Yip, it was one of those parties; flawless, beautiful and insanely fun, Beartrap’s 10 year anniversary set the standards high this time around.

 From the music, the people, the transformed venue and the remarkable vibe –the grin on my face is here to stay.

 After the jump!

By Nik Basting

Following the Origin Festival, fun as it was, I was looking forward to attending a smaller, more intimate party. I knew, from past experiences, that Celestial Beings would attract the best of crowds, and already within the first moments prior to the rising sun, my predictions were proven true.

The rock quarry venue, although a concern at first due to the far walk to the dance floor and its rock-strewn ground, was transformed dramatically since our last visitation there. It’s these small bits of effort that do it for me, albeit unnoticed by all. For example, whilst the previous Remanufacture party suffered from a foot-breaking dance floor, the Beartrap crew removed literally all stones from the ground and covered it in an abundance of hay; you could enjoy the bare-foot feeling once again.

By Nik Basting

The weather was absolutely perfect; sunrays piercing through passing clouds had created a surreal & beautiful balance between hot and cold. And when the weather got too hot, rare as it was, we were treated to arrays of sprinklers covering the majority of the floor.

The sound rig was to be commended upon too, for not only it was loud & clear, it also accommodated whatever your location on the floor was. Unlike other parties, Beartrap threw a rig at the back of the floor too, equally as impressive, producing a surrounding effect in which you could immerse yourself in for the next dozen hours.

By Nik Basting

But it was what came out of the mentioned sound rig that truly made the party what it was. Due to running into several snags on the way, I was only able to arrive at the last few tracks of Biorhythm. Not to worry though, for the Tuneraider & Myzo female duo controlled the night to day transition with absolute precision and finesse. That ‘it’s good to be home’ feeling kicked in again.

The duo was followed by Chemogen, an act I have yet to see play a morning set but after Sunday, I long to see over and over again. Playing with a faultlessly designed progression to connect the previous act to the one that followed him, Chemogen ensured us that he’s not fucking around. Nor were we.

By Nik Basting

Now, this is where shit gets interesting. I must admit upfront that I have been an avid fan of the Dapanji duo for a long while before hearing of their arrival, so it was only natural that I walked in with high expectations. Yet, often, and from previous experiences, these expectations are not always met due to artificial hype that’s perhaps too biased. Nonetheless, this wasn’t the case with Dapanji, for I am still lost for words to describe possibly the best set I’ve heard in SA.

By Nik Basting

By Nik Basting

Every track was ground shaking in its own way, and the energy on the floor was incontestable. I recall thinking towards the end of each track, “Imagine they dropped this one now” – and they did. Again, and again, and again, and it was fucking phenomenal. And just when you thought that Dapanji would be a hard to act to follow, which they were, Sway proved us wrong once again, delivering an equally as impressive performance thereafter.

By Nik Basting

Around half way throughout Brian Sentient surprise set, I was utterly broken and thus gathered my fellow partygoers, albeit more broken than I was, and made out way back to the mother city, smiling endlessly at what just went down.

By Nik Basting

I could continue to share cherished memories from the party, but this isn’t the space to do so. I can only rest assured that my feelings towards Beartrap were mutual amongst the attendees, for this was one party that will not be forgotten.

Thank you all once again for, well, everything.

See you at Masqued Ball! 

Words by Adam Lifshitz
Photos by Nik Basting

Tags: Adam Lifshitz, beartrap, beartrap review, brian sentient, Celestial Beings, dapanji, nik basting a, Sway

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 7:57 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.