Created by Jürgen Mutschall (Chaos Records handler better known as DJ Jam X) and Dominik De Leon (aka De Leon), DuMonde revolutionised the whole trance scene in the late ‘90s. They brought gravitas and respect to the genre, taught clubbers to embrace the music and brought trance to the forefront of cutting edge dance music.

DuMonde’s animated synths and dramatic musicality has made them one of the most in demand remixers in the dance community. So much so, that over the last decade, you’d be hard pressed to find a trance compilation that doesn’t feature or have been influenced by them in one way or another. From CRW’s I Feel Love to Barthezz’s On the Move to Alice Deejay’s Better Off Alone, DuMonde’s remix magic was instrumental in turning these tracks into massive floor-fillers.

Thus, with such a heavyweight history, I totally expected Rise to be packed out with trance aficionados. Maybe it was because Metallica was in town, maybe it was because the circus was in town (the infamous Ibiza party Circo Loco at Villa Nightclub) but whatever the reason, this wasn’t the case and Rise was disappointingly empty.

With around 150-200 people dotted around the perimeter of the dancefloor and on the balcony outside, the dancefloor was quite sparse considering that DJ Jam X was pumping out anthem after well-known anthem. That’s not to say the music was unappreciated. There were definitely some cheers when he dropped Darude’s Sandstorm and Itch-E and Scratch-E’s Sweetness and Light went down a treat. DuMonde’s own trance epic God Music had the crowd stomping and the dancefloor filled up and stayed busy for the rest of the night. Even I had to put the camera away for a shuffle when he played a remix of Delerium’s massive hit Silence featuring Sarah McLachlan (although this ended up in lively debate of which version was the better one – personally I much prefer Technikal’s remix over Tiesto’s).

You have to give it up to the management at Rise. They do know how to bring in the internationals but perhaps featuring this act was a slight miscalculation because I felt that the younger clubbers didn’t give DJ Jam X the respect he deserved. Yes, the tunes were old but trance wouldn’t be where it is today without these original tracks and their evolution.

Also, to kick off a night and to make it memorable, there really has to be an interaction between the DJ and crowd. The people on the dancefloor were barely paying attention to him. When my mates and I jumped on and stomped around to the driving beats, we made eye contact and applauded each other – that’s the sort of appreciation DJs and clubbers have to give to one another to make the night work. I knew that DJ Jam X found it lacking because I saw him roll his eyes a few times at his DJ partner, which killed me because they deserved a much better reception.

All in all it was a good night. These German trancers know how to bring it, even if it wasn’t quite what the crowd wanted.