- While Tokyo and Singapore have long flown the flag as two of Asia's hottest clubbing destinations - boasting some world-class venues and hosting high profile DJs - more recently electronic music and the dance music explosion has also made its way into China and even India, where tonight India was treated to its second visit by Sasha, this time at club Elevate, New Delhi.
Judged the Best Nightclub in the country by a leading national daily, Elevate is situated on the ninth floor of a mall. The club itself is spread over two floors; the top floor a lounge-come-dance area overlooking the main dancefloor on the level below. Similar in design, but a tad smaller than Family in Brisbane, Australia, Elevate is a spacious venue with a sound system that truly rocks!
Smirnoff's typically extensive promotion ensured the entry lines on the night were long, with 45 minutes passing before I could get into the club. And while the entry system was a bit disorganized, all hassles were quickly forgotten once inside, Sasha getting into the groove straight away.
Starting off with some smooth driving progressive, the fusion of deep prog with minimal electro and tracks like Mandy's "Jah" was the sound early on: Sasha slowly but surely building things up. An hour into his set and it was time for those amazing thumping electro basslines to take over. Proving he has become quite a master with Ableton, from time to time he threw in loops from tracks which would later feature in his set. This was expertly demonstrated on the way he used James Holden's mix of Andre Kraml's "Safari".
During the transition from deep and chunky prog to banging electro, some funky effects were thrown in; the packed crowd also loving the increase in tempo. Psychedelic trance is big in these parts considering the influence of the rave scene in Goa but even those mushy-eyed punters were enjoying the ride.
Things got a bit more serious around the fourth hour with Sasha dropping Orbital's "Nothing Left", a great track from his classic Global Underground Ibiza album. The sound became harder and simply put, more driving and banging music and there could be no denying it - tonight Sasha was definitely in form.
This may not have been the uplifting and trippy Sasha set as I'd heard on previous occasions elsewhere but it was bloody good dance music with a great electro sound. The loops from tracks off old Renaissance and Global Underground releases continued before a nice remix of Holden & Thompson’s "Come to Me" also made its way onto the sound system at Elevate. Another moment to savour was a new mix or edit he played of his own "Wavy Gravy", which gave us a slight break from the thumping. But soon it was back to the madness, grinning clubbers all around.
With no prior announcements about the duration of his set, I was quite surprised when Sasha kept on playing well into his fifth hour; no doubt the great crowd response a big factor in him playing on past 6:30am.
In his final hour he dropped two older tracks from Dave Seaman's "Awakenings" compilation, "West On 27th" by Killa Hurtz and "Ruhe (Humate Mix)" by Schiller. But even though my legs (and probably, his too!) were tiring, Sasha and his Maven controller kept going, and it wasn't until almost 7am that the event finished.
Two other tracks which received a big response from the crowd on the night were Tiefschwarz's "Warning Siren (Cass and Mangan Mix)" and Paradox 3000 Vs Kasabian "Processed Breaks (Punk Funk)".
The end was a sea of many happy faces; some of those on people hearing him again but most, many for whom this was their first 'big DJ' gig, holding an expression of amazement.
It’ll be awesome for music fans in this part of the world if high profile DJs continue to make their way to India. Going by the success of tonight's event , one would think the doors are well and truly open for more great music.
Special thanks to Smirnoff and all the staff at Elevate.