Sunburn ‘09- Day 2 at Candolim, Goa.

DISCLAIMER

This review does not claim to be an exhaustive review covering all artists and is selective in nature of review and coverage.

Sunburn 2009. An event that most of us reading this review right now have probably heard about, been at, or wished were there.

Fortunately for us at Chordvine.com, we were right there, in the middle of the action, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. This here is our insightful review and highlights of the Sunburn 2009.

The journey to Goa started slightly bumpily, with our VIP access rejected, and a GA Pass to get into, effectively putting us out of the hyped AfterDark sessions that made up half of Sunburn this year. But we didn’t stop, we bought ourselves a VIP pass, rather disdainfully, but we did.  Hmph.

Day 2 at the Domes took a genre-centric turn as the Tree Dome (With Gatecrasher off from here) took an all-psytrance look while the Sky Dome was an all-out house buffet.

Ajit began proceedings on the Sky with a panache that shows that good Indian talent was being nurtured well and given its due. He held onto the crowd ably with his proggy and turned the heat just right in time for the awesome, Gordon Edge to walk in with his trumpet, and pure house feel, and blow the Sky Dome in a way similar to what Sultan did. It was banging, loud and laced with funky vocals and brilliant live trumpeting from Edge. Classic, classic house.

Caught glimpses of each of the psy artists while jumping back to Ajit and Edge, and the Designer Hippies were notably very, very tight, and as was Voodoo XP.

Back to Sky Dome, walks in a one Mr. Nawed Khan. To be honest, I have never heard him before, and after his Sunburn set. I wish I’d heard more. HE ABSOLUTELY KILLED IT, the progressive was so good, so melodic, synth-driven and tight, I was right in front, from the first minute to the last. Apologies to Janux and Domino (who I was told by a psy-crazy friend was insane!). I won’t tell you what rank Nawed gets, but you might just be surprised J Anyone who missed it, missed such a good set. What’s even better is that he’s Indian. I was, And still am. Floored.

And, after him, Roger Sanchez came.

Yeah.

Roger.

Sanchez.

For those who didn’t know, it doesn’t really matter. Roger is such a legend. I once heard Nikhil Chinapa say there’s only three people in the world who can play house the way house is supposed to be played. Norman Doray (hearts), Eric Morillo (more hearts) and yes, the bald Mexican looking badass who took the festival by its balls, and for 2 and a half hours, treated the place like his b***h. Everyone in the place, was FLOORED. Drunk with his house madness. *Me sings Roger Sanchez in the house…

Yes he was that good. But then again, you expect him to be that good. There are no leagues under this man. Its just him and his Lil League.  I’ll keep his rank under the wraps too.

And yes, I also missed Ma Faiza. But the friend who likes psy was at her stage and was positively as zonked with happiness as I was listening to Roger.

Positively drunk, we washed up again and decided to hit the AfterDark decks, and as we walked in, the sound of psy shot through with J00F doing a second set in as many days. It was equally tight as the day before and kept the tired, drunk and sleepy-eyed VIP banded folks buzzing through the night.

What happened after J00F was entirely avoidable. I’m not a big fan of DJ Clement, but I’m sure after his set, not many people remain. It’s the kind of stuff that makes people say trance or psy sucks. Boring, straight as an arrow, minimal variation. Utterly torturous in some places and yes. Avoidable.

We ran out quickly. Cotton buds and all.