Freedom 09' at Guvernment
Event Review - Pics - Videos
The Victoria Long-weekend Sunday in May is the date of Guvernment’s annual event named ‘Freedom’. Despite seasonal allergies that have been bogging me down for the past week, I suited up and made my way down. This years line-up was fairly impressive although Mark Knight (a personal favorite) who has played the previous few Freedom’s was unfortunately not on the bill this year. Compensating for his absence was another personal favorite of mine, Miami’s Erick Morillio, the king of feel-good, funky, big-room sounds.
Aside from Erick Morillo, This years line up featured international sensations; John Acquaviva, Benny Benassi, Paco Osuna, Z-trip, Switch, and more. Local talent included; Carlo Lio, The Junkies, YM, Joee Cons, Jay Force, Ovi M, and Aleksandra.
Unfortunately the line-up scheduled to play on Sky Bar (Manzone & Strong, Deko-ze, Greg Gow, and Tim Patrick) was canceled due to the weather (it was chilly as hell). Sky Bar was open, however it only served as a smoking patio.
I spent pretty much my entire night between the Gallery and Main Room, although I did pop in the other rooms here and there for a few minutes. The Gallery was pumping out incredible tech-house and minimal courtesy of Spain’s Paco Osuna who had the crowd in the palm of his hands. Locals Carlo Lio, The Junkes, and YM provided stellar opening and closing sets around Paco Osuna. Gallery was literally a sauna, and I’m pretty sure I sweat off a good 10 pounds.
(Paco Osuna on the decks in Gallery)
(The freaks come out at night lol)
I watched portions of John Acquaviva’s set and was fairly impressed. I missed most of Benny Benassi as main room was absolutely packed and he is a tad to mainstream/electro for me at times, although the few times I dropped in on his set the crowd was loving it and even I have to admit it was pretty dam good. It was a classic Benny Benassi set, packed with energy and chunky electro.
(Benny Benassi)
Like I said, I didn’t spend much time in the Orange Room or The Drink so I can’t really speak much on either of those rooms. I did catch a bit of Ovi M’s opening set in the Orange Room, which was pretty dope. And I walked through The Drink a few times to hear some wild Electro/Wonk/Fidget as well as some Dubstep, Drum and Bass, and Jungle. But again really didn’t spend enough time in either rooms to give you a good picture of what was going down there.
Finally Erick Morillo, he has been a long time favorite of mine. I have seen him in Mykonos, Greece and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil as well as a few other times/places in North America and he has never disappointed. He is one DJ that I feel really grasps the fundamentals of House music. I find he keeps up with current trends as well as setting new ones, while maintaining the authentic deep and groovy essence of House. He really gets into it and you can see it in his face and body language when he plays, that he is so passionate about the music. Erick and his sets give off such a positive vibe, that you can’t help but dance your butt off and feel good.
All in all I have to say I was satisfied with this years Freedom. Guvernment is always a good time due to the shear magnitude and scale of the production and the fact that you can choose from five or six different rooms/sounds through out the night. What other venue in the city is going to have 3000+ people in attendance and be open from 9pm-9am, Not to mention an awesome crowd with a great vibe?
Special Thanks to John Mitchell for letting me use some of his photo's. I didn't take quite enough pics that night so you will notice I used some of his (look for his name in bottom right hand corner).
Aaron
“Getting down to business, so you can get to the business of getting down”
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