Xceed and SIGHT joined forces this last Sunday to offer a night of pure techno at Pacha Barcelona. The honour guest was Charlotte de Witte, the most demanded Belgian DJ right now and one of the revelation artists in the last two years. Since doors opened at midnight, a few clubbers already occupied the centre of the dance floor dancing to Fran Hernandez‘s rhythms. In less than one hour, ZIUR‘s resident DJ (one of the most important festivals in Valencia) got before him a cluttered crew that enjoyed his groove and melodic tech-house, just before his set ending, much closer to techno, reminded us what was coming next.
Charlotte de Witte started at 2 am and she didn’t even take 30 seconds to drop the first kick at 130bpm. The night promised speedy dancing and continued ecstasy, track after track. We don’t intend to deceive anyone; some of Charlotte de Witte‘s last sets had sounded repetitive, even boring. The latter, however, was unforgettably epic.
Charlotte de Witte has produced a good number of tracks since she has burst onto the scene. One of them, ‘Closer’, is undoubtedly her favourite. Whenever she has time, she plays it. And the audience always responds in the same way: noise, much noise, and collective hubbub at the final point. It is De Witte’s style: intimate and warm voices that precede dry breaks, clean, soft and aggressive at the same time.
Charlotte herself told us about it a year ago, walking through the walled precinct of Tossa de Mar after her performance at FORT Festival: “It was one of the most magical days of my career. Jones & Stephenson are idols of my childhood, from when I played under the alias Raving George. Bonzai Records has always been a reference for me and when they offered me to edit the best track released in the history of the label, I was petrified.” Yes, we are talking about ‘The First Rebirth’, that trancy and ravy track with which Nina Kraviz closed Sónar last year. Charlotte de Witte slowed it down and gave it a techno appearance, adapting it to parties like this last Sunday’s.
They were the only two pieces that we recognized during her performance. After them, she left us new pearls that we had rarely heard in her sets. Some much more acid and ravy sounds than expected turned a club of an impeccable image as Pacha Barcelona in an authentic underground party in which the sweat, heat, unbridled dancing and delivery to the music of the DJ were indisputable law. More than 1,000 clubbers crowded into the booth while the Belgian artist was increasing the pace and intensity with each transition.
For a DJ that had to close the night after Charlotte de Witte, that could have been a problem. But the man in charge was Ramiro Lopez, who has no problem if it is about burning the venue. He started his set going up to 132bpm. No taboos. And so it remained until the false closing, in which the lights went on and the audience applauded the Spanish artist and the entire organization of Pacha, Xceed and SIGHT, before a last 90’s track of extremely high revolutions made us jump for the last time. Thus ended a magical night, in which Xceed could write together with SIGHT a new page of this story that is coming up to an end: the techno Sundays at Pacha Barcelona.
(Cover Image: © Mario G. García)