Richie Hawtin Celebrates Queensday At Paradiso

Written by Marijn van Laerhoven

Jamming together with Speedy J, Click-to-Click-ing with Dubfire, or entertaining the crowd just by himself, in Rotterdam or in Amsterdam... for years now Richie Hawtin has been traveling to the Netherlands to rock the Dutch just before they join in with the rest of their country on what is easily the country's biggest excuse to head out for a good time: queens day (april 30th). In this year's follow-up Richie Hawtin was joined by Italian super star Marco Carola in Amsterdam's legendary pop temple, the Paradiso.

Event details
M-NUS at Paradiso, Amsterdam
Thursday 28th of April
From 23:00 to 05:30
Tickets: €30,- 

Browsing the world wide web in the days before the event we found people trying to get rid of their tickets through social media channels. Just hours before the doors of the Paradiso would open, tickets changed ownership for a whole ten euro's below the original ticket price. Not just one ticket, but loads, or so it seemed. Sure, the event had been scheduled on a week-day with some people having to go to work or school the next day. Yes, the event was scheduled at least 24 hours ahead of all the party packing action during the queens day festivities. Oh, and let's not forget about Sven Vath, whom just so happened to be celebrating his 30th year in his DJ career (congratulations!) at the very same time, a few streets away from the Paradiso. Poor planning? Perhaps, but we like our traditions. So there we had Richie Hawtin and Marco Carola, two super stars in the world of minimal techno, to play for a club half-full... really? The thought did cross our minds and got us worried, for a moment perhaps.

At the doors we quickly learn that the event has gone sold out after all and that the price of tickets getting sold second-hand has gone back up to the original price. Inside the Paradiso beats do sound but neither Marco nor Richie is yet to be seen on stage. The time table that we find inside the Paradiso reveals that someone else, someone not mentioned in the lineup or promotions, is behind the decks: Dutch DJ/producer Pitto. In fact, around midnight Pitto's just half-way through his set. It gives us some time to warm-up, hang with our friends and rediscover the venue we haven't been to since last year's Click to Click (Richie Hawtin & Dubfire). 

The time table:
23:00 - 01:00 Pitto
01:00 - 03:00 Marco Carola
03:00 - 05:30 Richie Hawtin

Once he finally starts playing, Marco Carola performs well and plays a pretty solid set with sweet tunes and dirty bass lines. Danceable, just the way we like it, for the most part of it at least. At times the beat would move out just a little too long for our liking; the crave for a next bomb changed into the thought (and action) of 'oh, let's go get a drink'. No reason to complain, just a matter of taste. Speaking of taste, sitdowns - aren't those kind of outdated, or cheesy at least? They can also be downright embarrassing when someone gets one going at exactly the wrong moment. Thankfully it has been a while since we last saw someone try, but tonight we got caught up in the middle of another attempt. In the conclusion of Marco Carola's set nearly all of the Paradiso's crowd crouched to join a major sitdown. The timing was okay and the result fun, but let's be honest; still kinda cheesy! Then Richie Hawtin, no introductions needed here. Or so he must've thought himself, launching us straight into sixth gear. Yes! Richie made little time for breaks and all the more for beats, percussions and basslines. This was exactly the set we had hoped to hear from Richie, and more. The remainder of the night flew by in an instant when we moved from climax to climax to climax.

Tickets to tonight's show weren't cheap, but neither was the music. But it has to be said, for tickets worth €30,- one would've expected to see tonight's artists appear on stage a little earlier than well over 2 hours into the event. And with the stage being kept free from ravers and even ourselves as photographer it would've been nice to have had at least some sort of video or LED wall to add a visual experience. But in the end Marco Carola and Richie Hawtin performed very well and we had nothing but a great time in the Paradiso. Until next year?