World Wide Clubbing: New York - Eric Morillo

Moscow's foremost specialists in throwing big (by Moscow standards) quality parties — the former promo team of the now-defunct club XIII, these days going by the name Organised Kaos — opened the new club season in the capital by bringing over a celebrated house DJ from New York, owner of a whole cohort of labels united under Subliminal Records, Erick Morillo. Like the previous parties Organised Kaos have thrown, it took place at the Art Centre on Plyushchikha, a venue utterly unsuited to dance events this large — or to dancing at all. To be honest, many were wary of going, remembering what happened here during the visits of Oakenfold and Pete Tong; many also feared there would be a lot of both "random" people and a large number of teenagers. Though, on the whole, there weren't too many of either, despite the fact that around 2,000 people attended the event (which by Moscow standards is practically a rave).
Approaching the Art Centre itself, one was pleasantly surprised by a Statue of Liberty on the roof above the entrance, by the positively-minded people standing in the huge queue, and already near the door you could catch those positive vibrations, that festive mood the organisers had laid on for us. As you moved further inside the building, these vibrations not only didn't fade (as often happens) but grew substantially stronger (the closer to the dancefloor, the more intense). The main dancefloor, where Kolya and Grad were playing, was packed to bursting with a roaring, almost-happy crowd. Thank God the sound was fine this time and it thumped just as it should. Our guys played with their usual quality, almost nothing but hits and... very predictably and a little boringly (compared with the American who set the place alight later on). On the second floor, where the VIP dancefloor was, another Organised Kaos resident played — the English DJ James Fierce. Sheer mayhem reigned there, and people danced their hearts out to tribal and disco house.
And then, sometime after one in the morning, a handsome young man with black skin appeared at the decks; having looked over the dancefloor and put on his headphones, he set about performing the Rite. The crowd, realising this was Morillo, began actively shouting, jumping and clapping. Erick evidently liked such a warm welcome from Moscow's clubbers, and, rubbing his hands, he set himself the goal of flattening the dancefloor "into pancakes". Incidentally, for his performance Morillo brought his own equipment with him — like an insanely expensive Allen & Heath mixer, a Pioneer EFX-500 effects processor and a sampler. And it wasn't for nothing that he dragged all this to the other end of the world — he used every one of these devices to the full, mixing and sampling live during the set. There have been cases, after all, where during Morillo's sets people come up and ask what wonderful remix he's playing, to which he replies that it's no remix — it's those two records playing right now. In other words, in terms of his technique and his work with the dancefloor, he's a true professional. Take, for instance, how long he drew out the hit "Satisfaction"! For almost half an hour, playing with the a cappella of that hit, looping and processing it, he practically made people sing along in time, and after "Satisfaction" finally kicked in, you could see that, given the word right then, Morillo would have been carried out on people's shoulders... And meanwhile only about forty minutes had passed since the start of his set, yet people were already yelling, whistling and waving away. Erick, pleased with the effect he was producing, decided to add some power and put on some "meaty" tribal, aided by the local percussionist.
As always there were excellent dancers, and beautiful girls dancing as if for the last time. There were freaks too, dressed up in wedding gowns (and later taking them off). That is, those who remember club XIII immediately remembered their anthem "The Freaks Come Out".
Erick, meanwhile, taking the bit between his teeth, played full throttle (he played only off CDs, by the way, which bewildered many); people, made happy by the quality performance, danced with all their heart. Looking at Morillo, it was immediately clear that he was madly enjoying this party, enjoying these Russians and this whole city of Moscow. He was utterly absorbed in the music, he simply loved putting on tracks, and he got enormous pleasure whenever a track was received with a bang. In total Morillo played for around four hours (instead of the agreed two!), and the whole time there was simply no room to drop an apple on the dancefloor — that's how many people were there.