I made it to Spotlight, but just barely..
It’s 8:00 pm Saturday night the phone rings. It’s the Sorceress. She green lights the interview and the other arrangements for tonight. Great! I was really not expecting for her to phone because it was so late, so I had nothing ready to go. Plus, the ferry for Victoria leaves at 9:00, and we have no ride to Duncan even if we do make it to the ferry. I’ll just say that things were not looking very positive at this point.
We frantically called our sources trying to find a ride to Duncan, but with no luck. Finally at 8:30 we decide to just wing it! So we hopped in my car and raced for Twassen like I was an indy driver. We arrived at the terminal just as the ferry was pulling out. I mean a minute later and it would have been gone. Ok, with that hurdle out of the way, all that was left was to find a ride. We asked every person in sight that looked like a good candadate. We had almost given up when we came across Jeff and Pat who were chillin out in the back. It turned out that Pat is actually into promotion and is also a DJ. Props to Alchemist Productions. They had just driven in from Vernon and were planning to sleep once they got off the ferry. But with very little persuasion, they decided to come along to the party with us. Sweet! So we were cruising with some wicked beats the whole way to Duncan. We couldn’t have had a nicer setup. We were inside at about 11:30–12:00 which isn’t too bad given the circumstances. By this time we were all itching to hit the dance floor. I met up with Clint who hooked me up with my pass. Now that everything is in place, let the party begin!
Finally… The party!
Spotlight was supposed to be an outdoor show in Nanaimo, but due to problems with the city of Nanaimo they were forced to move the show to Eagles Hall in Duncan. Listen to what Shawn from Dizzy Productions had to say about this in the media link on this page.
The change of venues created some problems for partiers from Van because they were dependant on the shuttle that was going to take them from the ferry terminal to the party. But Dizzy and Teamhardcore were really cool about this and offered refunds to those people. Despite the change of venues the party still went off, the music was good and the people were dancing. What else matters?
When Kenzie “The Sorceress” stepped up to those decks she wasted no time in takin it to the crowd. No build, just hard hittin’ beats from start to finish. She mentioned in her interview that she never plays the same set twice. Well it just goes to show you that when you play to the crowd you get results. Because most people that I talked to really loved her set. Actually the mainstage was kickin all night long thanks to Chipper, Jeffree, and Grooverobber. Dizzy of mixed it up on the mainstage. There was hard house, breaks, and funkier stuff too. I kinda like it when the breaks get the main stage. The second stage was rockin too. Earlier in the night it was totally packed. Deliverance, Jessi J, Tyler Collins, all had a good sets outside.
One thing I gotta talk about is the couches. Good idea! For those of you that weren’t in attendance, they had couches set up around the entire perimeter of the chill-out area. And it was pretty big! There were some problems with the second stage, which was outside, later on. There were apparently some noise complaints, so the sound was turned down. Trance and house music just aren’t the same when they’re not played loud. But they still kept the second stage going which was cool. People eventually adjusted to the lower sound level and it was fine. At least they had a second stage outside. Its a lot cooler when you can dance outside, or at least have the option.
Spotlight did have its hang ups, but overall it was alot of fun. They put alot of work into the show and it was obvious. They had alot of DJ’s, so you pretty much got to hear everything throughout the course of the night. It was my first time out to the island for a party, and I would happilly go back. The island goes off!
Checkout my interview with The Sorceress aka Kenzie Clarke
Checkout my photos from the trip!
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