Queen's Day at the Elf

30th April 1999, Amsterdam 1999

Courtesy of Marita

Jason creak in tow, we headed over to the free outdoor party under the bridge close to central station, that's been happening every year now for the last 4 years. And it seems that this was the best one yet. Organised by the folks from the squatted Belgian embassy, (Elf), by the time we got there at 2:30 or 3pm, it was already well under way. Lots of fluoro freaks bopping around, and even more people on top of the bridge looking on in amazement and taking photo's of them. =o)

Derek was playing when we got there, and I *finally* got to hear him! Every party I've been to when he's been playing, he either took the decks before or after I'd been there. =o) He played really good. makes me look forward to when I get to hear a full nighttime set from him. I'm a good month late writing this review, so my recollection of the exact line up is hazey. I do know who played, just not exactly in which order.

I remember that Mariano played better than I've heard him play in a while. I enjoyed his set for sure. The martian was a bit... er.. 'cheesy' might be the word. Played around too much, a bit like a techno dj, and put on some very cheesy tracks.

Danyel was there as well, but he played some whoppers. I'm starting to really enjoy his sets again. =) I think jason was just taking over as we left. Lot's of ppl there that we knew, including Alistair, Matt, Remko, Baz, Ray, Stella...er... lots of others as well, a few of which are evading me at the moment, and many of whom the names would mean nothing to most of you anyway. =o) Oh yeah, claim to fame, got introduced to synchro. Turns out to be a nicer guy than i had given him credit for. =o)

Anyway, we'd been there from 3 - 8pm in the most gorgous sunshine, so we figured we'd head on home, albeit a touch sunburned, to get some food, and rest up before the rest of the night's festivities. =)

And what festivities they were! There was another party on, right in the centre of a'dam, with Jean borelli, Anti, Gms, and a few others, but we thought about it and figured 'queen's day. Centre of amsterdam. In a club. We're all going to be packed in like sardines, and trod on by lots of silly drunken people flinging beer around and wearing orange wigs.' but because of that, the crowd at the e.l.f. was smaller than usual. So i'm happy that party was happening. =o)

When we got to the Elf around 1:30 or 2am, there were about 175 - 200 people there, and it didn't seem to increase much more over the night. (correct me if i'm wrong timo and/or jason - I'm hopeless at estimating crowds.) but. The atmosphere was something else. Any of you that remember my reviews of parties in the Silo <...> Well, the atmosphere in the elf is as close as it gets to how it used to be in the Silo. We recognised quite a few of the 'old Silo heads', and the rest of the crowd were like minded folks. *what* a rush. =o) It's difficult to explain unless you had experienced it a couple of times, but it's such a fuckin' relief to regain some of that friendliness, atmosphere, attitude, and pure downright fun that we used to have there. The elf seems to have captured some of it back. I must've wagged the ears of *every*one there that night, and they off me. =o)) Such a chatty, fun, friendly party I haven't had in a while. =oD You could tell how much fun I was having when I realised I was having some great conversations with a guy from Italy called Joseph that spoke almost no english, while I speak no italian... =o)

er... Decor : loads of blacklight, with a general mayan backdrop theme. No smoke machines, no strobe. Just blacklight heaven, and some *beautiful* backdrops. =o)

djs : as ever in the elf, you never know who's going to turn up and play there. but at parties like these, it never matters, cuz you know you're going to enjoy yourself anyway. =) Jason was playing when we got there, but we didn't have our 'energy' in check just yet, so we went to the chill out for a while. When we came back, he was on the last leg of his set, and it was sounding much better.

After him, an israeli dj that i hadn't heard of, or seen before took over. Discovered, after a bit of a chat, that his name was Asher. Fuckin' great set! He pumped some energy into the place! No wonder the place was beaming with fluorescent teethy smiles. =o)

And up after asher, was Poly. It's actually the first time I've heard him play, and the first time in *ages* that he's been back around Amsterdam. He kept up the same energetic vibe that asher had started, and had us all dancing well into the early hours. Talk about not being able to drag yourself off the dance floor. =)

After poly, came one of the residents, manuel. This is the 3rd time i've seen him play at the elf now, and once again, he didn't disappoint. The dance floor was throbbing (for want of a better word). =o)

Meanwhile, in the chillout, sander was playing another phenomenal set. =o) And as ever, walter the eyes, Benny and Joe the caterpillars, and yoh-hie the..er... umm... 'funny thing', went down a massive blast. =o)
We left around 11am the next morning, just as eveline was making her way towards the dj box to take over from Manuel, but we were starting to get very tired, and the crowd was starting to thin out considerably.

Cycled back, with dialated pupils, through the park. What a fantastic experience after such a night of perfect partying. Brilliant green grass and leaves, and tons of birds singing. And the creak of my bicycle chain that's been begging for a drop of oil for a while now.... =o)

And jason creak the bastard. He's here for a weekend, and he almost knew more bloody people at the party under the bridge than I knew, and I've been living here almost 8 bloody years! all these ppl he'd met in Goa and knew from his travels, came skipping up going 'wotcha jason!'. ;o)))

Anywayz. that's my review of queen's day. =)

Let hope you won't have to wait as long for the next one.... ;)

smiles all!
=o)
marita.