The Easter long weekend needed something special to entertain the techno diehards and something special was what they got. With three international artists on the bill, Saturday night never looked so good.

Working the decks early, Aarin F was warming up the crowd with some melodic techno tunes. There was a good-sized crowd in early and they were looking ready for a big night. Never missing a beat, Aarin played a good set very suitable for the early timeslot and got the crowd ready to go.

The unmistakeable hair of Seth Troxler followed on from Aarin. With no intro he continued on the mix, quickly taking it into a bit of melodic techno. To me it seemed as though Seth lost the plot early on, but he soon picked up and drew the crowd onto the dancefloor, working his way from melodic to hard tech and even a few house tracks, with Jodeci’s Freek ‘n’ You in the second half bringing the mix back a notch. Respite was brief though, with Troxler kicking on with a harder-edged mix to finish off the set. Props to the guy doing the commando roll across the stage, causing the track to jump. Troxler took it all in his stride, though.

From funky hair to funky glasses, it was time for Phil Kieran to take up his position in the god box. From high atop his production tower, the man with the LED-goggles kicked the crowd off with the melodic electro of Don’t Look Far Away, before changing it up with some four-four action. The live visuals were also impressive, with the two screens and the glasses keeping in time with the music.

The early part of his set was mixed between electro and deep tech and it seemed that each track jumped into a breakdown to let everyone catch their breath. By the end of the first half hour the crowd was right into it, so after putting down another electro tune R.E.S.P he jumped back into harder techno styles and carried these through to the end of the set. By this time the crowd was amped so cheered longingly at the conclusion.

Oliver Huntemann needed no introduction and the crowd let him know it. Launching immediately into his signature minimal-tech sounds, the dancefloor lapped it up. Huntemann kept up the tone for the first hour, playing long mixes and working the atmosphere. Unfortunately my +1 was tired by this stage so I had to leave, but all reports suggest the last hour was top notch.

Big ups to the TLOY and Democracy crew for putting on the show. The lighting on the night was also super, with lights working overtime behind the stage through Troxler’s and Huntemann’s sets. The standard has been set.