It had been some time since I had been to Zen and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have redecorated and have moved the DJ box to the center of the room where I arrived in time to catch the last half-hour of ritchie jays’ set. He was pounding out deep fast beats much to the pleasure of the very colorful crowd.



Ritchie set the mood nicely for the start of Pans set while an expectant crowd waited. So Pan delivered. I always like to watch a DJ who is full of energy and looks like they are really enjoying themselves. It’s good for the crowd who seemed to have been infected with Pan’s bounce. He dropped a nice driving beat so I readied myself for a journey. Before too long at all Pan had the crowd whipped up and was appearing to be enjoying himself as much if not more than the punters he was playing for.



By 2am Zen had filled out nicely and everyone gathered for the start of Psyclones set. Steadying myself for another dose of gnarly fast deep sounds I took the opportunity to relax for 5 minutes with a tasty cold beer before wandering into the now nicely populated dance floor for another boogie.



I really loved how the venue had been decorated with a flouro industrial feel to it with what I think were air-conditioning pipes and a bunch of other unidentifiable stuff. Having not been to Zen before (since it was the underground anyway) I assumed the promotors were responsible for this and deserve two thumbs up for creating a wicked atmosphere. The old raver in us doesn’t die; he/she just forgets what happened to all those trippy clothes we once owned.



So off into the night I pressed, leaving about 250 punters inside, happy to find my definition of psy-trance was fairly incorrect and completely satisfied by my reunion with the darker side of trance. If some faster deeper beats are what you require then this is the party for you. I might now suggest all the house and breaks fans out there give this party a go, you might well be pleasantly surprised.