- Chris Liebing's first trip to Santiago was a highly anticipated event, with techno fans making the journey from all over Chile. La Feria's small dance floor filled quickly on the night. Early attendees waited anxiously, while the club's wall-to-ceiling light fixture, which looks like electrified bubble wrap, flashed intermittently, drawing cheers of excitement from everyone in the room.
Liebing took to the decks at midnight, wearing his usual ear-to-ear smile. Armed with two laptops, a Xone:K2 and a Maschine, the techno aficionado wasted no time on warm-up fluff. He made the club's Funktion One bins groan, hiss and bellow over the crowd's hollering. The intensity was shocking at first, but expectedly so, given Liebing's reputation. He is an absolute master at what he does, and the ease, brilliance and joy with which he performs emanates from his entire being. Moving seamlessly through four hours of thudding techno, he held the crowd in the palm of his hand.
Suddenly, minutes before the climax of his set, the music let up, as the poignant synth bell of Max Cooper's "Walls" chimed above the last sea of reverberating claps. Then, the track's stunning bassline rocked the room, slicing through the tiny club and shaking everyone to their core. Liebing couldn't have chosen a better track for his finale. It left us all in a state of awe, a surreal calm after the storm he had brewed at La Feria.