Line up - usual suspects!

Last year was UNBELIEVABLE! It's already in my diary!!!!!

My first time aswell and thought it was wicked. The atmosphere was spot on!! Biggest dissapointent for me was Richie Hawtin. He just plays with his efx all the time and his set didn't seem to flow at all (plus playing tainted love was laughable). Luciano was really good as was Monika Kreuse and Barem. Agree about the weather, it was so warm outside and just added to what was already a great event. I'll be going next year!!

I was in there when he looped that vocal/riff too. I agree there seemed to be very little flow, but it was very late on and my energy levels (and other kinds of levels) were dwindling, Perhaps if he'd been playing at 6am I might have felt differently.

Agree, koze's set was very good albeit a lot more eclectic than the sets id heard from him in the past. Didn't catch any of Nick Curly's set though.

Man, the production in room 2 simply gets better and better each year. When i first arrived in their i was actually disappointed at first as they reduced the size of the arena slightly and on first impression it looked like they ditched their usual full screen led screen for a load old tvs lol.
plus the fact the roof lighting rigs looked so much more basic than last years retractable octopus things....OMG how fucking wrong was I!!
The way they could bring them Watergate style led roof panels was truly sick and turned what was a large warehouse into intimate club with low celing at a flick of a switch was truly incredible, plus not to mention the absolutely mental lasers and sound system. It's stuff like this that really sets TDK apart from all the other events ive attended around the world.

I'm totally feeling what you've got to say at Villalobos, he started off quite nicely but not never really got going plus the fact after about 30mins in he dropped a clanger and had to start all over once napping said record (it killed it)and for the first time ever i left his set early to catch some more action in room 2. This wasn't a scratch on RV's amazing set from last years event, infact he's was probably the best there IMO. :(

Other sets i got sucked up in were:

Marco carola - Simply awesome
Luciano - as above, shame id heard quite a few of his tracks played before though.
Matthew Johnson live - I really really enjoyed this and was the real kick start of the incredible lights and visuals in room 2.
Joris Voorn - Another cracking set although went a tad ghey towards the end of his set which was a real shame as he was proper smashing it.

Magda - Officially played the most boring set ive heard in yonks, let alone at TDK. I thought it was so dire and and uncharismatic i walked out of room 3 to go outside on my own leaving my friends in there. Fucking rubbish!

Hawtin - I spent a considerable amount of the later hours of the event within the clutchs of Richie, having several long sessions flicking in and out to check other djs until the last closing minutes (2.20pm)
There's no questioning that he owns that room whether you like it or not, at times he was doing things with that sound system many other dj's could only ever read or dream about.
Yes, i do agree with some of the comments made above though, as much as i admire his technical abilities it dose seem that he can get kinda wrapped up in his own ego boosting ways of playing, im all for pushing electronic music forward but there are times that pushes a little too far and forgets that there are thousands of people standing there waiting to dance....STOP CUTTING THE BEATS FOR SO FUCKING LONG YOU PENIS! 20minutes plus without a single kick really isn't what the doctor ordered is it?

Another great German escapade!

Such a good weekend!! Friday night at Robert Johnson got the weekend off to a smashing start. It really is a wicked little club. It felt like being at a house party with one fuck off of a sound system! Click box where the highlight of the night.

Time Warp on the Saturday another great night. The production was def stepped up in rooms 2 & 3, didn't get a chance to check out room 1.

The best sets for me where

Loco Dice
Carola
Luciano

Would have loved to have been able to check out floor 5 but didn't have the time to!

Only managed to catch the last two hours of Hawtin and thought he smashed it. I can see how all the efx's would start to annoy though after 7 hours!

Villalobos did play much better last year, still really enjoyed this years one...agreed it was a little tame. Loved that "ride a white horse track" though!

Magda was much better the night before in RJ. I think she suits the smaller venues. The same blank expression did nothing for room 3 and the atmosphere was only lifted when Carola came on.


Are you sure???....We thought you got a bad case of "the fear"...! ;)

All in all a quality weekend with a big bunch of wreck heads!

Awesome.

Villalobos was amazing. The room filled right up for the end of Luciano's set. He started off really slow and stripped down and after about 20 mins loads of people left which made the room tons more comfortable to be in. Then about half hour in he started picking up and it just got better and better and better until his final track when he got a massive round of applause from everyone that got what he's all about.

Loco Dice, Marco Carola, Luciano, Nick Curly and DJ Koze was also especially good. SIS and Joris Voorn were the other people i saw and they were both good. No one put in a bad performance for me which was amazing. Even the chillout area was playing some incredible music. SIS seemed to be having technical problems which made the set seem rather strange at points but hearing 'Nesrib' was a nice little flashback to last summer.

The coach trip was so much fun. Had it's horrible moments but was never boring. Amsterdam on the way home was brilliant. We finally got back at midnight last night and i'm in work this morning feeling a little hazy and shattered but got to crack on. Got another 4 day weekend come tomorrow night!

Awwww, you're such a loyal fan.

I am a fan yes, massive one, deservedly so because he's a genius. I don't quite understand what people expect from Ricardo. He's not going to hammer it out like everyone else. He's also not a techno dj. So if people walk up and expect him to bang out a load of techno then they're likely to be disappointed. What he will do is showcase amazing music. Be it house, minimal, techno, jazz, disco, whatever and put on a great show

As am I, and by no means am i slating his set from TDK as i still enjoyed it, i just feel that i've heard him perform a lot better in the past that's all.

I caught room 3 from Loco Dice and thought that all of the sets were strong - LD, Luciano, Villalobos & Barem. Richie's was typical, but not outstanding. I wasn't that bothered with the last 90 minutes, mind. Liebing was very good, but didn't catch any of Dave Clarke or Cox.

Went to U60311 Friday, which was OK, then went onto Robert Johnson (got turnedaway - I "didn't have a membership card" supposedly. this was about 6.30am. How was RJ?

I really have no interest in carl Cox anymore these days, every time ive heard in in the past 5 years or so ive being disappointed with his collection of of big obvious crowd pleasing tunes and ranting over the mic.

Speaking of which, did anyone go to Cocoon on Friday night.....to say it was fucking appalling would be a great understatement. I didn't want to go there in the first place as id already been to the the club on 4 previous occassions and this particular nights line up did absolutly nothing for me but due to the fact id waited outside The Robert Johnson club for over an hour an a half with no sight of getting in it was last result seeing as it was near.
Ive being there for some amazing parties and line ups but on this visit i think id have being better off flying back to blighty and heading straight to my nearest Time & Envy...
SHIT MUSIC, SHIT CROWD...all 4000 of the pikey cunts.......YUK YUK YUK!!
Oh and there's the fact they were charging twice as much entrance fee as usual as well, how fucking dare they. if that's what the place has come to then il never be returning there ever again.
I pushed myself to stay no more than 2 hours max and hopped in another poxy cab to the other side of frankfurt - Grrrrr :(

Stop yakking and find Marco Carola's set.

I very nearly went there myself but after paying out shit loads of cabs that day already we opted for the (what should have been) cheaper and easier option. How wrong were we. we queued for RJ from roughly 11.40pm to 1.20am ish. Our mates stayed there and apparently got inside within half an hour....BASTARDS! when we met up with them the following day we, as expected were greated with tales of an amazing party. in particularly Clickbox smashed it big time from what im told.

Good point.......

How was Ben Sims?

Someone told me that there was an afterparty there during Saturday daytime and Josh Wink turned up and played a corker.

I've heard the same. Did you go back to the hotel, then? Wish I'd gone early to RJ. Hey ho! Will have to see whether they do actually have membership cards. The bouncers were gruff bastards.

Pretty good I think - it's a bit hazy - although it wasn't an 'amazing' night.

First ive ever heard anything about membership cards!

Yep, was back at our apartment 'hoofing it' by 4am.