Concert Report: The Reunion (Firestone Live)

Downtown Orlando must have been deserted last night because it seems that everyone was at Firestone Live for The Future Sound of Breaks Reunion!

Walked-in around 10:30pm and the club was already wall-to-wall packed!

Making a rare appearance, veteran DJ Noel Sanger playing Old Skool.

Even the upstairs was open and jammed!

The music last night mostly 90's & 00's Classic Dance hits that you used to hear on 95.3Party!

Mister Future Sound of Breaks himself, MC Headius Maximus.

Spotted nearby: LadyV.  No one does crop tops better than Sarah V!

Coming on at 11:30pm, DJ duo 2 Bad Mice (GB).

Lots of Classic Dance including their monster anthem "Bombscare"!

Getting down!

Outside on the patio, DJ duo RobE & Security (USA).

There was little room to move out here either!

Back inside, headliner DJ Icey (USA) taking over at 12:30am!

Lots of roars from the crowd as he put on more classic hits from back in the day!

Mannequins!

More Mannequins!

You can never go wrong with Go Go girls! Especially Kriss!

Taking it to the hoop.....Jen!

Spotted: DJ Pedro V.

After Icey finished, Florida Breaks DJ duo Friction & Spice (USA) took over to close it out!

A good time was had by all!

Club Report: Bikkuri Sushi Lounge

If you drove by Bikkuri Sushi on Colonial Drive, you'd never know that located at the rear upstairs was a dance club!

Where on the last Friday of every month they host "Lost In Trancelation", a night dedicated to Trance music featuring resident DJ Robb Blak.

And on this rainy Orlando evening last night, things did not look promising as this lone dancer occupied the floor and only a handful of people stood around watching.

But all-of-a-sudden, streams of people were coming in and going straight onto the dance floor!

The music was all non-vocal Trance including some of his own productions. We've seen Robb Blak open for Ferry Corsten (NL), Gareth Emery (GB) and Cosmic Gate (D) in recent years!

Dance floor got full as people practiced their Trance moves!

Resident DJ Agni taking over at midnight, opening with a Vocal Trance song!

Pretty amazing experience!

The crowd was really getting into it!

And a good time was had by all!

A&F Dumping The Moose

In honor of today's announcement by Abercrombie & Fitch that they're dumping use of the moose logo, we bring you LFO's Pop/Rap hit from 1999, "Summer Girls".  This was released back when owning an item with an A&F logo showed others your ability to afford expensive clothes and made you a really cool person.  You can now also find black clothes at Abercrombie stores near you too, another first. "You look like a girl from Abercrombie & Fitch."

This Weekend In Techno Town

FRIDAY AUG 29
First Orlando performance for DJ Oliver Heldens (NL) tonight at Firestone Live. ($15)

It's the final Friday of the month and that means Lost In Trancelation time at Bikkuri Lounge with resident DJ's Robb Blak and Agni.  They're joined this month by a DJ named X plus DJ J-13 for a night of Trance! (FREE)

SATURDAY AUG 30
It's the Future Sound of Breaks Reunion at Firestone featuring DJ Icey, 2 Bad Mice, AK1200 and many more!
($40)

Meanwhile Sound Bar is celebrating there 1-year anniversary weekend with the Tech House sounds of DJ Fur Coat (YV) joining resident DJ John Debo in the booth!  He drew a large crowd this past April when he played there!
($5)

DJ Baby Anne (USA) ain't stayin home this Saturday night; she will be leading those spinning on the revolving dance floor at Amphitheatre in Ybor City!  Resident DJ's Basomatik and DOCO open for her!
($10)

SUNDAY AUG 31
Also taking place in Tampa but on Sunday night, DJ Laidback Luke will be spinning at Hogan's Beach Club!  If you've not been, this is an outdoor venue on the beach.
($27.50/$17.50 Advance with online use of discount code HULK)

Club Reports: Passion, Gryphon, Pangea (Hollywood)

Visited the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood last night for dinner and learned that the outdoor shopping/entertainment center at the rear of the complex seems to be really struggling.  Lots of empty storefronts throughout.  And sadly, even the dance clubs have been impacted.  Passion is the only one still in business and even it is just open on Friday & Saturday nights.  The 15,000sf multi-level club brings in different types of DJ's; for instance Orlando's DJ Crespo plays this weekend and Will.i.am is coming in September.

But Gryphon has closed.  At one time this was the place to be seen in Broward.

A transplant from the Miami scene, Opium has closed. And so has Pangea! Celebrities from all over the world used to hang out in this ultralounge.  Not sure what's going on here; the casino itself is booming. Just goes to show that when there's a casino around, that's who sucks up all the cash, leaving little for anyone else.

CosmicWorld Update

 

The next mega DJ concert coming to Orlando after Labor Day weekend hits next Saturday night, September 6th, at the Orange County Fairgrounds.  It's the first CosmicWorld concert with the full DJ lineup still waiting to be released.  What we do know so far is Funkagenda (GB) will be playing on the Earth Stage and Sultan & Ned Shepard (CDN) have just been announced for the Cosmic Stage.  And there's still the Main Stage!  Tickets are just $39 here.

Next Up: The FSOB Reunion

OK, that party's over and time for the next one.....this coming weekend!  The Reunion is taking place this coming Saturday night, August 30th, at Firestone Live and brought to you by the Future Sound of Breaks people!  As you can see, the incredible lineup includes DJ Icey, 2 Bad Mice, Friction & Spice, AK1200, Noel Sager and many more!  Music on the main stage, in The Den and out on The Patio. It's Labor Day weekend so don't stay home!  Advance tickets here.

PI Update: PI Signs Disappearing

Save Pleasure Island Blog roving reporter William out on the Island this past week reports that the Pleasure Island arch sign at the No. 4 Bridge from the West Side has been removed.  It had been turned off and was located behind construction walls since last year but now it is gone.

Meanwhile, the arch sign at the No. 2 Bridge at the main entrance to PI near Mannequins, which at least had stayed lit, is now turned off. 

It's not getting any better folks!  Thanks, William for the report & photos!

Concert Report: Independence Music Festival - Orlando

The first ever Independence Music Festival - Orlando was pretty impressive! Made up of a total of 7 music stages, three were at Firestone Live, three at The Brink and then the main stage was in Firestone's large parking lot.

DJ Twine (USA) was on the mainstage when I arrived doing a mostly Dubstep set.

But they need to do this in Spring.  It was soooo hot out there!

Most of the people were inside Firestone where it was dark and cool.

And the music was House/Dance.

And you could dance in comfort.

It was starting to build outside though too.

DJ Herobust (USA) taking over at 3:30pm.

You can never go wrong with Go Go girls.....and they had 7 of them!

Back inside, the view from the lighting tech booth displayed Firestone's impressive equipment in use!

DJ Victor Niglio (USA) getting ready to take his turn.

Putting on an impressive House/Dance set too!

Followed by the announced "Darth Vader of Trance", DJ Alex M.O.R.P.H. (D).

A great Trance set that included both Vocal and Non-vocal selections.

Zooly (USA) was putting down a Dubstep / Bass mixed with House set back inside.

As long as the sun stayed out, the peeps stayed in!

At 6:30pm on the mainstage, the Bomb Squad introduced their man.....

Bombs Away! (AUS).

Don't know if you'd call it Trap or Hip Hop, but that's what he mostly played as people continued to arrive.

Over in The Brink, DJ Party Ghost (USA) playing some "Ghost Step"!

While local DJ Big Makk was blowing things up in Firestone!

This is where everyone was at.

Rapidly up-and-coming DJ duo Paris & Simo (CDN) taking the mainstage.

The sun was setting and things were cooling down outside at this point.

All the inside activities ended at 8:30pm so everyone had to come outside.

Spotted: Headliner DJ BT (USA) coming up to the mainstage for his set!

And he would put on an awesome 1 hour, 15 minute set of Trance!

Confetti canons!

Packed outside for BT!  He is who I came to see.

Recognized songs from Tiësto, Tritonal, Above & Beyond and of course some of his own hits!

First time I had ever seen BT perform and it was a good one!

The crowd was ready to rage with Skism (GB) and Excision (CDN) who would end out the program but I called it quits at this point after standing for 8 hours.

But at IMF - Orlando last night, a good time was had by all!  Thanks to Mansion Events personnel for allowing me to cover their great show.  The event was very professionally done!