onto the floor by this time, and the vibe was beginning to really resonate . As always, it was great to hear ‘Adagio for Strings’ when Josh dropped it during her set. Soon enough Josh was making way for one of Adelaide’s local trance heroes and Echo promoter, Solace. It wasn’t long before feet were pounding to the new trance classic ‘Body of Conflict’ by Cosmic Gate. What a tune it is! From here, we moved into Tiesto & BT’s ‘Break My Fall’. I never knew BT could sing until this track! Also within his set, the classic ‘Everytime’ went down a treat. It kept getting more driving and melodic, even though the crowd on the floor was not huge. Even so, they were loving every minute. It was also wicked to hear ‘Sound of Goodbye’ by Armin Van Buuren to conclude Solace’s set. For those of you who missed it, it was – in my opinion – one of Solace’s best sets in recent times.

Headline act Mark Sherry stepped up next, hitting the crowd with his energetic trance as punters swarmed onto the floor. There was certainly no argument about the adrenalin levels, with pulses racing as Sherry dished it out. The remix of ‘Bullet in the Gun’ was nice to hear, as I’d not heard any mix of it in quite a long time. However it wasn’t until I heard the remix Mark played of ‘Skydive’ that I found myself on an aural high. There was also an interesting remix of U2’s own ‘Beautiful Day’ that got the crowd involved. It was continuous energy from there, so much so my legs were starting to kill me! Mark also made use of ‘Adagio for Strings’ at the conclusion of his set, and even though I usually have a thing against DJs who repeat tracks from earlier in the night, it fit just fine.

Static and Damage kept the energy going after Sherry stood down, with the energetic remix of ‘Greece 2000’ just what the punters wanted to hear to get their second lease of life. It wasn’t long after this that my reserves were completely depleted, so it was time for the trip home. I wish I’d stayed for the closing act, Scott Effect, because from feedback I’ve heard he completely smashed the floor until 6am! Overall, it was another successful Echo event. To think that fans of the genre are getting Dogzilla and Sean Tyas in a few more days, it’s incredible!