A record number of dance music fans descended on the city of Amsterdam for the twelfth edition of the Amsterdam Dance Event that broke all records. From 18th – 20th October Amsterdam became the ‘Capital of Dance’, attracting 72,000 clubbers to the 3 day night programme and 1,800 key industry professionals to the sold out conference. There were also over 700 DJ’s and acts performing at 34 of Amsterdam’s finest venues and it was hard to know where to start and what to see first!

It was a clear December night with excitement in the air. From the minute we walked up to the club entrance we knew we were in for something special. We were greeted by a red carpet outside usually reserved for celebrities, but tonight it seemed everybody was privy to Pacha’s opulence. We entered under a rainbow of red & white balloons stretching across 25 feet and there was a private VIP reception in Pachita, the top-level of the club for Pacha friends, family and industry guests hosted by the Sopranos brother & sister mafiosos Jamie-Lynn Sigler & Robert Iler. A beautiful Pacha New York birthday cake decorated a table with two huge bowl of cherries flanked on each side and the Pacha dancers looked hot & sexy in matching red costumes while they entertained and danced with guests.

You know the Ibiza season is here when you find yourself getting up at 2am on Friday morning to make the 6am Easyjest flight from Stanstead. It’s not the ideal way to start your day, but when you arrive it is all worth it and the blue skies and a warm sun instantly banish the feelings of tiredness.

Bulgaria’s capital Sofia became a hub of excitement for 4 days (from 18th-21st May) as a new music conference came into fruition. The South Eastern European Music Exhibition (Or SEEME for short) has been set up by a handful of individuals who recognise the developing scene and want to create a fully functioning industry throughout Eastern Europe.

It was a cold and blustery Wednesday night in New York and new club Pacha was due open its doors for the first time. The queues down West 46th Street were intimidating to say the least and it looked like mass pandemonium! There were three white tents erected outside and a cherry red (how appropriate) carpet laid down on the steps for making a fabulous entry. Unfortuneatly it took quite a while to get to the front and grab a hold of one of the clipboard fairies in order to gain entry, but once inside I was not disappointed.

One really bright late afternoon in a field in the canton of vaud; the final hours of paleo 2005, marked by grand voyages and rather exaggerated eclecticism were passing with an air of growing nostalgia, that needed chasing off and kicking up the a***. A crazy kid, a jazz lover in spite of himself, would be the one to kick that motley crowd, with his hands in the pockets of his baggy jeans, explosive haircut and extremely laid-back attitude. He took a run up, aimed for his piano, got ready to strike, the rousing energy of the drums intensified, take your marks, 4…3…2…1…

Pure pacha is the brainchild of one of the most influential men in dance music, mr pete tong. Now in its third successful year the ultra-glam night is in full swing. Pete describes it as “a wonderland for grown ups who don’t want to be grown up just yet.” We thought it was only fair to check out the night everybody’s talking about…

Visiting London, it was obvious that we were going to pass through one of its famous clubs. And the choice was relatively simple when we found out that Ricardo Villalobos and Ritchie Hawtin were going to pass more than five and a half hours mixing. Welcome to Fabric!

Is Sonar still Sonar? That is the question we’re asking ourselves, since the most beautiful European electronic music festival decided to substitute, last year, the beach of the catalan capital for Montjuic 2, a gigantic cement complex in the middle of the industrial zone.

After the legendary parades that have flooded all of Europe before spreading to other continents, the unforgettable parties on Goa beaches and even the Israeli desert, Thailand can be proud to be one of the most exceptional  poles of attraction in terms of electronic celebrations.