Saturday Dec 29th 2001 saw the coming of one of the worlds most respected DJs to the west coast for the very first time. Blyss was billed as the arrival of Paul Van Dyk (PVD) to this side of North America more specifically to Seattle, dangerously close to all of us in Vancouver, B.C! After a 3 hour road trip down to the Seattle Exhibition Center we file into line and wait patiently in a rapidly expanding lineup for the doors to open and the night to begin.



Whilst in the lineup we try and gauge the vibe and appearance of the deranged generation of clubbers that are about to leave the real world at the door for 8hrs. However no generalization is possible which strikes me as different, you see in Britain its relatively easy to spot a clubber but this crowd is diverse outfits range from simple t-shirt and jeans to full on candy ravers, girls in body painted costumes and best of all a guy wearing a full on suit (complete with briefcase) .. back-to-front!



Were in this place is huge! Two stages absorb the gigantic main floor of the exhibition center: incandescence of Blyss (focused on house) and angel of Blyss (predominantly trance and progressive grooves). In addition, drum nbase has its own room featuring the likes of Dieselboy and AK1200. At first the venue looks too big but within an hour of the doors opening the floorboards are rapidly vanishing especially at the angel of Blyss stage were all 8 of us are getting into the groove courtesy of Federal whos warming up the clubbers no probs the highlight being when CJ Bollands The Prophet (Van Helden Mix) is blasted out.



11:30pm strikes and the man most of us have come to see steps into the DJ booth - PVD has arrived to a crowd that waits with batted breath and expectation. PVDs set is of course technically brilliant and he makes sure to drop in a few crowd favorites from his own Out There and Back album. 30 mins in Avenues is unleashed onto the dance floor, which by now is rammed, with the arms of 800+ clubbing faithful in the air - the roof is lifted off. (What a feeling it must be to know that thats your own tune putting so many smiles on so many faces!) The second installment comes in the form of another way and has exactly the same effect. PVD plays for 2 hrs after which the decks are handed over to Christopher Lawrence - the contrast between the two couldnt be greater.



PVD played a particularly progressive trance set which I felt left an overwhelming section of the crowd simply looking at the man they had come to see rather than partying away to his set! Lawrence wacks it up a notch and plays harder edged trance which is definitely right down my street. Now that the main man has left the crowd seems more relaxed (and with the harder beats) gets down to some serious partying. Lawrence is a deft hand at getting the hundreds of faces in front of him bouncing which, after all, is part of the reason for going to see a DJ you want to be entertained and to interact at a show like this. No question about it, for me Christopher Lawrence is the surprise of the night. Being from over the pond Id never heard of this guy - but he rocks! Its no mean feat following on from PVD but he gives the crowd what they need when they need it banging beats surrounded by instantly likeable trance, and he carries this through till almost 4am, making the whole thing look like the simplest thing in the world.



Next up is BT who like Lawrence is a firm believer in geeing up the bouncing mass in front of him. However there is a significant change from the vibe of Lawrences set which to me seems to disrupt a lot of the clubbers. However many stay with BT due partly to his status and who can blame them when Never Gonna Come Back Down is dropped onto the dancefloor. After a while I decide to check out the drum nbass arena (which is way too hectic!) and then the incandescence of Blyss area where Charles Feelgood is just about to hand the headphones over to Donald Glaude a guy I have heard a lot about from my Canadian friends, wait and see they tell me!



Within a couple of minutes I understand what they mean. Glaude certainly has a massive following, energy and presence, spinning with his chin, elbows you name it! This guy knows his records inside out, getting the most out of the mixer and entertaining his followers relentlessly with his one love symbol whilst spinning tunes loaded with neat samples of Martin Luther King speeches. Were 7hrs into the night and all eight of us are still going strong. After an hour of Donald Glaude I check back into the angel of blyss to catch the last part of Carlos Miguels deep progressive set. Hardly anyone is left which is hard on Miguel as hes spinning some great stuff, which I liken to some of the stuff Steve Lawler plays regularly at CODE (home of Godskitchen) in Birmingham, England.



The music sinks, the lights flicker on and thats it. I look at my watch to discover that its actually 6:10pm where has the time gone?! Ten minutes later were standing around on the Sunday morning streets of downtown Seattle and back into reality. A great night had by all with everyone picking out their own highlights looks like theres plenty to discuss on the 3hr drive home to Vancouver B.C!