DJ Kaskade: Live at Club Air in Amsterdam
In my last post on Amsterdam, I told you all about the circumstances that led up to my brother and I randomly meeting Ryan Raddon, a.k.a. well-known electronic music DJ Kaskade, while out roaming the streets! After we met him, we walked around the city some more, got a bite to eat, returned to the hotel to shower and change, and then ventured back out on the town to ask around and find the club where he was playing later that night. After a bit of investigative work we found the club, it's right up the street from the popular Rembrandt Square (or Rembrandtplein). During the day, Rembrandt Square is buzzing with locals and tourists, its Cafes and Coffeeshops crowded… But by night, the clubs take over the scene. At that point, we had already checked out another club right in the square on a previous night, I think it's called Prime. It was okay, the most enjoyable feature being the digital strips running up the walls and across the ceiling where various graphics play out in sync with the music.
Anyway, we found Club Air and noted its location for later, later being some time around 11 or 11:30pm - then we walked around enjoying the debauchery in the streets until it was time for the show. Flash forward a couple of hours and it was time, here is the scene in the club when we first walked in:
Great atmosphere! We hung out on the steps for a while before making our way through the crowd to the front,where we were pleasantly surprised to find a convenient little pocket of space right next to the DJ booth…
I think I should inform you: I'm not much of a "clubber." I've been to several clubs on Miami Beach and throughout Miami over the past 10 years, but it was always initiated by someone else and the whole experience never wooed me like it does others. I guess I prefer concerts, I'm a hippy like that. Growing up, I went to tons of rock concerts… Name a rock band from the 90's and chances are I've seen'em perform live! These days, classic rock has my heart, and I've seen quite a few older bands perform live over the past few years as well. But my brother LOVES electronic music - he practically eats, sleeps and breathes it, aside from sports. So this night was something I did for him. But you know what? I had an awesome time! By far, this is the only club experience that has left a lasting impression on me. Of course, the events leading up to it and our great vantage point on the DJ sweetened up the whole deal.
When we got to the front, we felt like little children in awe of some animals at the zoo for the first time, hahahaha….
We were thisclose to Kaskade, there was even a nice little lip from the booth stage for us to climb up on and observe the man in action!
He was really into it, as I'm sure he should be huh?
My brother was shocked at how close we were able to get, especially to a DJ of this kind. Like I said in my last post, my brother told me that he has tried multiple times to see Kaskade perform live here in Miami at various clubs, but they always sell out. He has only seen him from far far away at the enormous music festivals that he goes to several times a year. So this was a rare treat for him…
He was really good! Kinda cute too, in the midst of his intense passion for music. It was sexy! As you can see, he had plenty of admirers:
Meanwhile… My brother was practicing his LED Glow Poi, another type of the Poi that I showed you in this post...
By the end of the night, he had a circle of avid spectators...
…and the night wasn't night anymore, it was dawn…
Yep, we had successfully clubbed the night away! But it was a nice treat to roam the city at such an hour, probably the only quiet desolate hour in all 24 hours of Amsterdam city life! Literally, we had commented several times already by this point on how Amsterdam never sleeps, but we found the secret sleep window, it's between 7 and 8am! That's about it, then all the hustle bustle begins again. Fun times :D
Seriously, I could have stood on that bridge and stared at the reflection of those Dutch row homes for a long long time…
Feeling goofy, and soaking up the moment… Not necessarily very photogenic at that hour, but still trying to document the occasion…
Once again, the reflection of buildings on the glassy peaceful surface of every canal had me transfixed:
One of those wretched selfless, you know, to prove I was there… HA!
One of my favorite shots from Amsterdam:
Empty peaceful streets...
Sun, sun, sun!!
It was around this time that we vampires fled back to the castle made our way back to the hotel. We were still on a high from that night, but there's nothing like daylight to muffle that and haul in the sleepy exhaustion, especially when you've gotta walk back! Oh, and especially when we got kinda-sorta lost after walking our new friend back to her hostel while oohing and aching over the beautiful sky as the sun came, taking silly pictures, and walking aimlessly. But what the hey, it's all good as long as it made us happy (memorieeeees) in the process, which it did! But yes, needless to say we passed out soon after these photos were taken!
Read all about my various adventures through Amsterdam (links below), and stay tuned for more photos and stories about the other thirteen cities that I just visited:
I'll be back later today with yet another post on my beloved Amsterdam. I told you I had a a lot to share, and this is just the first city! Yikes, I'll try to be thorough and consistent.
Speaking of Amsterdam, I really want to say that my heart goes out to the Dutch people, and all of the nations and families who lost someone on Malaysia Airlines flight 17. This loss of life is horrific, 298 people have perished and it saddens me to the core. For The Netherlands, a very small country, the loss of 193 souls is a great national tragedy. Imagine how many lives are affected in such a small population when that many lives are lost. No doubt, the pain and anger must be overwhelming for all of the families of all of the victims. Hell, I am sad and angry, because it's an event that speaks to the state of humanity. The situation in the Ukraine is another tragic issue altogether, not to mention countless others ongoing around the world. I often wish that every human being would have an epic epiphany wherein they realize that socializing hatred towards differing races, cultures and creeds in our future generations only serves to perpetuate the vicious cycle of human tragedy that plays out every day on our earth. The things we say and do are powerful, they orchestrate the future. We must learn to get along with each other as a global society before we can get along in our respective societies. Humans need to stop letting nationalism and culture blind their compassion for each other, after all we are all the same species, we are all one. Diversity is the beauty of our species, when will we learn to fully embrace that?
Catherine
(All images in this post are the original photographs of the author of this blog. Do not copy or reuse any images on this site without written consent from www.InspireBohemia.com)