trance romania

Trance memories of this summer: TND stage at Timeshift [Day 1/3]

I was editing the photos the other days and all the feels hit me back! The TrancENDance stage at Timeshift was the highlight of this year for the Romanian Trance Community. I wrote about the festival and my expectations here, so I won't be bothering you again with these. I will just tell THE story.

Even though the festival started on Thursday, the first day meant for me and for a lot of people Friday. Friday, because that was the first day with trance music. The first day where we could go and enjoy the sets of Hazem Beltagui, Estiva, Ruben de Ronde, Cosmic Gate, John O Callaghan, Ben Nicky and Bogdan Vix.

And this above picture sums it all for me: amazing music, people and great artists. Of course I chose John O'Callaghan as representative for the first night, because it was the best set of the night (at least for me). It was the set that made me put down the camera, the phone and just enjoy every second of it. Starting with Two Trees and going on with so many amazing tracks, from which I remember: John O'Callaghan ft. Audrey Gallaghar - Big Sky, John O' Callaghan feat. Sarah Howells - Find Yourself, Cold Blue - Once in Time, Maria Healy - Desiderata (Giuseppe Ottaviani remix) made indeed a perfect set. I would love to re-live it, but sadly there is nowhere to be found. Aaaand the highlight of the highlight set was when John played one of my all time favorties: PPK - Ressurection. That made me go all goosebumpy and forget about the world. The only things that mattered were right there. On the dancefloor. The music. The artist. Me. My friends.

Of course I enjoyed the others sets too. Of course I enjoyed seeing again my duo music crush Cosmic Gate and relive all the nice memories I have with them. The crowd went crazy on their set. No matter if it was a newer track or a classic we grew up with. I enjoyed seeing Ben Nicky and the crazy man he is.

I enjoyed Ruben De Ronde's set and I still belive he is the right man for the job when we talk about warm-ups for a great party. I am not too much into the progressive / warm up sound because I am the type of girl that could go straight into crazy mode on the dancefloor at any time and I prefer the more uplifting part of trance. I listen to progressive at the office, I am ok with it at events and I get the need of it, but 3 full sets of that were a bit too much for me for the first day of Timeshift. I am not saying I didn't enjoyed them. Hazem Belatgui had a really good set and crushed my soul into pieces when he played Paul Van Dyk - New York City (do not recall if it was the original, a remix; I am too bad in properly recognizing this). Estiva is an uber energetic man and I liked what he did with and for the crowd. I just got into a point where I was very close to boredomness. I just wanted a change in the rythm. But that's just me. Beside that, I enjoyed seeing the crowd feeling it. I enjoyed seeing the crowd sing along almost every song and have a great time.

It was overall a very good day and I am happy I got the chance to reconnect with some friends. I am glad I got to see again Bogdan Vix, the man that hold the fort for 3 full days for all of us. It was a very emotional reunion for the whole community as well, because of all that happened with Snatt and we knew this event happened because of him and his dreams too. Snatt & Vix was (and still is) a representative duo for Romania and for the Romanian Trance Scene. Huge huge thanks to them for keeping it alive and kicking!

If I would have to mention some of the downsides of this festival, these would be: bad/ pour management/ organization, pricy, but very pricy, and few to zero security. It all began with me going for my press badge and waiting for it for around one full hour. Don't get me wrong. I am not in for the free pass hunt. I am in this for the music. And for all the artists I appreciate and try to support every day. But, if I can take the blog with me I will take it everywhere. It is a part of me. It is the part where I tell all my trance stories. Either it is all unicorns and rainbows, either it's not.

I need at least a paragraph or 2 to let it all out (well, the long story short, at least.) The organization and people behind the festival were a bit overwhelmed by the situations. At the entrance no one would check your bag or at least your entrance pass. No one seemed to care a bit about security. No one seemed to care too much about the consequences about not properly check the people entering at the event.

The TrancENDance stage was the best stage that could happen to this festival. It was the soul of it. It made it the soul for me. Timeshift couldn't be the festival it was without it, no matter what others might say. I know this business can be pretty harsh, and it is not that easy to manage a festival of this magnitude, but the only good thing was the TND stage. The artists, the music, the people and the overall management of things. Kudos to Bogdan, Eko and the other nice people that put their lives, their souls into making this happen! Trance on!

by Oana Blaga