Paul Oakenfold

It is time to talk about the man that brought trance and house music in our lives and showed us what good music and good DJ-ing is all about. His majesty Paul Oakenfold...When it comes to a name like Paul Oakenfold it is quite hard to give to the readers the true magnitude of his career into just a few words. For over 3 decades he has elevated and shaped an entire genre and still remains one of the leading forces in the global music scene. Paul Oakenfold's musical career began in the late 1970s, when he started playing soul in a Covent Garden wine bar.

In 1987, Oakenfold travelled to the island of Ibiza for a week to celebrate his birthday, along with Trevor Fung, Nicky Holloway, Ian Saint Paul, Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker. Oakenfold convinced the owner of a venue in England, to host an "Ibiza Reunion" party after-hours. He had previously made an attempt, but it failed as the crowd was not prepared for the acid house style until 1987 when the party was successful. Since then, the night became a classic and became one of the UK's major acid house nights, known as "Spectrum at Heaven in Charing Cross". Spectrum became popular in The Sanctuary. As a bigger space was required, it turned into the Heaven club, which was run by Oakenfold and Paul. The party was best known for the "Theatre of Madness", as more than 1,500 people were present on Monday nights. Also in 1988 he decided to create a place where new artists could develop their careers. At that moment, Perfecto Records was born.

In 1992, when U2 released their song "Even Better Than the Real Thing", the Perfecto remix reached a higher charted position than the original song. In 1993 with the success of his last remix as Perfecto, he was hired by U2 to provide the warm-up sonics to their Zoo TV world tour, and replaced BP Fallon on the 1993 legs in Europe and Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, with more than fifty shows in Zooropa '93 and Zoomerang from 7 May to 10 December of the same year.

 He began producing his own tracks as well, continuing to remix songs from popular artists. He began using Goa music, something he discovered on the beaches of Goa in India, fusing it with similar sounding European tracks to create his own distinct sound. He took this to the mainstream in 1994 and created a pair of two-hour sets for BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix. In 1995, he became the first DJ to play on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival for 90,000 people.

In 1997 Oakenfold created the first work for Global Underground, Paul Oakenfold, Live in Oslo. Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 - 1999. During this time, he began to concentrate on the release of Tranceport in 1998. In 1998 and 1999, Oakenfold took the first place in "DJmag's Top 100 DJs". In 1999, he left the UK and Europe and moved to the USA where he went on tour. In September 2000 he opened the new Digital Radio station Ministry of Sound Radio with a live mix from the famous London club. In 2007 he was nominated to 2 International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) at the Winter Music Conference (WMC), Best Underground Dance Track for "Faster Kill Pussycat" and Best Full Length DJ Mix CD for "A Lively Mind".

Astonishingly, despite all his success in the worlds of chart music and film, Oakenfold has found time to keep in touch with his roots as a club DJ. Over the past 3 years he has held a weekly residency at the legendary Rain nightclub in The Palms, Las Vegas. Planet Perfecto is a fully produced show with 75 circus performers, cutting edge visuals and special effects - giving the 3,000-strong crowd a truly unique experience. I bet all of you that have never been in such a party, will go crazy on the following video....

Amnesia Club

One of the best clubs on the world is located in Ibiza and it’s no other than the famous Amnesia. Having won the “World’s Best Club” award from this year’s DJMag contest, it is commonly considered as “the place to be” by clubbers from around the world. Amnesia has also been awarded for 3 consecutive years the prestigious Best Global Club award in the Winter Music Conference in Miami. 

Being one of the oldest clubs on the island of Ibiza, Amnesia opened in the 1970s, and survived closures and memorable summers alike before it finally cemented its position as one of the island's premier clubs in the early 90s.

The club is located close to Ibiza Town and very close to Privilege, with which they are the island's most popular nightclubs. The club can easily have 5.000 people on the dance floors and was the first major outdoor club on the island. Like Privilege, it is famous for its sunrise dance floor.

Amnesia is home to the successful Manumission night since 2007. This unexpected mid-season change of venue from Amnesia's biggest rival, Privilege, took place over a dispute between Manumission's organizers and the club's owner.  The most successful club night ever in Ibiza is Cream, created and founded by Joseph Murphy in 1996. It was the most talked about club in Europe, and the hardest club to get into, with thousands of people travelling to Ibiza for this specific club and very often being turned away. Although it is still one of the longest-running UK nights on the island, Joseph Murphy sold the brand in 1998 to Cream UK. Cocoon is another popular night held in Amnesia, that attracts many clubbers.

One of the secrets to its success lies in the quality of its sound. Today the club has one of the most advanced sound systems and many DJs love to perform their gigs in Amnesia. It is a place where the true feeling of clubbing has never lost its place. Its all about music, dancing and having fun , after all…..

 Have a taste of clubber’s Paradise….

Dance Clubs

Dance clubs have led the whole dance scene to a different level. Their growth and technical evolution has given a great push for clubbers and DJs to keep the spirit of dance music alive and kicking. They have come a long way, from playing just a jukebox for people to dance, to Djs with their own laptop, laser shows, smoke sprinklers and many more.

The entry on each club depends on many factors like the age, the dress code or the guestlist, which is used to make the status for a club more "exclusive". Being on the guestlist allows you to enter the club for free or at a reduced rate and often on different queues and entrances.  It is true that quite often, there are no clear policies governing entry to a nightclub, thereby allowing the doormen to deny entry to anybody at their discretion. The dress code is also important factor for a club. It ensures a certain type of clients for the club and the exact dress code differs from one club to another. The person you will surely find in all clubs is the “bouncer”. The man who controls the door and decides who gets in or who gets out, not politely sometimes…

The history of clubs goes way too back on 1970 with famous clubs such as Manhattan's "Studio 54", which was operated by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager. Studio 54 was notorious for the hedonism that went on within. The balconies were known for sexual encounters, and drug use was rampant. Its dance floor was decorated with an image of the "Man in the Moon" that included an animated cocaine spoon. Other famous 1970s discothèques in New York City included Xenon, The Loft, the Paradise Garage, and Aux Puces.The emergence of the "superclub" created a global phenomenon, with Ministry of Sound (London), Cream (Liverpool) and Pacha (Ibiza).

A recent trend in club industry is the usage of video. Instead of audio-only, DJ's are now using video and "mixing" music videos and related songs together in an audio/visual presentation.

Take a look at Amnesia club in Ibiza. The Best Global Club for 2011...

CREAMFIELDS

Creamfields has established itself as the “crown jewel” of dance festivals and continues to be in the Top 5 festivals in the UK. It began in Winchester in 1998 and since then it has been the greatest UK festival and one of the biggest in the world. It is the festival organized by the “Cream” brand. After the big success of the club, its people thought to expand their businesses with organizing what later became “the most anticipated dance event in UK”.

It takes place everyAugust in Daresbury, just outside Liverpool and after some years started to grow so big that other cities hosted Creamfields in their land with great success. Some of them are Abu Dhabi, Buenos Aires, Andalucía, Punta Del Este, Istanbul, Rio De Janeiro, Lima, Lisbon and many others.

Famous for bringing together genre breaking pioneers from across the DJ and live music spectrum, the structure of the festival features the enormously successful Live Outdoor Stage and between 8-10 DJ only arenas. The amount of technology equipment used to fulfill the requirements of the festival is enormous and such is the power consumption so as to cover the needs of such a great light and laser show.

The festival’s producers have been very cautious about the facilities for the people and the safety regulations. There is special place where one can camp and along with Camping Shops, First Aid, Bars, Foods and Beverages shops everything you might need is well taken care. There are locker facilities, regular security patrols and CCTV monitoring to make sure that everyone will enjoy the festival without further thoughts or troubles.

Be one of the lucky ones to participate in such a great event and look for the upcoming Creamfields 2012 to have the ultimate dance experience of your lives.