DJ Diary: Roger Sanchez

This past weekend I started out playing in a Corsican club called La Camargue.

I figured out I haven't been there in approximately 10 years, and the island looks pretty much exactly the same as the last time I was there: Mediterranean, sort of like Ibiza was 15 years ago.

We flew in on a private jet as the schedule made it impossible to get to the island by commercial airlines, and the approach was hairy!

It was very windy and felt a bit like a rollercoaster ride.

The plane had to climb over a mountain and take a sort of a death plunge towards the airstrip!

We arrived and drove for two hours to a nice rustic hotel and prepared for the night.

All Ages

The club was a small venue, and as it was nearing the end of the season, it wasn't that crowded.

Oh, and as I remembered from last time, clubs in Corsica tend to attract ALL ages, so there were loads of teens with their fathers and mothers!

However the crowd was, they did enjoy it and really got into a funkier more vocal vibe.

I am sure we will come back to do this club some time next summer and it will be a great gig to do.

The next day we traded sunshine for rain and mud as we flew to Amsterdam for the Mysteryland festival, where we were hosting a Release Yourself tent.

The line up was Tom de Neef, Tom Stephan, Sharam Jey, Laidback Luke and myself due to finish off with a four hour set.

The tent was kitted out with a Function One soundsystem and it sounded wicked!

Brazilian Vibe

We had some sexy girls dressed up in the Brazillian vibe and a beautifully set up stage and decoration all in line with the Brazilian vibe we have for Release Yourself this year.

The dutch crowd are always an up for it crowd and a few friends like David Guetta and Lucien Foort passed by to check it out.

I didn't have much time to see the festival and hear the other guys play but I caught Tom Stephan's set and he is definitely one of my very favourite DJs at the moment - the guy is just on fire!

One of the biggest tracks for me that night was Nic Fanciulli's 'Lucky Heather' – it's massive!

I ended at 10pm and ran straight to the airport to jet to Liverpool for Creamfields.

When I got to the airport I funnily enough ran into Eddie Halliwell, Felix da Housecat and David Guetta who had all just left Mysteryland before me, but were stuck with delayed planes.

Creamfields

Once in Liverpool, it was more mud, but a new venue!

Sasha was on before me, but when I got to the stage, I realised the sound was really low on the floor.

It seems the sound police were enforcing a strict 105 decibel restriction over the entire festival, which sounds like it could be pretty loud, but in a tent for 6,000 people, it was rubbish: I could even have had a casual conversation with the people on the dancefloor whilst mixing.

To be fair the crowd were game, if a bit (understandably) subdued, but they reacted well to the tunes.

Shame about the sound though - I really do think it dampened the vibe of the festival.

Still, I got a great reaction for Laidback Luke's 'Hypnotize' make sure you check out this record when it gets released later this year!

Release Yourself

Yousef came on after me and I shot off to Ibiza to prepare for Monday night's Release Yourself party at Pacha.

Oh, by the way, I don't always do the private jet thing in case you are wondering if this is my regular lifestyle (don't i wish!), but with the new safety restrictions that may or may not be implemented at airports worldwide, it may just be the way to go in the future!

Love Roger, XXXXX

The launch party for Roger Sanchez' new 'Come With Me' mix CD is on 22nd September at London's Ministry of Sound.

To listen to and buy all or Roger Sanchez' tunes visit http://download.djmag.com/tracksearch.php?search=roger sanchez

Check www.stealth-records.com or www.rogersanchez.com for more info.

Photos supplied by www.link2party.nl