The theme for the night was that everyone must wear black and white clothing. Hence the name, Gatecrasher Black & White :)

The line up:

Gatecrasher Black & White - Sheffield (30-11-02)

20.00 - 21.30 Matt Hardwick
21.30 - 00.00 Solar Stone
00.00 - 02.00 Mario Piu
02.00 - 03.00 Kai Tracid
03.00 - 04.30 Armin Van Buuren
04.30 - 06.35 Rank 1

A group of us arrived at the club at about 20:30. The queue was quite long but it always moves very swiftly and we were in, in no time. Matt Hardwick always delivers the most amazing warmup sets. Played great warmup tracks such as Viframa - Cristalle (Katana Intro Mix) and Tiesto & Junkie XL - Obsession (Filterheadz Mix). As always his mixing was superb, and was very surprised to hear Conjure One - Tears From The Moon (Tiesto ISOS Mix) so early into the night, as well as Ghostland - Guide Me God (Paul van Dyk Mix). He did exactly what he was supposed to and warmed us up for a great night ahead :)

Next up was Solar Stone with their world debut. I didn't really know what to expect, but am very pleased to say that they delivered an awesome set. A little more progressive than I would have hope for, but there mixing was sound, and I was very impressed. And of course they played some of their own productions, both old and new, and finished their set with the all time classic Solar Stone - Seven Cities (Atlantis Mix). They released the tracklist of their set which can be viewed below, so you can get a better idea of their set:

Gatecrasher Black & White Ball
November 30th 2002 22:00 - 23:30
Solarstone - World Debut DJ Set - Tracklisting

01. Solarstone - Release
02. Veit - Sky
03. Solarstone - Solarcoaster
04. Lustral - Broken
05. Utah Saints - Lost Vagueness (Oliver Lieb Vocal Mix)
06. Perpetous Dreamer - Dust.Wav
07. Oxygen - Am I On Your Mind (Lustral Remix)
08. Z2 - I Want U (Deep and Throbbing Mix)
09. Elizabeth Fields - Speak In Sympathy (Deeper Mix)
10. Futureshock - Frequency
11. Space Manoeuvres - Stage One (Solarstone Remix)
12. Solarstone vs Sirocco - Destination
13. Rapid Eye - Circa Forever
14. Solar Stone - Seven Cities (Atlantis Mix)

As it approached midnight Mario Piu entered the DJ Booth. After seeing him at the NEC a couple weeks back, and been thoroughly disappointed by his set, I wasn't expecting much from him. And I was right not to. He played a very random set. I felt it had no structure and his mixing was awful. However he did play some amazing tracks, such Art of Trance - Madagascar, BK - Revolution, Dariush - IRA Plastic Boy - Silverbath and Eon - Pocket Damage. At one point he played the Vocal Mix of Gouryella - Ligaya followed by the Original Mix. The amazing tracks he played though did not make up for his shoddy mixing. I couldn't wait for Kai Tracid to grace the decks!

Kai Tracid turned up a little bit late :p I had seen Kai Tracid spin once before at Godskitchen a few weeks back, and it was one of the most exhilarating sets I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. So my expectations were very high. After playing his classic Trance & Acid theme, which he uses a lot to start his sets, I couldn't believe what I heard. It was an old Beach Boys tune! It was very funny to hear vocals from the Beach Boys on a banging Gatecrasher Sound System. The track exploded into some amazing hard beats. I knew exactly what he was going to bring in next. I could just feel it, and I was right. Kai Tracid - Trance & Acid (Derb Remix)! One of my all time favourite tunes. It sounds so amazing live. At this point I went up onto the balcony, overlooking the dance floor. The lighting was very cool. I've never been a fan of the Gatecrasher dress code themes. But as I looked down, I finally realised why they do it. The dance floor was just a sea of black and white cybers, and trancers. With the strobes and lasers hitting them, it looked so magical. I can see now how these "themes" make the evening more special. Kai impressed us all with his quality mixing. He always seems to turn the volume up that little bit more than the others :) He played his latest tune Kai Tracid - 4 Just One Day and also Target - Harder They Come, and towards the end of his set played Derb - Derb (Arome Mix). As his set finished I just had to meet the man. I ran to the door of the DJ booth and met him as he was coming out. I shook the mans hand and told him how much I enjoyed his set. Great guy.

Next up... Armin! I think it was a bit of mistake putting on Armin Van Buuren. It went from very Hard Trance to Uplifting Trance. I would have preferred to be the other way around. Nevertheless, Armin played an amazing set. His mixing is always flawless. Played some quality tracks such as Conjure One - Tears From The Room (Hybrid Remix), GTR - Mistral, Darren Tate vs Jono Grant - Let The Light Shine In and Tomcraft - Loneliness (Klub Mix). Earlier in the week in the #armind channel on the day of Armin's ASOT show, I asked him if there was a chance in hell he could play Andy Ling - Fixation (Airwave Remix) at Gatecrasher. And he did! As I heard it coming in I hit the roof. An all time classic trancer for me. Everyone was dancing so hard to it. Now that I have had the experience of hearing this live I feel a small part of my life is now complete. He also played a remix of Sound of Goodbye that I have never heard before. His set was one of the highlights of my night. I really enjoyed it and cannot wait to see him again.

It was now 4am and the last set of the night was about to start. Rank 1. They started their set with DJ Tiesto - Magik Journey. They were much more uplifting than I was expecting, which was a good thing :) Played uplifters such as Rank 1 - Such Is Life, Three Drives - Carerra 2 (Nu-NRG Remix), Airbase - Genie, etc.. The mixing was very good. As it came to the end of the night they played Rank 1 - Airwave. A track that goes down very well all over the world. And as you can imagine the place erupted. There was a pause, and Ben Thompson (I think it was Ben Thompson) got on the microphone. He shouted to us "Do you want another half hour?" which of course we all did :) It occurred to me by this point that we had gone a whole night without hearing Warrior - If You Want Me. And then, funnily enough, Piet Bervoets brought it in out of nowhere. They also played their remix of Dreamland. It doesn't compare to the Original Mix :p But it went down very well. They also played the Rank 1 Remix of Ligaya, which I was very impressed with. And then a track I thought I would never get to hear live: Baby D - Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Rank 1 Remix).

So overall I had one fantastic night, and cannot wait to return to Gatecrasher for New Years Eve :) I hope to see you there to!