Last night I did something I rarely ever do these days: go out on a weeknight to an event that wasn’t trance. Coone was set to play at Stereo Live Houston and there was a lot of buzz surrounding the Belgian. I had procured two free tickets shortly after the show was announced but thought about giving them away since I don’t normally follow hardstyle or listen to it enough to consider myself a fan. I was also barely caught up on sleep but was itching to do something other than be at home, so I said screw it and made my way to Stereo Live. A friend from Austin was coming down so I figured that if anything, I could at least hang out with her.
Once inside, I made my way from the patio to inside Stereo Live. It was pretty packed for a Thursday night. Nonc3nts’s logo glowed on the screen behind the dj up to bat. After making a quick trip to the restrooms before they got wrecked, I made my way to the middle, looking to get a good spot before Coone came on. When I walked into the room, Nonc3nts was playing trap and bass music, but this would be short lived.
Another dj walked up and the music changed to something I recognized right away…..trance. Now anyone who knows me would tell you I am a total trance addict. I love trance. I love it more than any other type of music, but upon arriving to Hard Is My Style I expected to hear something more aggressive. I am all for catching all the feels, but on that night I didn’t expect to hear trance. I was at least expecting a continuation of the trap/bass music but as the set went on, I realized that what I was going to hear before a hardstyle set of Coone’s was trance. I heard some Vini Vici and also some Above and Beyond, much to my delight. I can’t ever be mad when Above and Beyond comes on. It was just a bit unexpected and it didn’t really segway into the headliner’s set. To the djs credit, it was all mixed well enough so there’s that. The crowd was loving it, shuffling, punching the air, and dancing around.
Speaking of the crowd, it was a completely different set of people than I was used to being around. I didn’t mind. I had come out to experience something different and to get out of my comfort zone, after all. There were ravers in spirit hoods, one memorable dude in a white cowboy hat, headbangers, and hardstyle fanatics all around. To say they got crazy is an understatement. I stood amongst one of the most enthuastic crowds I had seen in awhile. Someone brought in a totem with Coone’s face while another group held up a sign that lit up that read, “Kaskade in the Streets, Coone in the sheets.” As is custom in a very packed venue, I had a beer bath when a guy accidently dropped his drink on the floor and a few people knocked into me without saying excuse me as they tried to get to the front, but I pretty much expect this to happen at events with a lot of people. When Coone came on, the room erupted into a whirlwind of whistles, hoots, and yells. They were ready. The set started off with Coone’s track that he made with Matt Fryers, Last Man Standing.
Having never heard of Coone before the show announcement, I can’t id other tracks in the set as I only listened to a few Coone productions before attending. I will say that I enjoyed the majority of the tracks I did hear. My only complaint was that he didn’t really mix the tracks. Right as the drop would come in, the sound would fade and he would cue up another track to play. It was just him basically playing hits all night long, but the crowd ate it up. About midway through an unlikely song came in. It was Dj Snake and Little John’s Turn Down For What. Having never seen a Coone set, I wasn’t sure if this was a regular thing of his or not, but it took me by surprise. I waited, listening for the song to change up but it continued. I looked at the person standing next to me and he looked at me. We continued to look at each other in disbelief and then, the song changed up and it had more of a hardstyle sound to it. It was a little weird to say the least, but I went with it. Later on I would hop on Youtube and see that he had just teased in his remix of Turn Down For What.
The sound, lights, and production were on point for Coone, who was quite the showman. He’s also very easy on the eyes so that made watching him all that more enjoyable. He got on the mic a few times and for much of the set I witnessed, it almost seemed like he forgot he was the dj, dancing around and going nuts to the music just as hard as his fans. There was moshing, but I didn’t join in that. There were also some fights apparently, but lucky for me I wasn’t around any of that. I have only seen fights break out at events a handful of times. The events I normally attend don’t invite too much discord, so it’s always strange when I see people throw hands at events. The people who were around me all night were in good spirits and not shy at all about expressing their love of hardstyle. I left right before 2:00 am because I didn’t want to be out too late. All in all, it was an entertaining night. I will make it out to another hardstyle show. My friend who came down from Austin, who loves hardstyle and traveled over two hours for it, told me I should check out hardstyle festivals like Defcon. After last night, I just might.
I was listening to electronic dance music without even knowing it when I was listening to Jock Jams in the 90s. Fast forward to my senior year in high school and I had discovered Fatboy Slim. I have been listening to edm ever since and love writing about new sounds, good sounds, and the music that makes us move.
