Well as it turned out I -did- get rejected at the door, but was saved from a cold walk back to the hotel by being on Octave One's list. So all's well . . .
I arrived just as Octave One were starting; they played precisely an hour between 5:00 and 6:00 and then an encore. As usual they were on form, really upbeat performance with a fairly good crowd reaction for most of it. The sound wasn't great during their set, a bit crackly, although I've observed that big sound systems are very unforgiving to live setups whether analog and/or digital. During the encore Lenny did Moby one better -- not only did he get up on the table where all the gear was to cheer on the crowd, he continued to play, reaching down to hit the controls at the right moment. Maybe not as great as Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth but pretty darn exciting :) Kevin Saunderson was also on his best game, none of the cheesy stuff I've heard him play the last few times I've seen him -- housey techno all the way with the usual bits of Good Life thrown in throughout. The floor was up for it the whole way and he had a big smile. I didn't stay long after that, the following DJ was kind of boring and the Panaromabar was overcrowded with semi-drunk scenesters. The club is big and the sound in the main room is impressive (though not the best i've ever heard, that honor goes to the old 177 Townsend system in SF and the Twilo system in NY). The crowd was reasonably friendly and actually dancing quite a bit. I don't think I'm likely to go back except for a special occasion like this if I happen to be in Berlin again, because when you get down to it, it's really just another big club with door staff who discriminate because they can. I've been in and around the music scene for much, much longer than they have, and I don't need that sh1t. cheers Fred
