Anyone who’s a fan of Gareth Emery knows that his sets always encompass top tracks, stellar mixing, and loads of energy. Well, Gareth brought his skills to a whole new level with the Northern Lights concert taking over the Space main room. Appropriately named after the title of his debut artist album last September, the concert included a 4 hour DJ and live set, with vocal performances and instrumental interludes integrated seamlessly into Gareth’s set.
At 1:30 Gareth took the stage and opened with the Ashley Wallbridge remix of his track “Arrival” from his Northern Lights album, a high energy progressive track that had the crowd screaming with their hands in the air. Within minutes I could also see that the production had been stepped up as well for this show, with a light show so good it rivaled a top festival stage.
An hour into a set filled with progressive tunes, which included a surprisingly good 2011 remix by Chris Schweizer of the cliché track Zombie nation, Mark Frisch took the stage for the first live performance of the night and sang “Into the Light”. The night began to take a slightly trancier turn, and the energy in the room began to reach its peak when Roxanne Emery, who happens to be Gareth’s sister, slowed the crowd down to sing her featured song on Northern Lights “Too Dark Tonight“. It was the one serene moment among the chaos, and was my favorite live song of the night. Perhaps most surprising was Gareth himself taking to the piano during the song with a performance that left you with chills.
The calm was short lived though, as madness resumed when Gareth returned to the decks and immediately began smashing out high energy trance with his mash-up of “Exposure” and the classic “As the Rush Comes“. Shortly following was his mash-up of what has basically become a club anthem and staple in his set, the always crowd pleasing “On A Good Day (Metropolis)”.
The two remaining live performances of the night were given by Lucy Saunders, who was unknown as a dance music vocalist until Gareth debuted her on Northern Lights. She first gave a solid performance of ‘Fight the Sunrise’, which is the current single from the album, but it was when she sang ‘Sanctuary’, one of the biggest trance tunes of 2010, the crowd reached a whole new level of madness. The highlight of “Sanctuary” for me was Dan Storey on guitar. His solo at the end gave a rock ’n roll edge to the song that left me wondering how the electric guitar seamlessly blended so well with the melodies of trance.
With the crowd screaming for more, Gareth gave a 30 minute encore of heavy underground trance, and was followed by Ashley Wallbridge, an up and coming trance and progressive superstar, playing the closing set.
If you missed the Northern Lights concert, it will be making a second appearance at Space for the final ever show on Wednesday, July 27th.
