bennyhana22

She's a current big-hitter, and so I'm sure is pretty expensive, but she could easily be there like Charlotte was in 2019. She's extremely popular. Ben

Max Cooper at the Roundhouse. Flippin' heck. That was quite the gig. It was a show postponed from pre-pandemic that was originally a one off, with Max intending to put on a bit of an A/V spectacular. When we saw that he'd now shoehorned the show into his tour for the new record, we were slightly worried that it would be great, but just another show in the tour. We needn't have worried. As far as I can tell he pretty much gave us the special show he had always intended, albeit augmented to include tracks from the new record. He played the whole thing, and at 3h10m is comfortably the longest set I've ever seen at a gig. It was a good job I looked at the tickets when we got to London and saw that the doors were at 6. Went onto Twitter to find him saying that he was going to play his IDM A/V stuff to start with and then rave it up a bit. And he did. The visuals were incredible and by some margin the best I've ever seen at a gig. He played with a huge screen behind him and his deck was itself behind a massive thin mesh curtain with a similar one either side of that. So, we had visuals behind him and projected up onto the curtain so that for much of the show you could barely see him behind, such was the size and scale of the projections. It was stunning. In the second half of the set he ramped it up, including 30 minutes of IDM-inflected DnB, the last of those tracks being dubstep! For someone who likes, but can not dance to, drum and bass (MASSIVE sub-bass at times), I was glad when he dropped a techno banger after that, extended out for 10 minutes. All in all, a triumph. I'm a bit sad to be in a car on the way home, rather than heading to his DJ set later at Village Underground, but I've got an all-nighter on Friday, so discretion is the better part of valour tonight. But Max is a bloody clever producer. Ben

See you there, David. Reddish beard, glasses, in shorts. Come say hi, if you like! Ben

Don't you chip in too, Fuzzy...! Ben

Oh shit! Will this day of cock-ups by me ever end? Ben

Sorry, pal! I had meant to indicate that someone had confirmed it in here. I've just re-read my last post which is quite obviously interpretable as suggesting it was my intel. Not gonna lie, I'm having an absolute 'mare today! AND I got RickRolled by that frickin' Cadbury's free Easter eggs scam yesterday... I need to take a bloody breath before responding to everything!! Ben

And there's me. Late, wrong - I've got it all today 😆 Ben

I'm pretty sure (not that I'm sure about anything now...) that HAAi is self-confirmed by personal communication to be there 'all weekend', so I think she's nailed on for several sets. Be nice to have her b2b somewhere with someone. Ben

Sorry team. I've now been done over twice in two days. Huge apologies for leading you down the primrose path, despite best intentions and thinking I'd validated the intel. As you were ☹️ Ben

Gah 😖 Ben

Well yes. My source 'confirmed' it was real after midday. So either it is (I'm becoming increasingly sceptical..), or he really doesn't know the rules of April Fools...😞 Ben

Sorry, Sir, are you lost? 🤪 Ben

Still waiting... I really hope I haven't been done up like a kipper and got you April Fools bed-adjacent, team......... Will confirm ASAP! Ben

I take that back, @tigger123 - you're quite right in that the last first poster drop for Genosys had twice the number of names. Still trying to get clarification on where it landed on socials. Ben

I'll ask him again. I was nervous to post until I was sure. It does, however, look exactly like previous posters, artwork etc. One moment, caller... Ben

Nah, the poster drop is usually around this size. Then you get the full shebang when the whole line up drops 3-4 weeks pre-festival. Ben

I'm reassured by a yoof that this is on Insta and kosher. On that basis, YES! Hodge. Avalon. Mor Elian. Blistering. Ben

Stand. By. Your. Beds. Ben

Welcome back, Tom! Yeah, I was defo expecting to see you on the 'floor somewhere in 2019. Come on man, it's all about pacing! We're supposed to be showing the kids how to do it. I reckon we will finally get a decent thread meet up of sorts, this year. Ben

Oh mate! You really need to explore all that the SEC has to offer! And what's all this 'might manage one all-nighter'?? 40? You're spring chickens! The model is: Wendesday - find your sea legs Thursday - bands dotted around in the day and then SEC/PsyTrance in the Glade Lounge until 3am. Chance for a slightly more generous sleep allocation. Fri/Sat/Sun - bands from 1130h, dance midnight to 0600h (5 on Monday morning) anywhere from Beat Hotel (its successor...), through Silver Hayes, Arcadia and then the whole shebang that is the SEC. Monday - don't even think about Monday It gets harder as you get older, but that 4 night run is phenomenal! Welcome to the best thread on the 'boards. Ben 🙃

Spot on, @Supernintendo Chalmers. I've had some great times at Arcadia, notably Jon Hopkins in 2017, which was off. the. scale good. He apparently loved playing that (DJ) set. Now, saying that, my gang were right under the belly of the spider for the whole thing, and so the spectacle of what the spider looks like was much less important than the vibe, company and shared experience. The set was one of my favourite ever and he is a master at creating a 90 minute journey. For me, you *had* to be as close as possibly equidistant from the three leg speaker stacks in the middle and the sound was fantastic. I enjoyed my time at Pangea, but as always I wanted to be in the heart of it, right under the middle of the crane. As such, we were often not in the best place sound-wise. I found myself moving around almost between two speakers. But, again, we were with people we love and it was all new and shiny, so good times. But nothing like the experience at, say, Genosys. I bloody love that stage. I can dance for HOURS, mesmerised by the fluctuating greens and greys, with the projections baking my noodle nicely. And the sound can be stellar. As mentioned earlier in the thread, HAAi's set in 2019 was a quasi-spiritual experience. I'd love to see her on IICON. So, my predictably verbose way of saying that yes, smaller, darker and more intimate is *always* better! Ben

That's a fair comment, @stuie, as was @Winslow Leach's. I guess what I meant was that I very much support the Block9 team in always trying to innovate in their curation, rather than take the 'easy' route of the same old huge names that are guaranteed floor fillers. Not that I wish in anyway that area to be too niche or cliquey, but that I also would hate to see it lose its edge and philosophy. Somewhere in the middle sweet-spot is what we need. Ben

I'll repeat my annual (almost...!) declaration: Given the brilliant vibe in this, the thread of threads, if I don't get to meet and dance with a significant number of people from here at the festival, I'm going to be majorly pissed off. ❤️ Ben

Also, I'm glad that IICON will 'never' become somewhere just to stick the big, popular names. As you imply, that's not what Block9 is about at all, and thank goodness for that. Man, do I want that Block9 drop now!!! Ben

You had me at "One major Detroit legend..." 😄 Ben