As promised, I am delivering two concert reviews for the month of October. Here is my first and I hope you all enjoy…

Usually when someone ends a chapter in their life, they want to end it with a bang. That’s the best way to go out. Like John Elway’s and Michael Strahan’s superb performances after the Super Bowl, I ended my party/rave the best way I know how.

As you might have read in last month’s “Rave Review”, I was fortunate enough to see DJ John Digweed. DJ Sasha, another world-renowned DJ, was kind enough to bless the same stage as DJ Digweed had done a month before.

DJ Digweed and DJ Sasha are probably the “Dynamic Duo” of dance/electronica. DJ Digweed and DJ Sasha have toured the world many times and blessed their fans with beautiful music and performances. Their sounds have graced many speakers together for numerous projects which include: Renaissance: the Mix Collection, Delta Heavy and the critically acclaimed Northern Exposure CDs.

I saw Sasha in 2006 during the Fundacion U.S. Residency Tour and it was absolutely phenomenal.

I remember going to another show of his last year at another club in Denver, Vinyl, but Sasha was feeling under the weather and he couldn’t make it. Two DJs known as, DJ Spooky and DJ Jonas Tempel, held the club down with an amazing performance. I remember driving home the same night and a terrible winter storm troubled my journey back home. It was not easy.

Fast forward to October 23rd, 2008 – DJ Sasha’s understudy, DJ Three, was up first. He definitely drew a crowd. As you know from my last “Rave Review” and mine and your concert experiences, the opener hardly draws a crowd. Tonight was different. DJ Three definitely warmed the crowd up for Sasha.

The clock struck 11:15 p.m. and DJ Sasha blessed yet another DJ booth in Denver and performed in front of what looked like a crowd of a thousand plus at Beta. Again, lasers of blue and green shined brightly above the dance floor and what appeared as an equalizer meter was directly above the crowd. A disco ball hung between the equalizer meter lights and was on constant spin as if it was in sync with two turntables.

DJ Sasha’s set up was quite different. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. Then again, the last time I saw DJ Sasha I was more than fifteen feet away and the DJ booth was elevated above the dance floor.

I had an excellent view of where I stood. It was the same place I stood when I saw DJ Digweed the month before. DJ Sasha’s set up consisted of a mixer, a computer mouse and an Apple computer. There were no turntables or CDs.

For about three hours, DJ Sasha and go-go dancers on platforms on opposite sides of the DJ booth made the club jump, dance, scream, clap and whistle throughout the entire set. That’s what I call crowd control.

Again, there wasn’t a merchandise booth to buy CDs or shirts. I was disappointed in that. I wouldn’t mind paying a little bit more for a CD or a t-shirt if DJ Sasha’s and DJ Three’s performance exceeded the price of admission.

I used the same technique with DJ Sasha as I did with DJ Digweed that night. I entered a message in my phone and I showed it to DJ Three. I was fortunate enough to get a picture with the both of them that night. That definitely made up for the missing merchandise booth.

As the final chapter of my party/rave phase has come to an end, I am truly honored and grateful that I had the opportunity to see one of the best DJs in the world known simply as, DJ Sasha, again.