Our boy, Charlie Burley heads to Gent in Belgium to find out what all the fuss is about…
Boasting one of the most impressive line-ups of the year so far, there was an unprecedented amount of expectation surrounding the 18th I Love Techno event in Gent‘s ‘Flander’s Expo’ warehouse space in Belgium. Since its inception in 1995, the night has cemented itself as the biggest and most adventurous event in Europe, and having spent the majority of my summer experiencing the best of what England has to offer, I thought I would take a small hop across the English channel to see if the Europeans really do it better, and the answer in its simplest terms is yes, they do. After a 4am wake-up call and some 11 hours of travelling, it would be a slight exaggeration to say I was really in the mood for 12 hours of dance music when we arrived at our hotel in Gent, but having clocked a couple of potential ravers in our neighbouring rooms, it wasn’t long before the excitement began to build. Having spoken to a few of the locals during our taxi-wait, it was clear that I Love Techno was a big deal. Virtually every person we bumped into asked the same question: are you here for Techno?
When we arrived at Flanders Expo it was evident that the scale of this event would be like nothing I had ever experienced before. Thousands upon thousands of people were descending on the stadium-sized industrial unit and security presence was virtually non existent: it was as though people knew and respected the rules, and weren’t interested in comprising them. It was a little more than a 10 minute wait before we had made our way through the ‘security’ checks, and into the main cloakroom area (an area which in itself was probably the same size as the entire Warehouse Project complex alone!). After breezing through here we found ourselves in the main arena, which contained several other arenas, within the arena. Six rooms, each holding about 6,000-8,000 people, roughly 15 bars to cover all zones, cargo containers used to create new dance-floors in the food court and Red Bull arena, and of course a multitude of FREE timetables handed out by the abundance of on-site staff. You felt like a VIP just by being there.
First up on my extensive list of ‘must-see’ acts was Dutch upriser Bakermat, who has certainly been staking his claim as Europe’s hottest ‘feel-good’ house producer in recent times. Utter his name in the UK and the odd dance-enthusiast might have heard of him, but on the continent Bakermat is a BIG deal. He is the driving force behind the beautiful, jazz-inspired sax house concept that has caught the imagination of thousands of club-goers. It is a scene that is Europe’s little secret, and hits like ‘Uitzicht‘, ‘Leven’ and ‘Vandaag’ propelled the Green Room into life. An explosion of colour and chanting was just what was on the cards before the likes of Disclosure and Klangkarussell took to the stage, and Bakermat is destined for bigger and better things in 2014 without any question. Having had the bar set very high, it was off to Red Room for the warm, melodic electronica of the younger of the Kalkbrenner brothers, Fritz. Slightly lacking the atmosphere that Bakermat had previously evoked, this was a really great set to admire as we befriended some of our Belgian counterparts, and ‘Sky and Sands’ was a euphoric climax to the German’s set.
Having been somewhat spaced out by the alluring melodies of the previous set, it was time for the act I had been most looking forward to on the night: the dark overlord of French Goth-tech, Gesaffelstein. Having just released one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, it was no wonder the mastermind behind some of the most innovative underground anthems of 2013 drew a bigger crowd than arguably any other act. ‘Aleph’ has been met with widespread critical acclaim, and it was the bulk of its content that made up the hour long showpiece of precise execution, and crowd-bating that was reminiscent of Richie Hawtin and Aphex Twin. Violently cutting from downtempo psycho-aggressive foot-stompers like ‘Viol’ and ‘Pursuit’ to the more abrasive ‘Hate Or Glory’ and ‘Control Movement’, Gesaffelstein is the best at what he does, and it’s quite alarming how good at it he actually is.
Next up was a distinct change in tempo, as we ventured across to see the ever elusive work of Claptone, sporting his infamous golden bird mask. In a night where Techno and Trap (unfortunately) seemed to dominate, on paper this looked like it would be a tough set to fill, but in fact it provided the perfect go-to place for many a sweaty club-goer! Hits such as ‘Wrong’ and ‘No Eyes’ really gave this set a magical touch. From here we saw the likes of The Bloody Beetroots, Laurent Garnier and Marcel Dettmann, all of whom impressed in their own typical fashion, and carried the event on beautifully towards 3am, the time at which the venue felt it’s busiest. Believe me, in Belgium this is early doors!
After a much needed break it was the long awaited return of Digitalism to the decks, and boy did they do a good job. After a healthy gap in between themselves and the previous act it was a tough job reinvigorating the room, but crowd-pleasing classics from Run DMC, M83 and Azealia Banks soon saw Yellow Room back to full capacity. From here the belligerent Techno ensued, and rightly so. The undisputed Godfathers of Techno Len Faki and Chris Liebing kept things pumping right until the 7am curfew and made me realise how lucky I was to be a part of that crowd that night. If we ever come close to replicating anything similar in this country, then it will be a great day, because this really was the best dance event I’ve ever been to, and it would certainly take something special to beat it.
Words By: Charlie Burley (@Ledesko)