Just back from Sonar festival after never having attended a big European festival before. Some random thoughts and observations:
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Laurent Garnier’s 3 hour set of course the highlight for me, reprising his set from the first Sonar in 2004. I saw him in London around 04/05, and very little changed with his demeanor. Still happy, waving to fans, doing some “DJ moves”….the guy makes you so happy and proud to be part of the scene. He is 58 (?) now and attracted so many older fans which was great for me as I just turned 40 and felt a tad insecure about going out to this, but I would say I was around the median age at the festival.
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My second favorite moment was the close of DJ Tennis’ set at night under the stars, he was flipping an edit of stupiddisco in such a way that we all stood around spell bound when it was over. Very good set overall and he was a great discovery for me.
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Danny Tenaglia followed DJ Tennis, I had never seen Danny before but just couldn’t get into his sound after what Tennis was playing. Which brings me to my only criticism of the festival, which was some of the programming. Some of the transitions between DJs, especially at night, were just too difficult to take, another example was Ben Bohmer following Jennifer Cardini and Haai’s hard techno.
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Jennifer Cardini really surprised me and not in a bad way; last time I saw her was maybe 2006 when it seemed like she was Craig Richards’ protege for the Fabric room 1 minimal sound and this set at Sonar was some of the hardest and fastest techno I’ve heard out. Her older sets I felt were a little too cerebral and her set at Sonar was anything but.
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Overall amazed by the excellent behavior, vibe and size of the crowd both at day and night sessions. Saw ZERO inappropriate behavior, very little bumping into people, no obvious OD situations, no unwanted touching….and this with at least 12,000-15,000 people there simultaneously at the peak. Everyone seemed to be there for the music and to have an enjoyable experience. I personally don’t see how a festival of this size and style could be pulled off in the US with the same great results.
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Also very much enjoyed the Sonar+D area that featured some interesting lectures on AI and creators and had some fund modular stuff to play with when taking a break from the music.
Here are some photos:
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