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 Hot from the heels of their succesful United In Trance parties, the Intuition crew returns with a brand new concept. The first edition held on October 7th, 2006 featured a massive line-up, including Jon O'Bir, The Thrillseekers, Tom S, Menno de Jong and Galen Behr vs. Thomas Bronzwaer. The prospects were nice (to speak mildly), and they all came true as the evening progressed... Head in for a full report!
Next to running their well-known label, the guys at Intuition also have a name in organising multiple trance parties a year, all featuring interesting line-ups which most of the time include artists we don't see that much here in Holland. Having hosted multiple editions of United In Trance over the past year, and organising their succesful Summer and Winter events as well, the guys at the Intuition Events department have made up a brand new concept called 'Intuition Invites' recently.
The purpose of this new concept is of course to bring the crowd yet another quality party experience, this time supported by some DJ-invitees who've built themselves a name over the past few years, but who haven't set foot in Holland's clubs many times yet. The line-up for the night was as follows:
23:00 - 00:00: Tom S [NL]
00:00 - 01:30: Jon O'Bir [UK]
01:30 - 03:00: The Thrillseekers [UK]
03:00 - 04:30: Menno de Jong [NL]
04:30 - 05:00: Galen Behr vs. Thomas Bronzwaer [NL]
I hadn't visited Club Poema before, so I didn't really know what to expect apart from the comments on it scattered over the internet. Finding it was relatively easy, as there was quite the queue standing in front of the doors near eleven o'clock. Because of the mass attendance we got in about half an hour later. The first thing that struck my attention was the basement-like feel the club breathes out: when entering, you have to descend quite a few meters by stairs before you actually reach the garderobe. This is quite cool as it engenders a bit of an 'underground' atmosphere, perfectly fitting in with the intimate character of this Intuition event.
Although the party was sold out eventually, the club fitted all the people easily. When entering the main room, a large, classy looking bar greeted us from the right, with some lounge couches and chairs swarming all over the left to accomodate people who wanted to chill out for a while.
The main bar
Tom S was the one to get on the decks for the first hour. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch most of his set because I had some troubles with the bouncers who wouldn't let me back in after handing a ticket to someone standing outside. Instead they sent me back to the back of the queue twice for some shitty reason, so it took me 20 minutes to re-enter and start having fun. Anyways, Jon O'Bir totally made up for this by starting off his set with the massive Benya remix of Motionchild ft. Armanian Sun 'Godsend'! The dancefloor was packed with people having fun already, setting the right vibe at this early part of the night. While Club Poema doesn't fit too many people, it does look rather spacious from the inside. With its relatively low ceiling and lighting arrays, it gives you that intimate, comfy feeling in the inside which is exactly what club nights like this one are for.
Adjacent to the bar was the DJ booth, rotated 90 degrees to face the dancefloor. It's one of those booths in which you can have direct contact with the jock, a thing which lots of people made use of by shaking hands and all that. At the other end of the main room was a smaller bar, which had considerably shorter waiting times in my case ;-).
Jon O'Bir spinning his set
It was Jon's second time in Holland, after having spun a short set at the A State Of Trance 100 celebration more than 3 years ago. He does have a lot of fans out here though, mainly because of his cool Ways & Means radioshows and monthly livesets on his website. Apart from that, he's known for his amazing technical skills; a thing he totally made true this night. His mixing was spot-on constantly, and combined with his excellent track selection made his set an outstandingly uplifting affair. 'Life Less Ordinary' by Alex M.O.R.P.H. and Rank 1 was played, as well as the massive 'Luna Negra' by Duende, 'Make U Mine' by David West and Arizona's mix of André Visior's new single 'Skyline'.
Steve Helstrip taking over
At about 01:30, it was time for Steve Helstrip aka The Thrillseekers to take over control. After the melodic goodness that Jon played, Steve thought it'd be the right time to slam in some techy material. The new Marco V worked like a charm, followed by the funky 'Nymph' by Terry Ferminal. Soon after, the more melodic side of trance returned. The fantastic new single by 4 Strings called 'Mainline' really shook up the floor! As Steve's set advanced, Poema showed its full lighting capabilities: wicked green lasers started penetrating the air every now and then, working out flawlessly in a small venue like this. Helstrip also treated us with some classics like his own 'Synaesthesia' and a new 2006 remix of BBE's 'Seven Days And One Week'. As a DJ, he's quite the entertainer by the way. He constantly needled the crowd with lots of gesturing, which was answered by quite a few hands in the air moments.
Laser fun
A view over the dancefloor
The overall party vibe was excellent. Everyone just seemed to breathe happiness, being polite all over and enjoying the music like never before. This is what I find so lovely about club nights, and especially if they're packed with people who share the same passion!
In a club this size you'd expect it to be hot as hell, but thanks to the big fans hanging at the ceiling (see picture) the temperature was at a very acceptable level. Props to Poema for this.
Cool laser effects
Intuition label owner & resident DJ Menno de Jong is one of the, if not the, rising star(s) in today's trance scene. To everyone's appraisal, he also did a set at this party, and boy did he do well! Playing a bomb of a set filled with monstruous tunes, he kind of brought the crowd to another level with a combination of techy stuff, highly melodic uplifters and everything that lies in between. Opening with the brand new Airbase 'One Tear Away', the crowd immediately felt this was going to be one hell of a ride. While he did play quite a few 'hits' like 'Are You Fine' by Kyau vs Albert, 'Home' by E-Craig and his remix of 'Your Loving Arms', it worked out like a charm. A few of the highlights were Orjan's amazing release 'Arctic Globe' and 'Escape' by Airbase, both out on Intuition Recordings. I didn't expect him to play 'Escape', so it was a very welcome surprise to hear this fabulous tune live! I could go on ranting about highlights, 'cause just about every tune played did what it had to do. The funny sounding yet massively banging 'Mighty Ducks' by Bolier & Coenraad, Leon Bolier's new melodic monster 'Poseidon' and the mighty Mac & Mac remix of Ottaviani & van Linden's 'Until Monday' all caused minor earthquakes. But the best thing was yet to come... I knew Menno had a thing for throwing in a classic every now and then, but I was totally flabbergasted when he threw in Yahel's 'Voyage'. That tune's just out of this world, and it seemed like my fellow attendees agreed with all their hearts. The two riffs in this track have such a huge amount of feeling coming with them, it's unbelievable. A tremendous closer of a massive set!
Menno de Jong entertaining the crowd
MdJ concentrating
Half past five meant the start of the last set of the night. Dutchies Galen Behr (aka Passiva) and Thomas Bronzwaer (aka Arizona) did an exclusive back 2 back set. I hadn't seen these two spin before, so it was really quite a surprise what was going to happen here. They mixed Sonic Inc's 'The Taste of Summer' into Menno's closer, bringing yet another superb classic. As opposed to most of the night's other sets, Galen & Thomas' set was of the more raw, coarse type. Sander van Doorn's tasty bootleg of the Arctic Monkeys delivered some more devastation, as well as Bart Claessen's hammering remix for Ferry Corsten's 'Junk' and the techy, harsh Robert Burns remix of 'Time Will Tell' by Galen & Robert. As we had to catch an early train we weren't able to make it the whole set, but it seemed like they were going on in a nice & groovy way with Sander van Doorn's 'SOS' remake just when we were leaving.
Brightness all the way
Galen twisting the knobs
Conclusion
This was a devastating party. Definitely one of the best club nights I've ever visited. The Poema is a great location, it looks clean and spacious yet it does bring about a really intimate atmosphere. The crowd was great; everyone enjoyed themselves to the max! Music-wise, the night was of course pure bliss for trance fanatics. Jon O'Bir spun a great set, Steve Helstrip did well as well, and Menno de Jong totally blew the roof off. Galen and Thomas served as a perfect closer by bringing in some slightly harder tunes.
If you ever get the chance to visit an Intuition party, do so. It's something you won't easily forget!
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