shivalingam new years eve

New Years Eve is, and have always been, one of these nights when a party should be (and often is) a very special event. Last years Interfuse at Pakhus was great, as was the Entity party the year before that - also at Pakhus - not to mention the first ever New Years Eve party I attended in Copenhagen; The Final Frontier at Nørrebrogade with dj:s TBM1 and Dino Psaras, back in 1994.

This years party was, if I have to compare, most similar to the Final Frontier party with a similar crowd (only more of them), similar happiness, similar intimacy and a similar vibe. What the F.F party lacked (only we didn't really notice at the time) was probably some of these outstanding decos that Shivalingam had put quite an effort into. The papier machés were absolutely adorable, I distinctly remember staring at the mushrooms on top of the loudspeakers more than once...

The chill out was a temple in itself, such cosy environment!, and if you managed to pass all the pairs of legs and feet you could eventually make it into the corner where the smart-bar was set up. Chai, fruits, lollipops (I forgot to bring mine!) and drinks were sold, if you were lucky enough to get the crew's attention. The whole area was filled with big pillows and mattresses so that people could lie down whenever they felt like it - which turned out to be quite often... =:)

We arrived to Sputnik a little after 23.30 and at that point, it was quite empty in there. No full-on music, but ambient tunes flowing around. At midnight, we all gathered in the middle of the dance floor, making an united toast to the great year that has passed and to the new, promising 1998. The champagne was for free, and that made it taste even better.

One minute past 12 Björkwin put his first track on, and all of a sudden the dance floor seemed packed! Lots of people had actually entered since we got there, and they all started the evening on the dance floor. It was fast, it was stompy and one couldn't stand still.

No matter how he tried, Björkwin just couldn't get my full attention though. I was still waiting for quite a few friends to show up, so instead of staying in one spot, I danced around and moved towards the entrance whenever I saw new people coming in. They all arrived, some sooner and some later, and I concentrated on socializing instead of dancing for the first couple of hours.

After Björkwin, xPlore played a live-set I didn't see or hear much of. From where I was at it sounded quite alright though. We were now situated on a mattress in the chillout (which was separated from the dance floor only by a huge canvas) and had a jolly good time, drinking champagne and chai, laughing and talking and basically enjoying ourselves and the night to the full.

All of a sudden, the tunes changed drastically. Behind the decks now was Lamy from Shankar Tribe. Maybe some of you remember how I mentioned some French guys putting their entire set up down in Portugal at the BooM Festie, playing the sox off everyone (including some of the best dj:s in the world!)? They called themselves Shankar Tribe - but I never knew that until a few days before this New Years Eve. Lamy is one of them, and he played some kick-ass music this night as well. The whole crowd was going crazy right in front of my eyes, and naturally I joined in! His mixing left a lot to desire, but the tunes...MAN!

Somewhere in the middle of Lamy's long set (me and time-estimates are not friends at the moment so I won't even try to guess, but it seemed like a lifetime from his start until he stepped down) we got celeb company, namely Stephane (I think!) and Serge (I know!) from Total Eclipse. They'd played at Pakhus's New Years Party and dropped by our happy gathering. Serge handed over a stack of dats to Lamy and he played quite a few tracks from them, f e a few new Total Eclipse ones that made us go even nuttier and crazier. Seriously full-on, kick-ass music that will probably have people go crazy allover the world in a couple of months.

After Lamy, I simply can not remember in which order Oliver and Tomas (Bekker) played. *Blimey!* (I've turned my brain inside out but it doesn't help!) I think Tomas played first though, and he was good. Very good, in fact, but not *excellent*. I was still up dancing and it was all just wonderful, so I'm not complaining. =:)

The last set (Janus assisting Oliver) was also an energizer, that kind of took us downhill for a while, only to bring us back up again. Very nicely wrapped up indeed. It was now close to 11 in the morning, and the remaining crowd just kept on dancing. Ok, quite a few people took a stroll down some trippy lane up in the chill out, but most of us were alive and kicking.

The last track came on - or so they said - and when it mellowed out and it all turned quiet, some noisy complaints were heard from a majority of the people. I knew that the party would continue, but the organizers wanted to send the brave and deepfrozen guards home and there was a long break to sort all that out. More than half of the crowd left, and a small, very happy, intimate and cool group of people stayed on to fight the signs of tiredness.

Another dj who'd left Pakhus in favour of Sputnik was Jeppe. He took over the decks when the afterparty started. Very nice indeed, but I was somewhat a wreck now and all I wanted was to get on the boat and sail back home to Malmö and Sweden. When me and Sofie left, sometime around 3pm, there were still people up and dancing. =:)

BIG hugs to all of you who were there and made it such a special night. Let's hope for an equally good year (1998) as the year we've just experienced. I'll be there!

Shimmering, Glittering New Years Smiles & Hugs

~ chrissie ~