Orion

How the time flies… it’s nearly two weeks of this year’s Laserpoint event and I haven’t found a moment to gather all my thoughts. Actually, it’s not only two weeks but a whole year which has passed incredibly fast. One year ago we were equally busy with DJ Orkidea’s Metaverse tour which had its closing moments at Laserpoint 2008.

This year I got a privilege to get into a short chat with Brian Transeau two weeks before the event. Arranging an official interview was a small mess with all the hassle with time differences, phone calls and emails with several managers but I’m happy it finally turned out to be a success and BT’s interview was aired on 14.4.2009 on YleX.
I’m not starting to tell what a great guy he truly is, you can check it out by yourself, the whole interview is listenable here, also including some parts which didn’t fit to the radio show.

The main event was fantastically organized. 3500 people under one roof, but everything from cloackrooms to bars ran smoothly, the lights & visuals were once again superb (thanks for the support, Parker Kane! :), people happily
smiling and atmosphere better than ever. Personally I was happy to see Labyrinth returning – it’s mad that it’s already 10 years ago when Labyrinth met Gatecrasher at the same spot. At that time Merikaapeli hall was the mecca of swedish influenced techno and the main trance stars Matt Hardwick and Scott Bond were playing at Puristamo, which was so packed & hot that one could feel the sweat dripping from the ceiling. Talk about hip and trendy raving! ;)

I joined Flight at the main stage to play before Alex Kunnari, the main act BT and Orkidea. We had been preparing re-edits, mash-ups and especially the remix Coldplay’s Viva La Vida for a couple of months before the gig and personally I was thrilled to see the crowd going mental of Sami Saari’s remix of One Sunday and Chase the Sun/Where Are You Now -combo. If you’re into it, see the full tracklist. The video edit of Viva La Vida ended up also on the Labyrinth // Laserpoint 2009 official video .

Sessions2 also made fantastic work and I was happy to find other official photo galleries, too. All the event galleries are gathered together here, take a look if you’re into seeing a couple of photos.

The night ended to the Illusions afterparty where I played a two hour opening set between 05:00 and 07:00. It was nice to see a fully packed morning party, weird to play happy and melodic music at Rose Garden main floor (normally a very techno influenced place), and again thrilling to see people going wild when the sun was already up. The re-play of AfterFlight, a combo of Prydz’s Aftermath and Tiesto’s Flight 643 was a blast and Dan Stone’s remake of Paul van Dyk’s For An Angel as well as Above&Beyond’s remix of Radiohead’s Reckoner were memorable moments.

Thanks for the all the great people I met during the night and morning, it was amazing to share all those moments with you. Big thanks to Joonas, Lauri, Flight, Orkidea, Jontey, Tumpsi, Parker and Juki who were there when needed and made this all happen. You are the lucky ones.

Now, let’s turn the heads towards the sunny summer and let the good times roll :)