And the Winner is......

This slogan u could hear 20 times this weekend at Hannover (Germany) where the this years Dance Music Awards took place. High rated DJ´s and producer´s like Tiesto (best Trance artist), Paul van Dyk (best DJ), New Order (lifetime award), Alter Ego (best producer, best track) did belong to the winner´s. Moby got also a very special award for his influence in electronic music (Special achievement award). The man from New York who operates puplicly versus the government of G.W.Bush is probably one of the most popular and most imporant Artists in electronic music and he definately deserved this award!!!
Though the biggest winner of the evening was definately Eric Prydz. The Newcomer from Sweden who was rocking the clubs with his remake of the 80´s track „call on me“ could win the award in 3 categories like Best Video, Best Newcomer and Best Dance Track. However, the evening also had his surprises, for example the biggest German dance Event „Nature One“ didn´t win the price of the best german Event. This went to the Techno party „Sonne Mond und Sterne“. Also very unexpectedly was the victory of Sven Väth´s Cocoon club in Frankfurt which did win the award in" best club " at least against the club Space in Ibiza!
Nevertheless u could also see some curiosities at the event like for instance did Eric Prydz thank his record label (Ministry of sound) 3 times and it seemed like it was allready nearly embrassing for him to come again and again on stage to take his awards. Some Artists were lost in the traffic of Hannover, Lexy & K- Paul let their son´s partly perform their track „wishes love“ and Mark Spoon was bitching a bit versus DJ Tiesto who got standing ovations for minutes after his megamix performance of Adagio for Strings – Flight – Traffic – Love comes again.

After the award show came to an end, the after show party did start. Dj´s like Tiesto, Paul van Dyk, Chris Liebing, Alter Ego (live) did perform, though the set´s were too short for a real party fealing (only about 45 min each). But so I had at least the chance to talk to some „VIP´s“ like for instance the director of „I-motion“ and so i can tell all the polish people out there „yes u will get a Nature One event this year!“ And for the german Tiesto fans might a dream come true because the chances for DJ Tiesto at Nature one 2005 in Germany are very very high! A final confirmation will follow in the next weeks on the official Nature one Website. So press your thumbs.
In conclusion u can say that the event still has some potential like in the organisation because the show had a time delay of 30 minutes and the after show party might could need a second floor because 7 DJ´s on 1 floor in 5 hours are just too many!!! In the moment u start to groove with the DJ he allready has to stop again and the next DJ has a completely new style. In this way a real party feeling does only partly exist. The annotators Tom Novy and Nova Meierhenrich made a good job though sometimes it seemed like they were a bit unsure how to continue and what to say.
The event is on a good way to bring dance musik to a broader crowd and the time of commercialisation has allready began. If this is good or bad everyone has to decide for himself. Personally i think its a good chance for unknown artists to bring their releases faster on the market. Today everyone who wants can make dance musik u dont need any special equipment anymore usally a Mac and a producing tool like for instance Logik, a few software VST / Synthesizers and u can start. If u will have succes stands on another shiet of paper though.

Awards:
Best Trance artist ( DJ Tiesto )
Best DJ ( Paul van Dyk )
Best Techno artist ( Chris Liebing )
Best Dance Single ( Eric Prydz "call on me" )
Best Video ( Eric Prydz "call on me" )
Best Newcomer ( Eric Prydz )
Best track ( Alter ego "rocker" )
Best Producer ( Alter ego )
Lifetime Award (New Order " Blue monday" )
Special Achievement Award ( Moby )

Copyright by DMA

Best House artist ( the Disco boys )
Best Indie / Electronic Artist ( Northern light )
Best download portal ( apple I-tunes )
Best Album ( 2Raumwohnung " es wird Morgen" )
Best Remix ( Tiefschwarz for Spektrum "Kinda new )
Best Label ( Kompakt )
Best Event ( Sonne Mond und Sterne )
Best Club ( Coocoonclub FFM )
Best Radio ( Sunshine live )
Best Medium ( Raveline )



Organisation: 8 / 10
a few smaller problems though it was the premier of the event and for this it was very good!

Party feeling: 7 / 10
like mentioned a real party feeling came only partly, though it was definately a very nice award show with very big names on the line up

Prices: 8,5 / 10
Well 20 euro is a normal standard price and if u look what u all got for this (warm up show, Award ceremony with live performance, after show party) it was a fair price!


Reviewed By : Tommy