House Of Random

Thursday, February 16, 2006


Reminiscing

I recently dug out the MiniDisc I have of the last night of my University career. I Djed the last night and it was so fantastic.

It was the last night we all partied our arse off to, and I took the chance to write down the track listing, and when you talk about classic tunes, then this reads like a true representation of the sounds that made the dancefloors light up at uni:

End of Uni Set
--------------

Barthezz - On The Move
Emma Shaplin - Spente Le Stelle
Des Mitchell - Welcome To The Dance
Balearic Bill - Destination Sunshine
Lucid - Crazy
Vanessa Mae - White Bird
Prodigy - Out of Space (Hard House Remix)
Motivation - Para Mi
Tiesto - Sparkles (Airscape Mix)
Orion - See Me Here (Summer Beach Remix)
Lost Witness - Happiness Happening
Veracocha - Carte Blanche
Push - Strange World
Ayla - Ayla (Veracocha Remix)
Madonna - What It Feels Like For A Girl (Above & Beyond Remix)
Chakra - Home (3AM Mix)
Members of Mayday - 10IN01
Cygnus X - Superstring (Rank 1 Remix)

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - The Power of Love (Rob Searle Remix)
Marc et Claude - I Need Your Lovin' (Dark Moon Remix)
Desiderio - Starlight (Ferry Corsten Remix)
Lightforce - Join Me
Ascension - Someone

System F - Cry

Rank 1 - Airwave

-- Awesome!!!

The mixing is terrible, but it doesn't matter. There's something so special about hearing a club night that you know people were at, that they loved. And when you hear a drunken me announce "just remember these were the best days of your life..." before my immortal line, "For anyone who's loved and lost, for anyone that's feeling a little bit emotional right now: I have one last tune to play you. It's by System F. And it's known as 'Cry'"... it's shiver time.

I count it as one of the things I am most thankful for in my life - the chance to Dj my own last night at university, and to have it on minidisc, it's an irreplaceable documentary of the culmination of 3 years of hedonism and discovery, from the second week at Fresher's Fayre when someone asked me if I'd ever thought about being on the radio, and whether I'd like to try, to winning a national student radio award for the happy insanity that was the RaW Dance Selector, to playing the OBs at the summer RAG festival, to DJing alongside Lange, the Quench boys & Yomanda, to inspiring Gareth Emery (international DJ superstar now) to running Clublands, to playing American Football, to standing on a stage in front of 1500 people at The Afterlife, to getting trashed at the Final Fling and dancing on my own in a tux in the middle of a field to only the music in my head, to dropping the needle on the my last tune as a student, pulling down the shutters and locking the Dj booth so security couldn't stop Rank 1's "Airwave" from being played even thought it was gone 3am and were playing unlicenced; to watching the sunrise over campus, lain on the grass outside the Kone with only the last notes of that soaring synth ringing in my ears.... and you know what?

It still rings now.

It still comforts me, and it still drives me. Here's to the shivers, here's to the joy. To the years, the tears, the "I can't possibly move my limbs any faster or with more enthusiasm but by God I'm going to try" moments, to the second where you pull all your emotions into a foetal ball inside of you, crease your face with passion, clench your teeth and grin for all you're worth as you realise note by note that the one tune you wanted to hear, the one breakdown, the one rollercoaster of sonic euphoric magnificence is slowly coming in and that you just contemplate that if you were to die right now, that for this moment: that for this one vital second you know with all certanity what it feels like to be alive, and that no matter what else you might have missed out on, at least you can say that you have lived.

1 Comments:

  • One of those nights that defines your life. Djing the early set and seeing so many of my mates there for my last tune, all armed with beers for me!

    Then hearing your final DJ set as a student, and seeing everyone's face light up with every tune.

    I was there. I will never forget.

    By Blogger Dave, at Friday, February 17, 2006  

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Words, thoughts, dreams & ideas, dirtySi, London, UK, from the year 2005 onward