With the mysterious '?' littering billboards and poster-ridden walls over the island for a good week or so, the day had finally arrived to experience the ENTER. Vs Cadenza double-header and to finally find out who these '?' figures on the line-ups would actually be... OK, so let's not play dumb, we all kind of knew that it would be 'Luciano Vs Richie' and vice-versa but playing along with the idea was fun all the same and it was little to no surprise to see that thousands of others wanted to be in on the action too.
Arriving at Ushuaïa for the first instalment of the evening's fun, the hour long queue was not yet a deterrent as I spent the vast majority of this time people watching and quite enjoyed witnessing the numerous senoritas attempting to battle the 'impractical footwear meets challenging flooring' predicament which they found themselves in. Eventually I made it into the ram packed, hot and buzzing poolside area as Unstable Witness by Gaiser played on; just in time for the long awaited b2b set from the two main boys themselves, Luciano and Hawtin I made my move to get into dancing position. Having to adopt the crowd wiggle - which I have become quite accustomed to - I made my way to the side of the stage to take in the sheer scale of the duo's popularity.
To the backdrop of psychedelic jelly fish pulsing to the beat, Luciano and Richie provided the adoring crowd with a nice set which fused Luciano's style together with Hawtin's more dominant sounds. Although it would have been nicer to have heard a bit more of Luciano's groove, there was no denying that Richie Hawtin's powerful techno was eating up the dance-floor as the world's of Cadenza and ENTER. met for the first time. Overall the meeting was a harmonious one of rolling basslines, droney riffs, high pitched bursts of sounds, ghostly choirs and tribal synths. ENTER.'s presence was embraced even further with sci-fi sounds, computer keys and space graphics which splashed a bit of Richie's love for technology and all that's advanced across the venue.
So, after partying away with the pair who happily shared a booth bromance over mojitos and their passion for music as tracks like Carlo Lio's Keep Grooving filled the air, I was looking forward to how the party would transfer to the other side of the road and land at Richie's home, Space. Luciano went on to close the night with the now pretty well-known but still unreleased track which is full of keys and cheer and has been made famous by him alone this summer - such a mysterious man! Now the time had come for me to tackle queue two...
This time, however, the queue was proving to be a bit of a deterrent and I battled with the overwhelming urge to indulge in more Cadenza meets ENTER. fun and the almost as appealing option to return to the comfort of my humble abode. True to form, I stuck it out and was soon amongst a mass of elbow shovers (but the friendlist kind) and after a short period of crazy woman syndrome I was happily shoulder grooving with my fellow clubbers in the heaving Discoteca. I was quickly pulled back into musical delirium by pumping techno which was riddled with the explosive basslines that we all love Richie for and spiced up with shots of melody courtesy of Luciano; there was no escaping the dark foot-stomping vacuum which was sucking me in.
With melodic synthlines and riffs slicing up the continuous Hawtin bassline, Luciano was constantly clapping beside his new booth companion as the battle of house and techno continued. For me, Space's dance-floor was where the pair got into full swing and really splurged their own styles into the room and together created their solid world of musical euphoria. As Luciano's greatly loved trumpets and horns sounded over Richie's dark and gripping basslines the party went from strength to strength and the love and admiration from the crowd was almost touchable serving the duo well as an energy source to keep them giving the best of what they've got.
Although I doubt we'll be seeing Hawtin adopt a pink highlight in his hair anytime soon, it was great to experience the pair's friendship as well as enjoying all their musical offerings. The double-header was not only a great idea but now in hindsight it seems like a long overdue one. Now that two of the island's biggest names have done it I wonder how many more will follow suit? I for one look forward to seeing the possibilities that this innovative party union may bring us.
