
Photos by RPM Presents
As usual, New York City was jam-packed with events this past New Year’s Eve making it even more difficult make that final decision on where you’d welcome in 2015. Some names that were also welcoming in the New Year in The Big Apple were Borgore, Disclosure and of course the dynamic duo known as Jack Ü. While I was still recovering from the prior events of RPM’s #BIGWEEKNYC, I decided to head over to Pier 36 to catch who arguably had the biggest year in electronic music. I’m talking about the 18 year old superstar that goes by the name of Martin Garrix. Joining him at the Pier were four other extremely talented young producer/DJs, Julian Jordan, Jay Hardway,Oliver Heldens and the New York native Ansolo.
This event was 21+ which upset a lot people considering Jay Hardway with the only one of age out of the featured acts, but they did pay a visit to Pacha for an +18 show the day before so all was forgiven. As I like to say, they were doing it for the kids.
Anyways, after a wild journey through the chaotic New York City streets, I made it to the Pier to catch most Julian Jordan’s set where he went on to drop electro bombs on the crowd. His set included his signature tracks such as “The Takedown”, his most recent release “Angels x Demons” and a massive ID that I believe is his collab with KSHMR. Following Julian Jordan was Jay Hardway who picked up right up where Julian left off. After starting off his set with “Bootcamp”, he went on to drop Firebeatz remix of “Calabria”, his track with Mike Hawkins “Freedom” and he even threw a few MASSIVE IDs in the mix. The crowd was rocking and there was officially only an hour left in 2014.
It was time to switch things up a bit when our man Oliver Heldens hit the decks. He took the crowd on a future house journey to close out the year. Early on he dropped his remix of “Return of the Mack” and that’s when I knew his set was going to be special. Oli always brings his ‘A’ game whenever he is in New York. His set would include Martin Solveig & GTA’s “Intoxicated”, his latest collab with Zeds Dead “You Know”, “Gecko”, his edit of “A Lot Like Love” and of course, “Koala”. He caught the crowd off guard with the CALVO’s remix of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off”, the crowd loved it. I have to admit, I even caught myself grooving a little too hard to that one.
Once the clock hit 11:59 the countdown began on the LED screen and before you knew it, confetti and balloons filled the sky. Martin Garrix vs. Matisse & Sadko’s “Dragon” blared through the speakers as Martin Garrix wished the crowd a Happy New Year, just thinking about that magic moment gives me chills. Garrix threw together a stellar two hour set and even had a surprise for the crowd during the last half hour of his set. His set was a barrage of electro and progressive house tunes mixed to perfection. It was honestly beyond impressive. The 18 year prodigy blew the roof off of Pier 36 with a set that included tracks such as Blinders “Sirene”, his mashup of Turn Up The Speakers vs. All Of Me, Dropgun’s “Spin It Back” and pretty much everything Martin Garrix whether original or collab. His mashup game is strong as well; Martin Garrix knows his way around the CDJ’s my friends.
Around 2 o’clock the crowd witnessed something special, Martin Garrix b2b Julian Jordan b2b Jay Hardway b2b Ansolo. It was madness! They each took turns working the crowd with some of their favorite tracks before Ansolo took over to close out the night. Ansolo did what he does best for his closing set, brought the groove to Pier 36. The place was still packed and Ansel had every single one of them rocking until security was giving everyone the boot. I mean it’s literally impossible to stand still when he’s dropping tunes like his collab with Tom Staar “Totem” or his remix of Arno Cost’s “Strong”. The Size superstar did not disappoint.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and it was time to head home. That also meant this year’s edition of RPM’s #BIGWEEKNYC had official come to a close. As much as I was disappointed to see the 6 day marathon of #BIGWEEKNYC was over, my body needed some rest. I also want to thank Pacha NYC and RPM for consistently bringing the biggest names to NYC year after year to enter the New Year; I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us this year!
*Live Sets*
Jay Hardway – Live @ Pier 36 (New York) – 31.12.2014 by Livesets.At on Mixcloud
Oliver Heldens – Live @ Pier 36 (New York) – 31.12.2014 by Livesets.At on Mixcloud
Martin Garrix – Live @ Pier 36 (New York) – 31.12.2014 by Livesets.At on Mixcloud
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