Shah, Schulz and Emery – Need I say more? And I witnessed all three in the space of seven hours and still I am in awe.

The night started off with young local talent Jason Creek, WA’s #1 Trance and Progressive DJ, followed none other than the Ibiza resident a.k.a. Magic Island’s, Roger Shah. I’m remain sure about Balearic. Perhaps the words ‘boring and predictable’ would be better to describe Shah’s set? Did Shah forget that he had been to Perth already in the past year? When I had last seen Shah at Rise Nightclub in May 2009, he pulled a girl from out of the crowd to go on stage and play on his keyboard and then managed to do the same thing again at this concert. You would think someone of this quality may have been able to think of something different to entertain the crowd. His set, comprising of Lost, Found, Who Will Find Me, Body Lotion, Healesville and Beautiful Things were also the same as his set in May with a few new additions. Having once described his albums as hoping to be something you could listen to over and over again, was he also hoping that the trance family would perhaps feel the same way about his sets? I think not. I do however note that he is one of those DJ’s that still tend to play more of his own original tracks rather than playing his edit/mix of a track already released and made famous by another DJ. I give him total credit for this. I still enjoyed his set because I knew the tracks, but it would’ve been great to hear something new from Shah. It was definitely a good warm up for the crowd to prepare for the epicness that is Markus Schulz.

Markus Schulz is arguably at the top of the elite list of DJ’s still able to attract a large following, even after all of these years. His high energy set and usually flawless mixing – which I might add was on a slight step down for someone of his caliber – flowed with some of the hottest trance tracks currently circulating the online podcasts and forums. Tunes included Tomcraft Loneliness, Faithless Not Going Home (AvB Remix & Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction), Rank 1’s Breathing [Markus Schulz Coldharbour Remix], Jochen Miller vs. Armin Van Buure’s Lost Vocal Connection (Markus Schulz Mashup), Markus Schulz ft. Dauby’s Perfect (Agnelli & Nelson remix), Jan Johnston’s Flesh [Tenishia Remix]. He also belted out Dustin Zahn’s Stranger To Stability [Len Faki Podium Mix / Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction], which was later also played by Gareth Emery. It was a highlight of my night to hear the same tune twice from two different DJ’s, playing on the same stage one after the other. The crowd’s reaction the second time around was a lot more high energy than the first time however. Markus definitely put on a display worthy of a pat on a back and it has definitely made me think twice about investing in his new album Do You Dream?’

Saving the best for last: in my books, Gareth Emery takes the cake. It was an awesome feeling to finally witness one of the world’s most exciting electronic dance music figures. The UK progressive trance DJ/producer has unique style and entertainment quality to send the crowd nuts, lifting the roof off of any venue without fail. He has a charismatic ability to read the crowd and know what to play, as having once been quoted as saying, ‘Knowing the crowd is a fundamental requirement and looking like you’re enjoying it.’ Well he got it right for the crowd in Perth, not one person looked disengaged from his set, and sorry to repeat myself, but when Gareth played ‘Stranger to Stability’ after Schulz had already played it, this guy has some serious guts and did he not only raise the bar, from that moment on, he kept it raised. Gareth is definitely one of my all time favorite trance DJ’s and I was so thankful for him to come to one of the most isolated city’s in the world, Perth. His set included John O’Callaghan’s Find Yourself, Tiesto’s Lethal Industry (Sander Van Doorn Remix), DT8 Project’s Destination (Akessson Remix) Velvetine’s Safe (Wherever You Are) (Mashup), Sander Van Doorn’s Renegade, Oceanlab vs Gareth Emery’s On a Metropolis Day (Myon & Shane54 Mashup) Lange vs Gareth Emery’s Another You, Another Me and Gareth Emery vs Delerium’s This is Silence (Black Army Mashup) . An encore which we will not be forgetting any time soon including an original track by Gareth under his former alias GTR’s Mistral – the fourth track Gareth had ever produced. Who would think a track released by such a star 8 years ago, would be the closing track for a gig in the prime of his DJ’ing career in 2010?

After having trouble finding the ‘Rouge Room’, I found Kenny L banging out a set with about 15 odd people lounging about the area. I recognised one track from his set, Jerome Isma-ae’s ‘Hold That sucker Down’, a personal favourite of mine, not long before Jay V took over the reigns. I unfortunately did not hear much from this room, due to the unbearable force drawing me back to the mainstage, though I would suggest it would’ve been much better if people actually knew it was there. It was great to be able to take a break from the Trance and get a quick fix of Tech & Progressive.

This was an epic night with Metropolis City undoubtedly one of the better venues for such gigs, thanks to the size and various viewing areas. While this show didn’t sell out, what was good was it added to the pleasure of being on the main dance floor and not being jam packed like sardines. I am sure Perth would open their arms in a heart beat to the likes of Gareth, Schulz or Shah arriving back on our shores tomorrow.