Concert Report: Above & Beyond (Montreal)

Located in the Montreal suburb of Laval, the brand new Place Bell is home to minor league hockey and concerts.

The crowd gathering last night recognized that symbol, of course!

Up and coming DJ Spencer Brown (USA) has been touring with Above & Beyond and had recently played on Miami's Groove Cruise.

Had never seen him play before and he put on a lively Trance set!

Above & Beyond can attract an older crowd who has followed them for years but last night it was definitely full of youngsters! Trance never left but it has staged a huge come-back!

I was invited to the official Meet & Greet backstage to meet Above & Beyond's Paavo and Tony. Since I don't appear on my Blog, I've substituted this picture instead!

And then it was back to the floor to catch the end of DJ Yotto (FIN) set!

And he definitely got everyone pumped-up!

And then there they were again! Above & Beyond (GB)!

Going early with "My Own Hymn" off their new "Common Ground" album.

Psyched!

Using my camera phone, the pics are just not as good as we get from my regular camera.

Their hit "We're All We Need" was nominated for a Grammy in 2016.

Above & Beyond is actually 3 DJ's but you nearly always get just 2. Last year in Miami in the Sirius/XM Music Lounge we got Jono & Paavo (link) while at EDC-Orlando in 2014 we got Paavo & Tony (link).

It doesn't matter because they always deliver a great set of new songs and classics!

Lasers came on!

Followed by a laser explosion!

Moving out of the masses for "Northern Soul".  Above & Beyond's weekly show "Group Therapy Radio" can be heard in North America on Sirius/XM.

Sold-out show of about 10,000!

And OMG, one of my favorites "Satellite" produced by their alter-ego DJ project OceanLab.

WOW! A good time was had by all!

Concert Report: Igloofest (Montreal)

Who the hell does an outdoor DJ concert in the middle of winter? Third year in a row visit to Igloofest!

There are ice sculptures!

Ice slides!

And plenty of iced alcohol!

Taking place over 3 weekends this year with 3 nights of DJ concerts each weekend.

Last night it was all about Techno and I arrived at the Sapporo Main Stage to see DJ Tone Depth (CDN) putting on a wicked set!

It was only 9PM on this Friday night and the crowd was already building.

I thought it was cold last year at 15F° when DJ Carl Cox (GB) performed. It was 4F° last night.....and dropping!

There is a second Videotron Stage to the side with more Techno!

DJ db (CDN) on the decks over here.

There is a pavilion you can go into to warm-up.  I was in here a lot, lol!

Purchasing an official Igloofest toque is a must!

One of the best sets of the night came from DJ Cassandra Daiva (CDN) who had taken over the Videotron Stage.

She had a small crowd gather but most everyone was over at the main stage.

Because taking over at the Sapporo Stage was.....

Famed DJ duo Sasha & John Digweed (GB).

I had seen both of them perform individually in Florida, but never together!

Down to 2F° but on with the show!

Techno.....and perhaps at times over the line into Tech House!

The stage was repositioned this year so this much-wider dance floor was packed beyond belief!

Those wondering how you can stand to be outside for hours in this weather need to understand that you just need to dress warm, huddle together and......dance!

Amazing music makes it happen!

There was a namesake igloo nearby.

People dancing inside to music from the main stage.

You can never go wrong with Go Go girls!

 Back at the second stage for local DJ duo Pulses (CDN).

They had their own following over here!

Who the hell does an outdoor DJ concert in the middle of winter? Montreal does, that's who! Big thanks to Relationniste Francois Fornier for the hookup!

A good time was had by all!

My Weekend

I'm headed to Montreal this weekend and here's what's on my agenda!

Weather permitting and God willing, tonight I will get to see Sasha & Digweed (GB) performing outdoors at Igloofest Montreal. I've seen them both individually but never have I seen them together. Will freeze my ass off but I've got to do it. Check out the Blog on Saturday for photos!

More fun on Saturday night as I'll be checking-out Above & Beyond (GB) in Laval indoors at Place Bell. Usually only two perform, so who will be there? Tony? Jono? Paavo? Check out the Blog on Sunday for photos!

PI Update: The Case For The Dance Floor

This is Mannequins on beautiful Pleasure Island.

It had that curious garage door on the side of the building that was always kept locked.

Except one night in early 2010 when the door was left raised overnight and one of our readers took photos from the door opening. And it answered one of the most pressing questions of the time; was the revolving dance floor still in there?  And as we could see, it most definitely was!

In 2013 another anonymous reader provided the Blog with a whole series of shocking photos LINK showing the state of Mannequins' interior. Once again we could see it was still there.

So when the building was finally converted to restaurant Morimoto Asia in 2015, what became of the revolving floor?  It's the Blog's position that the floor is still down there, simply covered by this unusual-looking faux floor placed on framework over the dance floor. No one ever saw the prior floor removed and it would have created a huge hole to deal with. There was never any need to remove it when you could simply build over it. So some day, Mannequins could rise again!